Why in the news?

• The Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology (RGCB) has been chosen as one of the four national next-generation sequencing (NGS) hubs under the Metagenomic Syndromic Surveillance Programme of the National ‘One Health Mission’.

Metagenomics

• What is it?: Metagenomics is the study of genetic material directly extracted from environmental samples (soil, water, gut, ocean, air, etc.) without culturing organisms.
• Importance:
  • More than 99% of microbes cannot be cultured in the lab- metagenomics helps study them.
  • Provides a holistic view of microbial diversity, ecosystem function, and metabolic potential.
  • Useful for-
    • Human health & gut microbiome studies
    • Soil fertility and climate studies
    • Ocean biogeochemistry
    • Disease surveillance
    • Drug discovery
• Applications
  • Environment & Ecology:
    • Mapping soil microbial diversity → soil health indicators.
    • Monitoring methane-cycling microbes → climate change mitigation.
    • Studying marine microbiomes (e.g., Tara Oceans project).
  • Health & Disease:
    • Human gut microbiome → links with obesity, diabetes, mental health.
    • Tracking antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs).
    • Metagenomic sequencing used for pandemic surveillance (SARS-CoV-2 wastewater detection).
  • Agriculture
    • Identifying nitrogen-fixing or phosphate-solubilizing microbes.
    • Biofertilizer development.
    • Soil metagenome for precision agriculture.
  • Biotechnology & Industry:
    • Discovery of new enzymes (lipases, cellulases).
    • Bioremediation microbes (oil spills, plastics).
    • Industrial fermentation optimization.

Source: The Hindu