One Day One Genome Initiative

About One Day One Genome Initiative:

• It will highlight the unique bacterial species found in our country and emphasize their critical roles in environment, agriculture and human health.
• This initiative is coordinated by Biotechnology Research and Innovation Council-National Institute of Biomedical Genomics (BRIC-NIBMG) an institute of the Department of Biotechnology.
• This initiative aims to release a fully annotated bacteriological genome isolated in the country freely available to the public.
• This will be complemented with a detailed graphical summary, infographics and genome assembly/annotation details.
• These documents will thus give an idea about the scientific and industrial use of these microbes.
• Consequently, microbial genomics data will become more accessible to the general public, scientific researchers and thereby stimulate discussions; innovations directly benefit the entire community and ecosystem.

Role of microorganisms

• Microorganisms are crucial for our ecosystem. They play an important role in all biogeochemical cycles, soil formation, mineral purification, degradation of organic wastes and toxic pollutants along with methane production.
• Cumulatively they help to maintain the homeostasis in our planet.
• In agriculture, they help in nutrient cycling, nitrogen fixation, maintaining soil fertility, controlling pest and weeds and stress responses.
• Microorganisms are symbiotically associated with plants and help them in nutrient and water uptake.
• There are many more microbial cells than the number of human cells in a human body. They are essential for our digestion, immunity and even mental health.
• All infectious diseases are mainly caused by pathogenic microorganisms. On the other hand, non-pathogenic microorganisms are indispensable for our defense against infectious diseases.

Q1: What Is Homeostasis?

Homeostasis refers to any automatic process that a living thing uses to keep its body steady on the inside while continuing to adjust to conditions outside of the body, or in its environment.

News: ‘One Day One Genome’ initiative to harness the microbial potential of India