<div>Background: Myostatin (MSTN) is a highly conserved protein that acts as a negative regulator of skeletal muscle growth. MSTN gene is closely associated with multiple biological functions and its mutations are directly linked to muscle development in different species.&nbsp;Loss of MSTN functionality causes the phenotype to appear in the form of &lsquo;double musculature&rsquo;, among others in cattle, sheep and house mice. 
 
Methods: The mixed DNA pool of Boer and Dazu black goats to sequence MSTN coding and noncoding regions. Snapshot typing technology was used to analyse three goat production types, namely, Boer (meat goats), Nubian (breast and meat dual-use goat), Dazu black (local breeds) and Youzhou black goats (local breeds). Polymorphic loci in MSTN were used from four goat populations to&nbsp;construct haplotypes and calculate haplotype frequency distribution through NETWORK and MEGA to construct a phylogenetic tree and visualize phylogenetic relationship. 
 
Result: From these populations, 18 haplotypes were constructed using 20 polymorphic loci. Phylogenetic analysis revealed a significant difference in the haplotype distribution of MSTN in different goat production types. The 18 haplotypes were divided into two clusters. The haplotypes carried by the Boer goat belonged to Cluster I and those carried by the Nubian goat and two local goat breeds belonged to both clusters. Chinese local goats and complex production goats carried more haplotypes of MSTN and had a richer genetic diversity than other production types did. Moreover, local and complex production goats had high-frequency haplotypes of the MSTN of meat goats and had high potential for breeding.</div>

<div style="text-align:justify">Genetic Diversity Identification and Haplotype Distribution of Myostatin Gene in Goats</div>

<div>Background: Harike wetland (31&deg;08&cent; N to 31&deg;23&cent; N latitudes and 74&deg;90&cent; E to 75&deg;12&cent; E longitudes) is an internationally important Ramsar site, supports rare, vulnerable and endangered plants, fish and other faunal species. Weed infestation, pollution and encroachment are considered as important threats of its biota thus time series data with respect to fish diversity, catch composition and genetic variability has an utter importance to interpret changes over time. Cyprinidae family of freshwater fishes includes carps is the largest fish family found in Harike wetland comprising around 50% of total fish composition by weight basis and among carps, Rohu (Labeo rohita) is one of the commercially important food fish species available throughout the year and preferred by consumers. As river Beas and Sutlej, two major rivers of Indus river system confluence at Harike thus possibility of variation within fish stock is very high. With this background present study was carried out to evaluate the fish biodiversity and catch composition of Harike wetland. Study also emphasized on biometrics, length &ndash;weight relationship and genetic diversity based on mitochondrial marker genes of commercially important food fish Labeo rohita. 
 
Methods: Assessment of fish catch composition and diversity were conducted in landing centre adjacent to Harike wetland through Rapid Fisheries Assessment by Market Survey (RFAMS) technique. Fin tissue samples were collected for genetic diversity analysis of L. rohita by cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI) gene sequencing, From the fish genomic DNA a partial fragment of approximately 655bp was PCR amplified by FishF1 (5&#39;-TCAACCAACCACAAAGACATTGGCAC-3&#39;) and FishR1 (5&#39;-TCGACTAATCATAAAGATATCGGC AC-3&#39;) primer pair. &nbsp;Calculation of intraspecific mean and pairwise distances was performed by MEGA 6.0 software using the K2P parameters 
 
Result: Total 30 species of fishes were recorded from Harike wetland and these belong to 14 families and 21 genera. In L. rohita average weight (Wt), total length (TL), standard length (SL) and forked length (FL) were recorded 2600&plusmn;5.64g (1700-3600 g), 58.2&plusmn;5.65 cm (51.3-67.6cm), 48.0&plusmn;8.54 cm (42.5-55.5cm) and 46.0&plusmn;0.25 cm (38.0-54.5cm), respectively. &nbsp;Biometric study revealed that sufficient numbers of mature L. rohita are available in wetland. L. rohita established negative algometric growth (b= 2.701); thus species became slender as it increased in length. The pairwise distances ranged from 0.00 to 18.49% with a mean &plusmn;S.E value of 4.70%&plusmn;0.40. Total of 9 haplotypes were observed in L. rohita COI sequences. The diversity in haplotype and nucletide values were observed 0.848 and 0.024, respectively. The present study states that L. rohita stocks in Harike wetland are genetically diverse.&nbsp;</div>

