Bala, M. | Search bioRxiv

bioRxiv2020

Survey, Identification and Evaluation of biodiversity of Seabuckthorn (Hippophae salicifolia) in hills of Uttarakhand

Extensive studies were carried out during 2017-2019 to evaluate the Hippophae salicifolia (Seabuckthorn) biodiversity in Uttarakhand for their physico-chemical/biochemical parameters of ripe fruits like acidity (1.78-3.01 %), pH (2.15-2.87), Vitamin C (271-494mg/100g), Total soluble solids (5.1-9.8) etc. Variation was also observed in fruit color (light yellow, yellow, light yellow orange, orange and orange red), fruit size (length 6.29-8.77mm, width 4.80-7.59mm), Juice (44.23-76.18%), Pomace (8.01-28.30%) and seed (6.8-21.1%). On the basis of above parameters, promising morphotypes were identified and conserved at field gene bank at DIBER field station, Auli (Joshimath) 3142m AMSL.

plant biology↗

bioRxiv2020

Integrated genomic view of SARS-CoV-2 in India

India first detected SARS-CoV-2, causal agent of COVID-19 in late January-2020, imported from Wuhan, China. March-2020 onwards; importation of cases from rest of the countries followed by seeding of local transmission triggered further outbreaks in India. We used ARTIC protocol based tiling amplicon sequencing of SARS-CoV-2 (n=104) from different states of India using a combination of MinION and MinIT from Oxford Nanopore Technology to understand introduction and local transmission. The analyses revealed multiple introductions of SARS-CoV-2 from Europe and Asia following local transmission. The most prevalent genomes with patterns of variance (confined in a cluster) remain unclassified, here, proposed as A4-clade based on its divergence within A-cluster. The viral haplotypes may link their persistence to geo-climatic conditions and host response. Despite the effectiveness of non-therapeutic interventions in India, multipronged strategies including molecular surveillance based on real-time viral genomic data is of paramount importance for a timely management of the pandemic.

microbiology↗