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FARM FRONT
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Circa 2002 likely to set the trend for biotech development
Ashok
B Sharma
Hopefully, circa 2002 will set the trend for the decade of biotechnology
with the release of the first transgenic crop, Bt cotton for
commercial cultivation in the country.
All formalities of field trials and assessments have already
been completed and the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee
(GEAC) is likely to give a final nod any time. Bt cotton will
be the first transgenic crop to lead the team of other transgenic
crops waiting in the pipeline for commercialisation.
Alos, indigenously developed recombinant anthrax vaccine is
expected to be released by Panacea Biotech Ltd in the current
year. In addition, biotech parks are slated to be set up in
Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil
Nadu, Himachal Pradesh and Orissa in 2002. The Indo-Russian
joint centre of excellence in biotechnology, set up recently
at Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT), Allahabad
will start functioning in 2002 and will initially concentrate
on bio-informatics. Similar central biotech facilities are likely
to be set up at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore,
IIITM, Gwalior and in select regional engineering colleges,
besides ITs.
According to information available with the department of biotechnology
(DBT) at the Centre, transgenics of rice, brassica (mustard),
moongbean, pigeonpea, tomato, cabbage, cauliflower and nutritionally
enhanced potato would complete field assessments and some of
these would be ready for large-scale production in 2002-05.
Transgenic wheat with more protein content and better quality
and also higher lusine content and marker-assisted breeding
programme is expected to be introduced in 2003-05. The sequencing
of chromosome 11 in rice is also likely to be completed by 2005
with an annual contribution of 2 Mb to the international rice
genome project. This would ensure that India has total information
on rice genome.
Transgenic fish expressing growth hormone gene will be evaluated
in 2002. A diagnostic kit for white spot virus in prawns will
also be evaluated. Preparation of animal feed through conversion
of lignocellulasic material and its enrichment would be taken
up as a major research priority. Genomic studies will be taken
up for major livestock species like buffalo.
Edible vaccines, particularly for cholera, rabies and hepatitis
B, work on which is already under way, will be ready for clinical
trial by 2003-04, with an expression gene from tomato, cabbage
and banana.
Complete packages, different tissue culture protocols for coffee,
tea, spices and apple will also be ready for commercialisation
by 2002-03. The government has decided that the regional hardening
facilities for providing benefits of tissue culture technology
at the grassroots levels would be expanded to cover plant-rich
regions which need massive afforestation and wasteland recovery.
A number of herbal products too are expected to be in the market.
These would be in the form of new formulations, immunomodulators
and drugs for diseases like septic shock, diabetes, malaria
and cancer. At least 20 agro-biotech packages for many herbal
products would be introduced in the current year for higher
and better yield. Secondary information on inventorisation of
marine resources is expected to be placed on a digitised database
in 2002. Some inter-disciplinary projects on product development
are expected to be launched specially for food and nutritional
security and producing therapeutics.
Bioremediation and waste recycling in specific locations are
expected to be undertaken by new microbial consortia. Within
three years, at least 10 more locations will be covered. Bioindicators
and biosensors would also be developed. A plan of action for
specific ecosystems with biotechnological interventions would
be ready for implementation for deserts, islands, coastal regions,
mangroves and mountainous ecosystems by the end of March 2002.
By 2003, a number of biosensors for pollution control, especially
enzyme-based ones, will be available.
Identification and development of crops through bio-engineering
for biofuels and bioenergy needs is in progress and hopefully
field-testing will take place in the Tenth Plan period. Transgenic
biofertilisers and biopesticides, particularly botanicals that
have already been developed, will be field tested for commercial
production.
In the field of bioprospecting and molecular taxonomy, it is
expected that prospecting and molecular characterisation and
documentation of the economically and ecologically important
hot spots of biodiversity in the country, like the Western Ghats
and the north-eastern region, will be completed by 2004. The
molecules thus identified will be taken up for product development
like drugs, vaccines, biofertilisers, biopesticides and therapeutics.
The characterisation and inventorisation of much of the biological
resources in Andaman & Nicobar Islands will be completed
by 2005. In the area of veterinary sciences, vaccine research
efforts for major livestock diseases such as haemorrhagic septicaemia
and recombinant vaccine for anthrax will be ready for evaluation.
Vero cell-based rabies and zona pellucida peptide for fertility
control in dogs is expected to be evaluated in 2002. Diagnostic
for peste-des-petis-ruminants (PPR) and blue tongue are ready
for evalution. Bovine tuberculosis diagnostic kit is under development.
A diagnostic kit for white spot virus in prawns would be completing
its evaluation in 2002.
In the field of medical biotechnology, diagnostic kit for infectious
diseases like tuberculosis, malaria, Japanese encephalitis,
etc and non-communicable diseases like hormonal disorders, several
of which have already been licenced to the industry, will be
in the market by 2002. Upscaling and commercialisation of PCR-based
diagnostics will be completed by 2002-05. DNA vaccines for rabies
in dogs will be ready for manufacture in 2002-03. The cholera
vaccine will complete trials by 2004-05. Vaccines for HIV, tuberculosis
and malaria are expected to enter phase I and II trials by 2004-05.
Rotaviral diarrhoea vaccine will enter phase I trial in 2002
and is expected to obtain the approval within two years. A vaccine
for hepatitis C will enter phase I clinical trials by 2003.
Gene therapy trials against cancer will be initiated in 2002.
Upscaling and commercialisation of new genomics-based technologies,
like microarrays will begin from 2002 and some would be in market
by the end of the Tenth Plan period. Reproductive health and
contraceptive research will continue to be a major priority.
Keeping in view the projected developments in the biotech sector,
the government has planned private sector partnership in R&D,
production units for recombinant biologicals, DNA chips, proteomics,
pharmacogenomics, toxicogenomics, biochips, combinatorial chemistry,
xenotransplantation, tissue engineering, signal transduction
as drug discovery platform, lead validation platforms, datamining,
bioinformatics and agriculture biotechnology.
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