Biotechnology and achievements in Uzbekistan

Genetic engineering research in Uzbekistan began in the early 1980s on the initiative of Academy of Sciences scientists; scientists such as Academician O. Sodiqov and A. Abdukarimov played a large part. Later institutes of genetics and scientific centres specialising in genetic engineering (the “Geninmar” programme and centre) were set up. The main direction is cotton: scientists isolated and cloned several dozen genes that determine fibre length, early flowering and tolerance of stresses (drought, salinity, disease), and worked on obtaining cotton varieties with high agronomic performance by changing the activity of these genes by “gene knockout”. In medicine, molecular diagnosis of dangerous infectious and hereditary diseases by PCR, work on detecting hepatitis B and a vaccine against it, and a study of the inheritance of cardiomyopathy were carried out. In forensic medicine DNA fingerprinting (identifying a person by DNA sequence) is used. In the environmental direction, research was done on transferring genes of Pseudomonas bacteria that break down pesticide residues in soil and groundwater into bacteria of the cotton rhizosphere. The current task is to create high-yielding crop varieties resistant to water shortage, salinity, diseases and pests.