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Journalism of Courage
HYDERABAD, JULY 8: Researchers at the L V Prasad Eye Institute LVPEI here have isolated a gene that results in congenital cataract, one of the major causes of hereditary childhood blindness.
In a collaborative research, with support from the US-based National Institute of Health NIH, a team of scientists from the institute have done chromosomal analysis of the defective gene that causes zonular congenital cataract8217;, the common form of eye disease in families that have a tradition of marriages with close relatives.
8220;The incidence of hereditary blindness is more common in South India, particularly Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, because of such tradition. We have located the defective gene on the eleventh chromosome,8221; Dr D Balasubramanian, Director, Research, Hyderabad Eye Research Foundation of the LVPEI, said.
A family from Andhra Pradesh with hereditary cataract running in three generations was studied. After detailed clinical, ophthalmological examinations and gene analysis, it was found that allthe affected family members showed a zonular cataract characterised by a y-shaped opacity in the eye lens, he said.
8220;We could identify and locate the gene responsible for making the proteins of eye lens defective and reflected directly as opacity of the lens8221;, Balasubramanian, the former director of the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology CCMB here, said.
The research project is a joint effort by LVPEI, the Department of Genetics of Osmania University here and the CCMB, Balasubramanian said.
