Biotechnology Information System(BTIS)

Date: 04.06.2014.

BySamhati Soor,

MLIB 08, MSLIS,DRTC,ISIBC.

Contents1. What is BTIS?

2. Why BTIS?

3. Objectives

4. BIOGRID

5. Resources

6. Mirror Sites of Databases

7. R&D Projects

8. BTIS Centres in India

9. International Cooperation

10. References

What is BTIS?● It is a National Bioinformatics Network.

● India is the first country in the world to establish in 1987 a Biotechnology Information System (BTIS) network to create an infrastructure of biotechnology through the application of Bioinformatics.

● The Department of Biotechnology (DBT),Ministry of Science and Technology,Government of India has taken up this infrastructure development project and created a distributed network at a very low cost.

● BTIS is today recognized as one of the major scientific network in the world dedicated to provide the-state-of-the-art infrastructure, education, manpower and tools in bioinformatics.

Why BTIS?● Research and Development activities in Modern

Biology and Biotechnology are very much information-dependent fields.

● Growth of biotechnology has accelerated particularly during the last decade due to path breaking advancements in biology and new technologies that produce large high quality data.

● The rate of growth of these data has been estimated to be more than 200 million bases per year.

● The content of the database itself is doubling in size approximately every year.

● The large amounts of data generated through various forms are serving as a source of knowledge to the scientists engaged in the field of Biotechnology.

● The analysis of such large data and extraction of knowledge from this data is possible only with the help of new algorithms and compute intensive techniques.

Objectives● To provide a national bioinformation network

designed to bridge the inter-disciplinary gaps on biotechnology information

● To establish link among scientists in organisations involved in R&D and manufacturing activities in the country

● To build information resources, prepare databases on biotechnology and to develop relevant information handling tools and techniques

● To continuously assess information requirements

● To create and improve necessary infrastructure

● To provide informatics based support and services to the national community of users working in biotechnology and associated areas

● To coordinate efforts to access Biotechnology information worldwide including establishing linkages with some of the international resources of Biotechnology information (e.g. Databanks on genetic materials, published literature, patents and other information of scientific and commercial value)

● To undertake research into advanced methods of computer-based information processing for analysing the structure and function of biologically important molecules

● To evolve and implement programs on education of users and training of information scientists responsible for handling of biotechnology information and its applications to biotechnology research and development

● To establish regional and international cooperation for exchange of scientific information and expertise in biotechnology through the development of appropriate network arrangements

● To build networking capabilities of BTISnet in terms of speed and capacity of the network to make fast INTERNET access feasible at all nodes/centre of the network

BIOGRID● The DBT has successfully established a high-speed and high-

bandwidth network in the form of Virtual Public Network (VPN) named as BIOGRID INDIA.

● The nodes are interconnected through 2mbps dedicated leased circuit line at each location and 4Mbps Internet bandwidth shared from the central server by all the nodes.

● The BIOGRID allows exchange of database and softwares which have been created/acquired by the individual nodes of BTIS.

● This resource sharing helps in enhancing the value and usefulness of the BTIS, the only true resource sharing network in India.

Resources● Databases of BTISNet

– TRABAS by University of Calcutta, Kolkata

– AgAbDb by University of Pune, Pune

– PDB Goodies by Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore

etc.

● Open Source Databases

– The Gene Ontology (GENOME)

– DIANA LAB (RNA)

– Protein Data Bank/PDB (Protein DBs)

etc.

● Softwares

– Gene Ontology Based Prediction Analysis of MicroArray Suite/GOPAM

– Spectral Repeat Finder/SRF

etc.

