Jute’s genome sequencing opens new prospects: Bangladesh PM

DHAKA - Bangladeshi scientists have successfully sequenced genomes of jute, creating new potentials for its production, conservation and characterisation, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has said.

The discovery, she told parliament Wednesday, would help improve production quality of jute and its fibre as well as climate resilient varieties.

The discovery of genome sequencing of jute would, she said, facilitate better pest control and better finished industrial products out of jute.

She congratulated a group of scientists, led by Maqsudul Alam, a Bangladeshi professor of microbiology at the University of Hawaii, USA, in collaboration with the departments of bio-technology and bio-Chemistry at Dhaka University, for the discovery.

“We are proud of our scientists,” said Sheikh Hasina.

“Once called the cash-crop of Bangladesh,” she hoped, “jute will regain the lost heritage as the golden fibre,” New Age quoted her as saying.

Jute is Bangladesh’s major commodity whose cultivation and production has been falling, hitting foreign exchange earnings.

“The discovery of genome sequencing of jute would, she said, facilitate better pest control and better finished industrial products out of jute.

Genome sequencing is a laboratory process that determines the DNA sequence of an organism’s genome.

In biology and genetics, a genome is the particular number and combination of certain chromosomes necessary to form the single nucleus of a living cell.

Sheikh Hasina asked for taking immdediate measures to safeguard Bangladesh’s intellectual property rights over the discovery.