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It's
a long journey from Gregor Mendel—an Augustinian monk
who laid the foundation for modern genetics in 1866 by proposing
that inheritance of each trait is determined by `units'
that are passed on to the offspring unchanged, that an individual
inherits one such unit from each parent for each trait,
and that a trait may not show up in an individual but can
still be passed on to the next generation—to James
Watson and Francis Crick, the presenters of the structure
of the DNA-helix, the molecule that carries genetic information
from one generation to the other, in 1953, to Craig Venter,
the visionary biologist of the 21st century known
for his contributions to genomic research, who announced
on June 28, 2007 about his team successfully transforming
the bacteria, Mycoplasma capricolum, into another
type, Mycoplasma mycoides LC by transplanting
the chromosome of M. mycoides LC in M.
capricolum, to the modern day biologists. But certainly,
it is an exciting journey that almost brought them close
to unraveling of the mystery of life and its creation.
Genetic research
is today, perhaps, all set to open the `black boxes' of
biology. Indeed, exciting research is happening in biological
laboratories all around the globe. Biologists are no longer
satisfied with the mere description of a phenomenon or the
estimate of the magnitudes of biochemical or biophysical
events in quantitative terms. They are now venturing into
reconstruction of the mechanisms in which biological events
might have transpired. As David Valle of the HHMI unit at
The John Hopkins University, observed, we are going to have
an explosion of understanding, a thorough grasp about genetic
disorders, as biologists are getting ready "to make
animal models of the diseases such as genetic disorder of
the eye, and to study what happens at the tissue level in
a direct way".
In the fitness of
the excitement, IUP , which is in
the forefront of publishing research journals in the fields
of Science and Technology, Management, Economics, Law, and
Arts and Humanities, is launching the journal, The IUP Journal of Genetics & Evolution to disseminate
the latest knowledge in genetics and breeding among the
scientific community. We invite all those engaged in the
pursuit of unraveling of the mystery of life—its creation
and propagation and bettering its prospects further—to
make use of the journal as a platform for transmitting their
research experiences and gains.
The first article
of the maiden issue,"Molecular Tagging and Genetic
Characterization of Alleles at the Co -1 Anthracnose
Resistance Locus in Common Bean", by the authors,
Veronica A Vallejo and James D Kelly presents the findings
of the study carried out to develop a molecular marker linked
to the Co-12 gene using RAPD, AFLP, SSR
and BSA analysis and to map and characterize the Anthracnose
resistance in the Andean cultivar JaloEEP558.
The authors R Podder,
M G Rasul, A K M A Islam, M A K Mian and J U Ahmed of the
second article,"Genetic Analysis of Yield and Yield
Components in Snake Gourd (Trichosanthes anguina
L.)", have, in the light of very limited information
regarding the nature of gene effects and inheritance of
yield and yield contributing characters in snake gourd,
undertaken a study of 5 x 5 of diallel cross to estimate
the nature and extent of gene action of yield contributing
characters and presented their findings.
The authors N Okendro
Singh, S D Wahi and Amrit Kumar Paul of the third article,
"Optimum Sample Size for Estimating the Precision of
Heritability by Parent-Offspring Regression", have
presented the findings of their study carried out to find
the sample size for estimating the precision of heritability
by regression of offspring on parent as also to decide the
optimum number of bootstrap replications required for precision
of heritability using the simulated data for different values
of population parameters.
In the fourth article,"Phylogenetic
(16S rDNA) Analysis of a Strain of Streptomyces sp.
Isolated from Annamalainagar Soil", the authors, Prasad
G S, Sivakumar K and Manavalan R have presented their findings
relating to identification of one of the Streptomyces
sp. isolated from the soil of Annamalainagar,
Tamilnadu using phylogenetic confirmation technique.
The fifth article,
"Combining Ability Analysis Involving Five Male
Sterile Lines in Pearl Millet (Pennisetum glaucum (L.)
R. Br.) for Yield and Its Components", by the authors
M Vetriventhan, A Nirmalakumari, K Ganesamurthy, D Sudhakar,
S Ganapathy and T S Raveendran, presents the findings of
the study carried out to estimate the combining ability
of five male sterile lines of pearl millet as also the nature
of gene action.
The authors Lokesh,
R K Behl and Pankaj Bhatia of the sixth article, "Characterizing
Genotypic Variability Among Wheat Genotypes Varying for
Salinity Tolerance Using RAPD Markers", have presented
the findings of their study carried out to determine genetic
distance among five wheat genotypes varying for salinity
tolerance using 21 RAPD primers.
The authors R V
Karadi, E N Gaviraj, P E Rajasekharan, Resmi Joseph, Anuradha
Sane and V K Rao of the seventh article, "Assessment
of Callus in Different Genotypes of Nothapodytes nimmoniana
for Camptothecin Content", have presented the findings
of the study carried out to assess the effect of ecogeographycal
factors on the production of secondary metabolites in N.
nimmoniana.
In the last article,
"A Study on Genetic Distances Among Germplasm Accessions
of French Bean", the author Deepu Mathew has presented
the findings of the study carried out to identify the genetic
distances among French Bean accessions estimated through
hierarchical cluster analysis of non-transformed data.
We hope that you
find this maiden issue informative as well as interesting.
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GRK
Murty
Consulting Editor
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