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HYDERABAD, Feb. 27

IN the largest genome initiative of any animal or plant species in India, the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) here with funding from the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) will identify useful genes in the Indian buffalo, which can help boost milk yields.

The ubiquitous Indian buffalo is not just the mainstay of the dairy industry but contributes 45 million tonnes of milk annually and is a major source of rural employment. India produces 64 per cent of the world's buffalo milk production and is uniquely placed with diverse breeds across the country.

Realising the significance of the animal in the Indian context, NDDB and CCMB have entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on February 24, for the `creation of a framework linkage map of the domestic buffalo genome'.

While NDDB will fund up to Rs 2.3 crore for the project, CCMB will do the scientific work, Dr Lalji Singh, Director of CCMB, told newspersons here on Thursday.

The ambitious project has been divided into three phases. During Phase-I, which will be for a year, CCMB scientists will focus on identifying 500 De-oxyribose nucleic acid (DNA) markers that are unique to buffaloes.

In Phase-2, for two years, the linkage map of the buffalo genome would be prepared. In the final phase, they will establish the relationship between markers and economically important traits.

CCMB has already characterised the diversity among the Indian buffalo through DNA studies during the past two years. Further, with the help of a Hyderabad-based IT company, iLabs, has developed expertise to use bioinformatics to do DNA analysis and expedite research work.

NDDB has clear pedigree of buffalo breeds, which makes mapping easier and more accurate.

Similarly, the already available information on the Cattle genome can be leveraged to hasten the project. The complete sequencing of the buffalo genome is not desirable for us and hence we have chosen the least expensive method to identify useful genes and use that knowledge for breeding to get high yields, Dr Lalji Singh said.

In buffalo, there are 50 pairs of chromosomes and at the moment "We do not know where the genes that give milk are located on the genome.

Similarly, there is no knowledge of the genes which cause disease susceptibility. By using DNA markers, we want to locate them", explained Dr Satish Kumar, who would be leading the team in the research work.

Through the project, the scientists hope to develop new tools for the genetic improvement of buffaloes. It would also help to identify genes, which would help in better selection of breeds which could give higher milk yields, have better health etc. The genome wide linkage map means the number of genes involved in getting higher yields.

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