● DeLCON / DBT-Electronic Library Consortium - a unique Electronic Journal Consortium

● Bioinformatics Tool Box

– DIC, IMTECH, Chandigarh http://www.imtech.res.in/bic/

– Super computing facility at IIT, Delhi http://www.scfbio-iitd.res.in/

● Online Lectures

– Malaysian Genomics Resource Centre

http://www.mgrc.com.my/ess_elaine.shtml

– HHMI's BioInteractive - Holiday Lectures on Science

http://www.hhmi.org/biointeractive/hl/index.html● Others

– Biology Workbench

http://workbench.sdsc.edu/

Mirror Sites of Databases● National Jai Vigyan Science and Technology Mission

– European Molecular Biology network (EMBnet)

The Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics (CDFD), Hyderabad

– They develop the areas of structural biology, Protein Engineering, Plant and Human Genome studies

– They give the availability of all the public domain software for analysis of massive amount of data will facilitate scientists in the country in their present and future requirements.

– They improve our skills for hosting these databases as well as to enhance the basic infrastructure requirements for computers and communication systems.

● International Legume Database & Information Service (ILDIS)

– The National Botanical Research Institute (NBRI), Lucknow

– The site http://www.ildis.org provides documents and catalogue of world's legume species diversity in a readily accessible form.

– Research groups in many countries are participating on a co-operative basis to pool information in the ILDIS world databases of Legumes which is used to provide a world wide information service through publications, electronic access and inquiry services.

The advantage of mirroring the databases in India is to provide unhindered mining of high quality data from well established primary and secondary information sources.

R&D Projects● Flagship Consortium Projects on TB & Rice Bioinformatics

● Mango Database

● Interactive Visual Diagnostic software to Check Nutrient Deficiency in Crops

● Myocilin Structure Prediction using Knowledge based consensus

BTIS Centres in India● Centres Of Excellence – 7

Apex Bioinformatics Centre, DBT,New Delhi; University of Pune,Pune;Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU),New Delhi; Madurai Kamaraj University (MKU),Madurai; Indian Institute of

Science (IISc),Bangalore; Bose Institute,Kolkatta; Super Computing Facility (IIT),New Delhi

● Distributed Information Centres (DICs) – 11

Anna University, Centre for Cellular & Molecular Biology, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, Institute of Microbial Technology, Kerala Agriculture University, M. S. Univeristy of Baroda, National Brain Research Centre, National Institute of Immunology, North Eastern Hill University(Shillong), Pondicherry University, University of Calcutta

● Distributed Information Sub Centres (SubDICs) – 51

Institute of Life Sciences,Bhubaneswar; Indian Institute of Chemical Biology,Kolkata; Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur etc.

● Bioinformatics Infrastructure Facility (BIF) for Biology Teaching Through Bioinformatics (BTBI) - 70

Vidyasagar University, Midnapur,West Bengal; West Bengal University of Technology, Kolkata,West Bengal etc.

● North Eastern State- Bioinformatics Infrastructure Facility (BIF) - 28

Institute of Advanced Study in Science and Technology, Igyan Path,Guwahati; Manipur University,Canchipur,Manipur etc.

International Co-operation● Through the initiatives of DBT, network connectivity had been established at

national focal points in China, India, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.

● DBT also coordinated a meeting of the SAARC countries in India to develop mechanisms for exchange of scientific information in biotechnology amongst the SAARC member-countries.

● Weizmann Institute of Science (WIS), Israel has been initiated as part of international cooperation in Bioinformatics sponsored by UNESCO.

– Under this programme, India will host a regional node in Bioinformatics along with other regional nodes proposed in China, Poland and Turkey.

– The Central node had been set up at the WIS, Israel.– India has been recognized to host the regional node

in bioinformatics with particular emphasis to extend the regional cooperation to the SAARC countries.

– Co-operation on bioinformatics with Govt. of Malaysia has recently been approved and with Maldives is under active consideration.

References

http://btisnet.gov.in/

http://dbtindia.nic.in/uniquepage.asp?id_pk=63

http://www.dsir.gov.in/pubs/itt/itt9702/btisrep.htm

http://www.isb.vt.edu/

http://crdd.osdd.net/indipedia/index.php/BTIS_net_:_Bioinformatics_centres_in_India