Department Of Botany

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Author: search.filters.author.Bast, FelixSubject: search.filters.subject.Algae

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    Arctic biodiversity amidst looming climate apocalypse: Current status and way forward
    (Elsevier, 2021-08-27T00:00:00) Rani, Alka; Gupta, Kriti; Saini, Khem Chand; Narwal, Sahil; Bast, Felix
    Arctic region is at the forefront of climate crisis; this is where the planet is warming maximally and the effects of climate change are most obvious. In this review, we introduce the topic in broader perspective by discussing first on why Arctic biodiversity matters, and scientific evidences for a changing Arctic biodiversity due to climate change. The Arctic then dwells into the current status of Arctic biodiversity covering species diversity and its conservation status with an emphasis on species important for bioprospecting. Subsequently, threats to Arctic biodiversity will be reviewed including climate change, shipping, oil exploration, overfishing, and overharvesting. This essay would then further deliberate why Arctic matters to India in particular. Himadri-Indian research station at Svalbard, Norway-will be briefed followed by an overview of Svalbard Global Seed Vault and why signing a pact with this international facility would benefit the country. The essay concludes with final thoughts and way forward including strategies to minimize Arctic biodiversity loss, UN SDGs (Ssustainable Ddevelopment Ggoals), and climate action. � 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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    Molecular data reveals two new species of Hypnea (Cystocloniaceae, Rhodophyta) from India: Hypnea indica sp. Nov. And Hypnea bullata sp. Nov.
    (De Gruyter Open Ltd, 2021-03-22T00:00:00) Kundu, Pushpendu; Bast, Felix
    We used three molecular markers (COI-5P, rbcL and UPA) to investigate the diversity of Hypnea spp., an economically important red algal genus, collected from India. Our concatenated tree (COI-5P and rbcL) supported the monophyly of two new species, Hypnea indica sp. nov. and Hypnea bullata sp. nov. H. indica diverged from its closest two sister species, Hypnea cervicornis and Hypnea tenuis (by 15.9 and 11.2%, respectively, in COI-5P; and 3.4 and 3.2% in rbcL). We describe H. indica as a new species characterised by an erect, percurrent main axis with spinelike branchlets in acute angles, straight and forked apices, axial cells surrounded by large periaxial cells or two cells similar in size to the axial cell, and the presence of lenticular thickening in the cross-section of the thallus. H. bullata diverged from its closest sister species, Hypnea brasiliensis (by 10.9% in COI-5P and 3.3% in rbcL). H. bullata is characterized by a prostrate thallus up to 1.5 cm in height, highly anastomosed, with an axial cell surrounded by similar sized, or smaller, periaxial cells, tetrasporangia present near the base of branchlets, and the presence of lenticular thickening. � 2021 De Gruyter. All rights reserved.
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    Arctic biodiversity amidst looming climate apocalypse: Current status and way forward
    (Elsevier, 2021-08-27T00:00:00) Rani, Alka; Gupta, Kriti; Saini, Khem Chand; Narwal, Sahil; Bast, Felix
    Arctic region is at the forefront of climate crisis; this is where the planet is warming maximally and the effects of climate change are most obvious. In this review, we introduce the topic in broader perspective by discussing first on why Arctic biodiversity matters, and scientific evidences for a changing Arctic biodiversity due to climate change. The Arctic then dwells into the current status of Arctic biodiversity covering species diversity and its conservation status with an emphasis on species important for bioprospecting. Subsequently, threats to Arctic biodiversity will be reviewed including climate change, shipping, oil exploration, overfishing, and overharvesting. This essay would then further deliberate why Arctic matters to India in particular. Himadri-Indian research station at Svalbard, Norway-will be briefed followed by an overview of Svalbard Global Seed Vault and why signing a pact with this international facility would benefit the country. The essay concludes with final thoughts and way forward including strategies to minimize Arctic biodiversity loss, UN SDGs (Ssustainable Ddevelopment Ggoals), and climate action. � 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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    Molecular data reveals two new species of Hypnea (Cystocloniaceae, Rhodophyta) from India: Hypnea indica sp. Nov. And Hypnea bullata sp. Nov.
