New Delhi: Using a polyphasic methodology, researchers from Banaras Hindu University identified the first new genus of cyanobacteria from the Jammu and Kashmir region.
One of the earliest evolved oxygenic photoautotrophic, nitrogen-fixing, and prokaryotic microorganisms that is in charge of oxygenating the Earth's atmosphere is the cyanobacterium.
Prashant Singh, an assistant professor in the BHU Department of Botany, and Naresh Kumar, a PhD student working under Singh's direction, carried out the study.
It is the first new genus of cyanobacteria to be discovered from the Jammu and Kashmir region using a polyphasic approach thanks to Naresh Kumar, the study's first author, who sampled the cyanobacterium from the union territory of Jammu & Kashmir. He then went on to characterise and establish it as a new genus.
"Maintaining the zeal and succession of new discoveries relevant to taxonomy [the study of identifying living things] of cyanobacteria," BHU said in an official release. "An Indo-US Collaboration coming forth through the Fulbright Program has led to the discovery of a new genus from Northern India."
The team has given the new genus the name Fulbrightiella in recognition of Senator James William Fulbright's outstanding achievements.
Prashant Singh, a professor at BHU, was awarded the Fulbright Nehru Academic and Professional Excellence Fellowship for 2020–2021. In the laboratory of his Fulbright host, Jeffrey R. Johansen at John Carroll University in Cleveland, Ohio, he completed a significant portion of this work.
At honour of Yajnavalkya Bharadwaja, who founded the Banaras School of Phycology in the Department of Botany at the Banaras Hindu University, one of the newly discovered species has been called Fulbrightiella bharadwajae.
Interestingly, the team has also described a new genus of cyanobacteria from the Hawaiian Islands in the same study, designating it Sherwoodiella in honour of renowned phycologist Alison R. Sherwood.
This work is a continuation of the cyanobacterial taxa that Singh's research team has discovered and described from various geographic locations. In addition to addressing the issue of biodiversity loss, the research team hopes to contribute to its protection by identifying, recording, and preserving various types of life. The group also included Sagarika Pal, Deeksha Mishra, and Aniket Saraf from RJ College in Mumbai (Department of Botany, BHU).
The paper has undergone peer review and been published in the distinguished journal of the Phycological Society of America, Journal of Phycology.
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