Brazil completes DNA mapping of Amazon bacterium
Copyright 2001 Kyodo News Service
December 17, 2001
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil, Dec. 17 - Brazilian scientists have successfully concluded the DNA mapping of a bacterium typically found in the Amazon rainforest, the science and technology ministry said Monday.
The mapping of the chromobacterium violaceum is part of the $4.2 million National Network Genome Project, which involves 25 labs and some 200 researchers in Brazil. The bacterium is found in the heart of the Amazon rainforest along the Rio Negro River, according to the ministry.
'Brazil is the sixth country in the world to possess this technology,' science and technology minister Ronaldo Sardenberg said.
Scientists say the DNA map could help researchers develop a new drug to fight maladies like leishmaniasis and Chagas disease.
Brazil will register the patent for the future use of the genome project result to develop new drugs, Sardenberg said.
Leishmaniasis, which is caused by the bite of the sandfly, produces skin or internal organ ulcers and kills some 80,000 people in the world annually.
According to the World Health Organization, leishmaniasis affects some 12 million people in the world.
The Chagas disease, whose parasite was first identified by a Brazilian doctor in the 1940s, is a major health problem in South America where some 20 million people are infected.