Leading Bangalore-based biotechnology firm Avesthagen has launched a unique project to build a complete genetic, genealogical and medical database of India's Parsi community.

"The Rs 125-crore (Rs 1.25 billion) Avestagenome is a path-breaking project and will be instrumental in establishing the link between genes, diseases and environmental factors of the diminishing Parsi community," said Avesthagen founder managing director Villoo Morawala Patell.

"It will help us predict diseases and will play a catalytic role in development of new therapies and diagnostics," she said.

Parsi Zoroastrians, who now number about 69,000 in India, are an in-bred population resulting from the discouragement of inter-community marriages, company officials said.

It is important to accurately record the implications of inherited genes for diseases of this community, they added.

Avesthagen and its partners will collect samples from the community members along with complete genealogical (study and tracing of family tree) and medical information.

The samples will be processed through the sophisticated genomics facility at Avesthagen, equipped with high-speed polymorphism analysis systems (Sequenom, USA's MassARRAY) and ABI sequencers to identify causative genes, Patell said.

The data will be statistically analysed through Avesthagen's bio-informatics channels to process and create database, Patell said.

The project is expected to be completed in five years and is being implemented by a body of eminent stakeholders and opinion leaders within the community and comprising leading industrialists, clinicians, scientists and others, she said.

Avesthagen will bring in seed capital in the form of its high throughput genomics and bioinformatics facilities and other special expertise, she added.