ANNUAL REPORT - Department of Biotechnology

would have application in both academic as well as
by industry. The newly designed molecules are
expected to possess anti-alzheimer activities. These
molecules have potential industrial significance after
synthesis and pharmacological testing.
An Indo-Finnish workshop on 'Modern plant and food
biotechnology' was organized in Helsinki, Finland,
from April 3-5, 2006. As a follow-up of this workshop,
the second joint Indo-Finnish call for proposals in
plant and crop biotechnology has been announced.
The call focuses on the following specific areas of
plant and crop biotechnology : (i) improving the
capability of plants to stand stress, concentrating on
biotic and abiotic stress and (ii) collaboration in the
methodology, especially in genomic, proteomic and
transformation techniques.
Indo-Germany
Under the ongoing joint collaboration between India
and Germany, during the reporting period four
projects have been completed and six are ongoing.
Some of the results obtained in the projects are given
below.
Areas of research of the ongoing projects focus on :
standardization and estimation of tylophorine
content in Tylophora indica at TERI, New Delhi. At
ICGEB, New Delhi simplified purification procedure
for the efficient recovery of recombinant hepatitis B
surface antigen, virus like particles, (VLPs) from
crude lysates of Pichia pastoris is being undertaken.
Characterization of secondary metabolites,
especially the antimicrobials produced by
rhizobacteria with action against plant and human
pathogenic fungi and bacteria and effect of
endophytic fungus VIG0051 on cells derived from an
immortalized mouse fibroblast cell line and PtK 2 cells
is being studied at Ramakrishna Mission
Vivekananda College, Chennai.
In a collaborative project involving three institutes :
Guru Nanak Dev Univ., Amritsar; Dr.ALM PG Instt. of
Basic Medical Sciences, Chennai and Manipal
Academy of Higher Education, Manipal, detailed
histories of 04 families with different ocular
anomalies (retinitis pigmentosa = 50, congenital
cataract = 26, glaucoma = 11, macular degeneration
= 11, Marfan syndrome = 3, high myopia = 3) have
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been collected and critical data recorded. In an
autosomal dominant congenital cataract (ADCC)
family having 10 members in 4-generations affected
with a novel “fan-shaped” cataract - microcornea
syndrome was performed genome-wide linkage
analyses using more than 400 microsatellite markers
to identify the diseases locus. Positive lod scores of
more than 3.0, indicative of linkage, were obtained
with several consecutive markers on chromosome
21q. Further, by bi-directional sequencing of exonic
regions and exon-intron boundaries of positional
candidate gene alpha-crystallin (CRYAA) at 21q, the
underlying mutation i.e. arginine 116 cysteine
(R116C) substitution, in exon 3 of CRYAA gene for
this novel phenotype that showed complete
segregation with the diseases in this family have
been identified.
In another project, purification of bioactive
compounds from Serratia marcescens was
undertaken at large scale. Six new serratomolides
(A-F) have been extracted in this study which are
more active against Mycobacterium drehoferi as
compared to the earlier reported main compound A.
Cytotoxic activity of these compounds is to be
assayed. A new Indo-German call for joint proposals
in microbial biotechnology, bioprocess and enzyme
engineering and system biology was issued in July
2006. Thirteen proposals were received and 8
proposals are being considered for funding.
Indo-UK
A MOU was signed in 1998 with the Biotechnology
and Biological Sciences Research Council,
Government of United Kingdom for co-operation in
the field of biotechnology and biological sciences to
facilitate broad opportunities for co-operation
between the two countries thereby promoting the
areas of research of mutual benefit to both countries.
Five joint projects have been funded in the areas of :-
disease resistance; pest resistance and new
platform for expression systems of recombinant
proteins.
Indo-US:
The progress of the ongoing collaboration between
India and US under the various areas has been
satisfactory. The details of the programmes are given