© 2018 The Japan Mendel Society Cytologia 83(3): 223–228 Cytologia Focus: Karyotype and Chromosome Behavior Analyses in Three Regions of the Indomalayan Realm Shigeyuki Kawano* Functional Biotechnology PJ, Future Center Initiative, The University of Tokyo, Wakashiba, Kashiwa, Chiba 277–0871, Japan Received August 23, 2017; accepted September 6, 2018 Summary The Wada Memorial Award was created in 2011 to encourage the submission of high-quality papers to Cytologia. Coincidentally, the first to fourth holders of the award were experts in karyotype and chromosome analyses among the three regions of the Indomalayan biogeographic realm. Most of Indomalaya was originally covered by tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, with high biodiversity that is currently at risk due to various anthropogenic influences. Karyotype and chromosome analyses provide an essential foundation for main- taining biodiversity through conservation; therefore, in this paper, we focus recent their contributions of the early Wada Memorial Award winners to the three regions of Indomalayan Key words Chromosome behavior, Endangered species, Endemic species, Indomalaya, Karyotype. Biogeographic realms are large spatial regions within and R. C. Gupta at the Department of Botany of Punjabi which ecosystems share a broadly similar biological evo- University (Fig. 1A), have been studying the ploidy and lutionary history (Udvardy 1975). Eight terrestrial bio- meiosis of plants in North India (Saggoo and Kaur 2016, geographic realms, corresponding roughly to continents, Gupta et al. 2017a). North India is located mainly on are typically recognized. Holt et al. (2013) recently continental India, north of peninsular India. Toward its proposed 11 biogeographic realms according to the dis- north are the Himalayas, which define the boundary be- tribution of organisms and the phylogenic relationships tween the Indian subcontinent and the Tibetan plateau. among 21037 taxa of amphibians, birds, and mammals. To its west is the Thar Desert, shared between North In- The Indomalayan biogeographic realm extends across dia and Pakistan, and the Aravalli Range, beyond which most of South and Southeast Asia into the southern parts lies the Indian state of Gujarat. The Vindhya Mountains of East Asia (Fig. 1). Three distinctive characteristic are, in some interpretations, taken to be the southern areas within this realm have received particular attention boundary of North India. in Cytologia; these are North India, including Himalaya; The predominant geographical features of North India Bangladesh downstream of the Ganges and Brahmaputra (including Punjab) are the following three regions: the Rivers and around their delta; and Thailand, including Indo-Gangetic plain, which spans the states of Punjab, the Indochina Peninsula and the Northern Malay Penin- Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, and Bihar (Gupta et al. 2017a). sula. Research groups are actively performing karyotype The Himalayas, which span three states, Uttarakhand, analysis of local plants and animals in these regions. Himachal Pradesh, and Jammu and Kashmir, contain Four professors (Dr. Sheikh Shamimul Alam† at Dhaka many endemic species: Impatiens devendrae Pusalkar University, Bangladesh; Dr. Alongklod Tanomtong at (Kumar and Singhal 2016b) and Meconopsis aculeata Khon Kaen University, Thailand; and Drs. Vijay Kumar Royle (Kumar et al. 2016) in Uttarakhand, some mem- Singhal and Raghbir Chand Gupta at Punjabi University, bers of subclass Gamopetalae (Gupta et al. 2016a), India) representing these research groups each won the Achillea millefolium L. (Kaur et al. 2017), Astragalus Wada Memorial Award for their achievements from rhizanthus Royle ex Benth. (Kumar and Singhal 2016a), 2011 to 2014. Sedum oreades (Decne) R. Hamet (Kumar and Singhal 2016b), species of the genus Clematis L. (Kumar et al. North India, including Himalaya 2017), