Fern Metagenome Database

Objective:

Assessing the Biodiversity and Conservation of Ferns of Sundarbans through Metagenomic Profiling

Background:

The mangroves can be considered as the protectors of the landmass near the coasts.This type of vegetation covers almost a quarter of the total coastline around the world. The mangrove population acts as a protecting element of the coastal areas against rising sea levels and land erosion. The mangroves assist in absorbing the shocks created by the waves during tidal activities and also during natural calamities like tsunamis hence protect the adjacent land area from being swept away. The Sundarbans, located at the deltaic region of the rivers Ganga, Brahmaputra and Meghna, is a UNESCO World Heritage site. Itcovers a sprawling area of roughly about 10,000 square miles is the area containing the highest population of mangroves in India and Bangladesh. Only about forty percent of this pristine forest is found on the Indian side, the rest spreads over Bangladesh. The area has not yet been thoroughly studied as far as the Indian part of the forest is concerned. The mangrove regions are not very rich in fern populations apart from a very few varieties. The work here has been focused on the Rhizospheric and Root endophytic microbial populations of the small number of pteridophytes that are found there. They may act as a key biomarker for detecting change in pollution levels due to anthropogenic influence and global warming. Hence the available epiphytic, terrestrial and semi aquatic ferns have been subjected to Rhizospheric and Root endophytic metagenome analysis to detect the microbial population. The pathogenic load of the key microbes detected from the alpha diversity has also been taken into account. There are seven ferns which have been selected which include Acrostichum aureum, also termed as the Tiger fern, which is predominantly available as a terrestrial fern, Drynaria or the Basket fern, Pyrrosia and Microsorum which are epiphytic in nature and Ceratopteris,Christella dentata and Marsilea which has been found from the edges of rice fields, growing in a semi-aquatic habitat. The area covered include Rangabelia, Satjelia, Lux Bagan(Sudhansupur) and Kumirmari. The metagenomic populations thriving in the Rhizospheric region of the said ferns may act as key markers for their growth and existence in the mangrove habitat. The endophytic microbiota may also have rich influence in the normal growth of the ferns.

OVERALL APPROVED OBJECTIVES OF THE PROJECT:

• To identify the distribution of ferns in the inhabited and uninhabited zones of the Sunderbans as well as within the core forest area.
• To assess the soil characteristics of the areas under study, and link the species abundance to soil characters.
• To assess the metagenomic profile of the soil as well as the frond base of each specimen under study and correlate the similarities and dissimilarities.
• To corroborate all data and develop a comprehensive resource for mangrove associated metagenome.