<div>Study on Biometric Parameters and Genetic Diversity of Labeo rohita from Harike Wetland-A Ramsar Site</div>

<div>In Assam wild populations of great Indian rhinoceros are found in three protected areas namely Kaziranga National Park, Orang&nbsp;National Park and Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary. But it remains an area of investigation whether these three populations are homogeneous or not. To resolve this matter present genetic study was performed on mitochondrial DNA control region by using non invasive dung samples collected from the three natural habitats. The study showed a high level of genetic diversity of rhinoceros population in three habitats of Assam with 24 haplotypes from 196 samples and 21 variable sites in 413bp long nucleotide sequences was recorded. The Fst value also showed differences between the groups; and significant values obtained between Kaziranga and Pobitora with Orang groups. AMOVA analyses revealed the total genetic diversity is 91.62% and diversity between populations is only 8.38%. Thus the higher genetic variability found in Indian rhinoceros populations is important for future survivability, management and translocation to new habitat.</div>

<div>Mitochondrial D-loop Genetic Diversity Studies of Rhinoceros unicornis in Assam, India</div>

Background: This study aimed to investigate genetic diversity and phylogeographic structure of seven icefish populations from Yunnan freshwater lakes, Southwestern China. 
 
Methods: All 116 COI and 130 Cytb sequences from seven icefish populations were mainly used for genetic diversity, phylogeographic structure and demographic history analyses. 
 
Result: Genetic diversity analysis showed low mtDNA diversity in seven icefish populations. In the COI tree, Neosalanx sp., N. tangkahkeii and N. taihuensis samples formed a monophyletic clade with a 100% bootstrap support rate and the same occurred in the Cytb tree where our sequences, together with those of N. taihuensis and N. tangkahkeii, formed a monophyletic clade with the same high support rate. Haplotype network analysis showed that all haplotypes did not cluster separately. Genetic variation mainly occurred within populations, as revealed by the AMOVA analysis. A Mantel test proved that there was no correlation existing between genetic and geographical distances. Moreover, the entire dataset of icefish populations showed signs of population expansion. Overall, these findings suggest relatively low genetic diversity and no significant phylogeographic structure of icefish in these lakes and also imply that besides N. taihuensis, N. tangkahkeii may inhabit the seven freshwater lakes.

Genetic Diversity and Phylogeographic Structure of Icefishes (Salangidae) from Chinese Freshwater Lakes

<div>Background: Common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) is a valuable source of starch, proteins and minerals in the human diet. Starch, a major component of bean seeds, is composed of amylose and amylopectin and the content of amylose is important for affecting the quality of bean-derived food products. However, limited information is available on amylose assessment in bean. 
 
Methods: In this study, for a total of 300 bean landraces, we evaluated the seed amylose content and characterized twenty agronomic traits and analyzed the granule-bound starch synthase 1a (GBSS1a) gene haplotypes, which are likely to be associated with amylose content. Also, the correlation of amylose content with agronomic traits and GBSS1a gene haplotypes were determined. 
 
