PANJIM: A team of 23 researchers including six women scientists from National Institute of Oceanography (CSIR-NIO) on Sunday left on a 90-day expedition to Indian Ocean to conduct genomic and proteomic mapping of microorganisms present in the seawater and sediments.
The team of researchers is led by Dr Samir R Damare from CSIR-NIO will be cruising through CSIR-NIO’s research vessel “Sindhu Sadhana”.
According to NIO Director Sunil Kumar Singh, the group will be cruising through Indian Ocean for nearly three months, collecting huge amount of samples to unravel the mysteries in Indian Ocean.
The expedition, which started from Visakhapatnam Port, is going to the mouth of Hooghly, Brahmaputra and southwards right up to 30oS latitude along 90oE.
With a fuel refill at Mauritius, the team will continue the return journey northwards coming up to EEZ of Pakistan and back to Goa. The expedition will cover approximately 10,000 nautical miles.
“One of the key objectives of the mission is to identify and characterise the genes and proteins in the ocean to understand the cellular level processes occurring in the microorganisms is response,” Singh said.
By studying proteomics, the researchers would be able to identify the physiological responses of the organisms under varying ocean conditions.
“This will allow the scientists to understand cellular biochemistry and the response of ocean to the climate change, nutrient stress and pollution,” he said.
Singh said, “The team will collect water samples and sediment samples from as deep as 6000 metres to study metals, genomes and proteins. The team is planning to collect samples at every two degrees and will cover 60 stations. We have started on a big scale in Indian Ocean and this expedition is unique because it will cover the entire India Ocean”.
