The recently-completed Indian Genome Variation Consortium Project has found that Indian populations are likely to respond differently to salbutamol (drug for bronchial asthma) and called for identifying different classes of drugs for specific populations.

The project, headed by the CSIR, has revealed that a known protective genetic marker against HIV-1 is virtually absent in India, implying that there is no natural or genetic protection against HIV-AIDS. The project is expected to help a lot in designing drug-discovery studies and selecting suitable populations for testing drug efficacy, CSIR sources said.

The results of the study will help in making predictions of diseases and effectiveness of specific drugs used for various diseases, and in designing future scientific studies to understand genetic underpinnings of major diseases in India, the CSIR official said.

"Incidence of the more severe form of malaria caused by Plasmodium falciparum is high in India (~0.9 million cases reported annually). However, some, but not all, infected individuals develop severe complications. Polymorphisms in more than 30 human genes have been associated with susceptibility/resistance to severe malaria. Data from the project revealed significant differences in genotype frequencies of the Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNP) in populations residing in P. falciparum-endemic and non-endemic regions of India,'' the study says on malaria.

India, accommodating nearly 1/6th of the world population, has over 4693 communities, 325 functioning languages and 25 scripts. The project was aimed at studying diversity of 1000 biomedically important and pharmaco-genetically relevant genes in populations representing the genetic spectrum of India.

The Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB), Delhi, Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad, Indian Institute of Chemical Biology (IICB), Kolkata, Central Drug Research Institute (CDRI), Lucknow, Industrial Toxicological Research Centre (ITRC), Lucknow, Institute of Microbial Technology (IMTECH), Chandigarh, The Indian Statistical Institute (ISI), Kolkata, Anthropological Survey of India and The Centre for Genomic Applications (TCGA), a public-private partnership were closely involved in the study which also had contributions from over 150 scientists.

"Increased life-expectancy and life-style changes have ushered in complex diseases like diabetes, asthma, cardiovascular disorders, epilepsy, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Nearly one per cent of the Indian population suffers from complex diseases that need expensive interventions and prolonged medication, which again, are not free of side-effects. Identifying optimum dosage and a suitable schedule of medication customized for each individual to minimize side effects is a major challenge,'' it said.

While analysing cardiovascular diseases, the project has provided information that can be used to home in on populations that could benefit from supplementation of folate and vitamin B 12 in their diets-thus effectively short circuiting their predisposition to cardio vascular diseases because of a genetic condition.