Result: Bean landraces showed diverse phenotypes, highly variable amylose content (39.95-63.57%) and three GBSS1a haplotypes (YP, YQ and NP). Correlation analysis revealed that seed size and seed weight were significantly correlated with amylose content and NP-type beans contained more amylose than YQ-type beans. Although these correlations could not fully explain the tremendous amount of variation in seed amylose content in bean germplasm, information on starch composition-related GBSS1a haplotypes and agronomic traits would facilitate genetic analyses and breeding research targeted toward improving the composition of bean starch.</div>

Association of Seed Amylose Content with Agronomic Traits and GBSS1a Haplotypes in Common Bean Landraces

Background: The majority of dog breeds and germplasm in India remain largely unexplored, with no previous studies conducted on the population structure of owned dogs. This study aimed to fill this gap by identifying haplotypes and exploring population structure among different breeds of dogs using genome-wide distributed SNPs. 
&nbsp; 
Methods: The research utilized custom double-digest restriction site-associated DNA sequencing genotyping-by-sequencing (ddRAD-GBS) with Illumina 150bp paired-end sequencing of 50 dog samples, resulting in 2,18,433 high-quality SNPs meeting the screening criteria. Results were obtained on 46 dog samples which were analyzed for population structure and haplotype identification using bash and R-environment. Three haplotypes (located on AFAP1, CELSR1 and GBGT1 genes) were selected based on SNP density and haplotype length for validation via PCR, followed by paired-end Sanger sequencing in seven different dog breeds (n = 21). 
&nbsp; 
Result: The results revealed significant connections between dog breeds from Punjab and Haryana, with less pronounced affiliation with Karnataka. Sequencing results showed that CELSR1 and GBGT1 genes contained SNPs, while the AFAP1 gene did not. These findings provided insights into the molecular-level population structure, SNPs and haplotypes of diverse dog breeds in India. The SNP variation identified could be utilized for the molecular characterization of indigenous dogs. 
&nbsp; 
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Tracing India&rsquo;s Canine Heritage Through SNP-based Haplotype Identification

<div style="text-align: justify;">Genetic diversity among 54 genotypes of field and garden pea of India were studied using 30 RAPD primers. A total of 168 amplicons were scored, of which 154 were polymorphic revealing 89.3% of polymophism. Out of 30 RAPD primers tested, 22 primers produced clear and reproducible bands. The number of products generated by these primers ranged from 04 to 14 with primer OPU-17 giving maximum (14) and primer OPC-08 giving minimum number of amplicons (04). Genetic similarity estimates based on the binomial data using Jaccard&rsquo;s coefficient ranged from 0.34 (Kaza-2/IC-218991) to 0.89 (IC-209118/IC-209123) with an average similarity index of 0.54 exhibiting considerable diversity among the pea genotypes studied. The dendrogram showed clear pattern of clustering according to the source of germplasm. This study indicated that Himalayan region germplasm exhibited higher diversity.&nbsp;</div>

Diversity analysis of pea genotypes using RAPD markers

<div>Background: Intercropping and mixed cropping based on two or more different crops have been widely used in Insect Pest Management to manage the population density of insect pests in various crops like maize with soybean, sorghum with soybean and sunflower with soybean. Genotypic diversity is the mixture or combination of various varieties/lines/genotypes of a crop. It decreases the insect-pests population by unfitness of crop to them due to intraspecific diversity such as mixture of susceptible and resistant varieties. Also, it increases the natural enemy population more due to longer period of flowering, availability of wide diverse food, more movement of herbivores etc. This concept has also been used successfully to manage insect-pests in maize, wheat and potato. In India, this connect is used in very small scale in crop. The objective of this study was to determine effects of genotypic diversity by comparing the population densities of major insect pests between monoculture of single variety and mixture of varieties. 
 
Methods: To test the effects of genotypic diversity on soybean insect-pest and their natural enemy population an experiment was laid in kharif 2018 and 2019 at the ICAR-Indian Institute of Soybean Research, Indore. All recommended agronomic package of practices were followed for raising of crop. Randomized block design with three replication having plot size of 9 rows of 5 meter row length was used. Totally 20 treatments were chosen for this experiment and out of 20 four treatments namely, T1, T6, T11 and T16 were the treatments of four varietal mixture treatments of almost similar maturity duration and agronomic traits and rest of treatments were of sole varietal treatments. Observations were made on insect-pests from 10 selected plants in each plot on three leaves selected at top, middle and lower portion of plant. 
 
