New leaf

Jorhat, Aug. 31: The department of biotechnology (DBT), under the Union ministry of science and technology, has finally set the ball rolling to prepare an approach map for taking up an ambitious research project on sequencing the tea genome.

The proposal for the project was mooted by the Tocklai Tea Experimental Station (TES), the oldest tea research institute in the world, here.

TES director Mridul Hazarika today revealed that the department of biotechnology had for the first time convened a meeting of experts from top research institutes of the country in New Delhi to discuss the groundwork for initiating the tea genome project. The experts had been working on subjects relating to genomes.

The project, to be taken up on a big scale, involving several research organisations, can open up new vistas in tea research.

Hazarika, who is also a tea scientist and the initiator at the August 17 discussion, told The Telegraph that in this era of global genomic research in different fields, it is “very essential” to decipher the tea genome.

“Already, China has started the process and we should not be left behind in undertaking one,” Hazarika, who presented the concept note at the meeting, said.

He said the tea genome sequencing should be taken up as a priority, as it would allow researchers to further understand the genetic bases of evolution and also find out economically and medicinally important traits of the plant.

Hazarika said to understand how tea plants react to changing environmental conditions, it was necessary to “decipher the structure of the genetic backbone, which is the sequence of the genome that is responsible for the mechanism of controlling functions.”

The TES director said the meeting was attended by experts from premier research institutes like the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad, Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology, Delhi University and with DBT adviser Renu Swaroop representing the top government body. The meeting was held under the chairmanship of Prof. Akhilesh Tyagi, an international scientist.

He said the meeting decided to draw up a strategic plan to prepare the blueprint of the tea genome project for which the second meeting, having broader participation of scientists from research institutes of the country, will be held in Calcutta in November.

Stating that TES, being an exclusive centre doing research on tea would have a significant role to play in the proposed project, Hazarika said three years ago, a brainstorming session was organised at Tocklai to prepare an initial plan paper on the subject.

He said scientists from different institutes of the Northeast had participated in the meet and formulated a proposal that was submitted to the biotechnology department. Hazarika said the project’s outcome could have a great impact on one of Assam’s oldest industry given that the state produces almost half the country’s tea.