Avesthagen plans to study genes of Iran's Zoroastrian

Generations of ‘marriage within’ has increased incidence of positive traits and inherited diseases.

Bangalore-based lifesciences firm Avesthagen, under its ‘Avestagenome Project’, is now mulling to create a gene pool of Zoroastrians living in Iran from where the Indian Parsis are believed to have migrated in the ninth century. The analysis may lead to identification of genes linked to various diseases and age-related conditions like cancers, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s, say company sources.

“There are about 70,000 Parsis and we have so far archived genome samples of 3,000 members. We intend to do genetic analysis of Iran’s Zoroastrian population at some point of time in future,” said Anil, VP-Business Development, Avesthagen. He said that they have been getting inquiries from other countries.

The gene pool of Parsis in India has become uniform over the years as they are inbred. “A similar project was carried out in Iceland by a company called D Code. However, the community they had chosen was not inbred. Besides studying the DNA and RNA, we will also study the food pattern and their 1200 years old well documented medical history, he added. The genealogical history tracing the ancestry of Parsis is also well documented.

The project was envisaged at a capital cost of $ 25-30 million (Rs 150 crore) about one year ago and this is likely to go higher.

According to Anil, Parsis live 15 years longer than the average lifespan of Indian male. As a result of generations of ‘marriage within’, increased incidence of both positive and certain inherited diseases are seen among the Parsi population.

“The gene pool has become uniform as a result and any variation can be co-related. It’s like listening to whisper in a closed room. The background noise in genotype is less,” he explains.

The project is a brainchild of CMD of Avesthagen Dr Villoo Morawala-Patell. Reputed players like Tata Industries Ltd, Godrej Industries Ltd and Meditab Specialities Pvt Ltd are strategic investors in the group.

Besides many other firms including ICICI Venture Emerging Sectors Fund, FID Funds (Mauritius), New York Life Investment Management India Fund and Danivest.com SA are financial investors.

The data collected would lead to an understanding of pharmacogenomics and indentify bio markers and drug targets. Intitially the study will focus on two neurological and two cancer conditions. The outcome of the study is expected in about 4-5 years’ time.