Result: Effects of genotypic diversity in soybean revealed that for whitefly management T11 (NRC-86, JS-335, JS-2098 and RKS-45) was found most effective treatment. In case of mite, thrips and treehoppers management T1 (JS-9560, JS-20-34, MAUS-47 and MAUS-1460) was found most effective treatment. For leafhopper and mealy bug T6 (JS-9305, JS-2029, RVS-2001-4 and Dsb-28-3) was found most effective treatment. While for spittlebug T16 (NRC-37, JS-9752, RSC-1046 and RKS-113) was found most effective treatment. So, genotypic diverse treatments were found more effective than their respective sole varietal treatments.</div>

<div>&nbsp;</div>

​Effects of Genotypic Diversity on Insect-pests of Soybean

<div style="text-align:justify">Modern intensive monocropping system is becoming unproductive, pest ridden, loss incurring, and resource depleting and hence turning out to be untenable. Lack of discrimination in input use by farm managers and overall poor management are accelerating degradation and desertification processes, and loss of biodiversity particularly add in endangered regions. &nbsp;While, properly designed diverse and strategically located tree/seasonal crop based land use systems can contribute to ecologic services by mitigation land degradation, climate change and desertification, while conserving natural resources and biodiversity. Besides providing, diverse goods and services, on-farm diversity can be considered as an adoptive strategy in areas climatically and biologically vulnerable. Being a potential C sink, tree based land use systems can also mitigate negative impacts of CO2 emission. As green belt/bank these have an important role in maintaining air, water and soil quality in mining and industrial areas. The so-called cellulosic feedstocks can be grown on marginal land, enhance soil fertility by promoting the growth of various soil organisms, and provide a climate- friendly source of energy. There are plenty of underexploited but potential plant species which can find niche in the existing agroecosystems with substantial addition to total production while contributing sufficiently to ecological services. These needs to be identified and useful models are developed for specific situations.</div>

On-farm crop diversity for sustainability and resilience in farming - A review

<div>Background: A very little study has been conducted on the phylogenetic diversity of Nepalese indigenous goats where four breeds, Khari, Chyangra, Terai and Sinhal, have been identified.&nbsp; 
 
Methods: The 625-bp long sequences of the mitochondrial DNA hyper-variable region obtained from 93 goats in this study revealed high haplotype diversity among breeds, which come under four haplogroups (A-D). 
 
Result: The study demonstrated a certain level of gene flow among the neighboring goat populations exhibiting no correspondence between the geographic regions of origin and relationships among breeds. The complex mtDNA diversity and structure identified among indigenous Nepalese goats can be explained by gene flow through ancient trading and the current &lsquo;free&rsquo; movement of goats across the geographic vicinities in India and China. Furthermore, HapG B showed the southward direction of gene flow which does not cross the Himalayas, whereas HapG B1 revealed the South-West gene flow from the claimed domestication center for HapG B, China, to Nepal.</div>

Genetic Diversity Identification and Haplotype Distribution of Myostatin Gene in Goats

Study on Biometric Parameters and Genetic Diversity of Labeo rohita from Harike Wetland-A Ramsar Site

Mitochondrial D-loop Genetic Diversity Studies of Rhinoceros unicornis in Assam, India

Genetic Diversity and Phylogeographic Structure of Icefishes (Salangidae) from Chinese Freshwater Lakes

Association of Seed Amylose Content with Agronomic Traits and GBSS1a Haplotypes in Common Bean Landraces

Tracing India’s Canine Heritage Through SNP-based Haplotype Identification

Diversity analysis of pea genotypes using RAPD markers

Effects of Genotypic Diversity on Insect-pests of Soybean

On-farm crop diversity for sustainability and resilience in farming - A review

Origin and Genetic Diversity of Nepalese Indigenous Goats (Capra hircus)