Union minister announces genome sequencing of 10 000 isolates of Mycobacterium TB

New Delhi, Mar 24 (PTI) Union Science and Technology Minister Jitendra Singh on Monday announced the completion of genome sequencing of 10,000 isolates of Mycobacterium Tuberculosis, which has the potential to transform diagnostics and drug resistance prediction.
     The umbrella programme Data Driven Research to Eradicate TB (Dare2eraD TB) was launched in March 2022 and included setting up of the Indian Tuberculosis Genomic Surveillance (InTGS) Consortium; Evidence-based regimen for treating Extra-Pulmonary Tuberculosis and host-directed therapies as adjunct to anti-TB therapy against tuberculosis.
     "Completion of Genome sequencing of 10,000 Mycobacterium Tuberculosis isolates marks a milestone achievement in our collective fight against Tuberculosis, particularly the Multi Drug Resistant Tuberculosis," Singh said.
     The InTGS consortium, a pan-India initiative led by the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) institutes along with clinical establishments, aims to undertake whole genome sequencing of more than 32,000 isolates of Mycobacterium Tuberculosis isolates to catalogue the existing and emerging resistance mutations and study the association of different MTB lineages with treatment outcomes, an official statement said.
     The data generated through the InTGS consortium will capture the unique mutations present in TB isolates from India. In about a year-and-a-half of its implementation, the team has accomplished the completion of a remarkable 10,000 genome sequences.
     This data will forge next generation genomic tests for diagnosis and predictive models capable of identifying drug resistance mutations with better accuracy; and enable comprehensive and faster (hours to days vs weeks) resistance profiling by simultaneously identifying multiple resistance determinants.
     This will help tailor treatment regimens according to individual need and will go a long way in addressing issues frequently associated with TB treatment such as treatment failure and relapse, the statement said.
     Singh said the adoption of molecular methods for TB diagnosis and resistance testing remains uneven, significantly influenced by socioeconomic disparities across countries.
     "To fight the incessant TB, it is important to propel these innovations to scale and embed them into real-world implementation," he said.
     It will be important to incorporate the learning from the 10,000 Mycobacterium Tuberculosis sequences data into pragmatic pipelines for tuberculosis diagnosis and drug resistance surveillance in all settings, Rajesh Gokhale, Secretary DBT said.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)