The birth of the first Indian Leishmania Genome Sequence
Prelude to whole genome sequencing of Leishmania donovani clinical isolates.
ABOUT PARASITE & DISEASE
In 1903, W.B. Leishman and C. Donovan reported this new parasite at the turn of the century. Ronald Ross christened the new genus Leishmania and the new species donovani in year 1903.
The history of kala azar in India is one of the great stories of tropical medicine. The invaluable account of this disease from the time great epidemics swept across vast tracks of the Indian subcontinent leaving misery and poverty in their wake up to the present time is foretold in the publication launched during WorldLeish4, Kala Azar: An Odyssey into the Past, ISBN 81-8189-281-X.
Visceral Leishmaniasis (VL): The Indian subcontinent (India, Nepal & Bangladesh) is one of the main areas affected by VL worldwide. It accounts for about 67% of total cases reported with almost 200 million people at risk of contracting the disease. The governments of India, Bangladesh and Nepal have launched a joint programme to eliminate VL as a public health problem by the year 2012.
We now embark on a project to unravel the genome of this causative agent and explore ways and means to reduce the risk of this disease to the population in peril and to improve the treatment of patients.
OBJECTIVE
No effective vaccine is yet available against this parasite & its control relies primarily on chemotherapy. Since the discovery of the pentavalent antimonials, (the first drug for leishmaniasis treatment, IJMR 1922,10:492), until today, the search for lead molecules with antileishmanial activity, without toxic effects, & able to overcome the emergence of drug resistant strains, still remains as the current goal. We have carried out microarray monitoring of gene expression in drug unresponsive clinical isolates collected from the disease endemic region of Bihar. These initial studies dealt with limited number of genes and now genome wide survey will yield an enhanced perspective. The objective of the proposed study is to carry out whole genome sequencing of Leishmania donovani clinical isolates using next generation sequencing technology, to compare them at genome level. The analysis of the whole genome can provide useful information about the complex events leading to resistance.
The study is jointly sponsored by Leishmaniasis Research Society (India) at Central Drug Research Institute, Lucknow and Department of Biotechnology, India.