    (De Gruyter Open Ltd, 2021-03-22T00:00:00) Kundu, Pushpendu; Bast, Felix
    We used three molecular markers (COI-5P, rbcL and UPA) to investigate the diversity of Hypnea spp., an economically important red algal genus, collected from India. Our concatenated tree (COI-5P and rbcL) supported the monophyly of two new species, Hypnea indica sp. nov. and Hypnea bullata sp. nov. H. indica diverged from its closest two sister species, Hypnea cervicornis and Hypnea tenuis (by 15.9 and 11.2%, respectively, in COI-5P; and 3.4 and 3.2% in rbcL). We describe H. indica as a new species characterised by an erect, percurrent main axis with spinelike branchlets in acute angles, straight and forked apices, axial cells surrounded by large periaxial cells or two cells similar in size to the axial cell, and the presence of lenticular thickening in the cross-section of the thallus. H. bullata diverged from its closest sister species, Hypnea brasiliensis (by 10.9% in COI-5P and 3.3% in rbcL). H. bullata is characterized by a prostrate thallus up to 1.5 cm in height, highly anastomosed, with an axial cell surrounded by similar sized, or smaller, periaxial cells, tetrasporangia present near the base of branchlets, and the presence of lenticular thickening. � 2021 De Gruyter. All rights reserved.
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    Seaweeds Ancestors of Land Plants with Rich Diversity
    (Indian Academy of Science, 2014) Bast, Felix
    Seaweeds are taxonomically diverse group of marine plants from which the land plants diverged over fifty crore years ago. Traditionally having been classified based on plant color as green, brown and red, modern molecular systematic evidences suggest that these plants are extraordinarily diverse. A number of seaweeds are edible and have been projected as a future food source. Seaweeds are also important to humanity in a number of ways, including as a source of medicines, food supplements, industrial chemicals, and as a potential candidate for biofuel research and CCS (carbon capture and sequestration). This article introduces the readers to the fascinating world of marine biology in general and seaweeds in particular, with an emphasis on Indian flora.
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    Taxonomic reappraisal of Monostromataceae (Ulvophyceae: Chlorophyta) based on multi-locus phylogeny
    (Taylor and Francis Ltd., 2015) Bast, Felix
    Monostromataceae have been considered a morphologically discrete group of green algae having thalli made up of a single layer of cells; the family is ubiquitous in intertidal zones of marine and estuarine habitats across the world., However, this view blocks the real complexity of these algae. Using phylogeny reconstruction methods based on five independent molecular data sets (namely, ITS1, ITS2, 5.8S, nrDNA 18S, and rbcL), evolutionary history of this family was inferred for the first time. Results show that monostromatacean algae that have the typical Codiolum-stage sporophyte in the life cycle belong to three clades within Ulotrichales. The present study also suggests that both Ulotrichales and Ulvales are polyphyletic. This report demonstrates for the first time that the 5.8S gene, an often overlooked nucleoribosomal cistron, is a powerful locus for algal phylogeny reconstruction at higher taxonomic levels. ? 2015 ? 2015 Dipartimento di Biologia, Universit? di Firenze.
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    Brown barcoded as red but reality is green! How epiphytic green algae confuse phycologists?
    (Taylor and Francis Ltd., 2015) Bast, Felix; Bhushan, S.; John, A.A.
    Promises and perils of DNA barcoding are now well-known, but no studies have revealed the extent of taxonomic misidentification of algal specimens available in primary DNA sequence repositories. Our original objective was to assess the molecular identity of the ubiquitous brown alga Turbinaria ornata (Sargassaceae:, Fucales) from the southeast Indian coast. We extracted total genomic DNA from freshly collected algal thalli and sequenced the nuclear ribosomal DNA Internal Transcribed Spacer-1 (nrDNA ITS1) barcode locus. Following a BLASTn DNA sequence similarity search, the identity of our alga was Laurencia thyrsifera, a Pacific red alga that has never been reported in India, which came as a big surprise. Further analyses of BLAST hits using a robust phylogenetic framework of Bayesian Inference led to the conclusion that our sequence belonged to an epiphytic Ulvellacean green algal genus Ulvella, which might have been extracted and amplified with our universal ITS primers. This is the first report for Ulvella from India, and detection of this alga growing on Turbinaria. Our Bayesian analyses revealed that a number of GenBank accessions of this epiphyte are misidentified as red algae, which are published in some of the reputed phycological and botanical journals. This finding could have a profound impact on several of the fallacious phylogenetic conclusions arrived at in these publications. ? 2015 Dipartimento di Biologia, Universit? di Firenze.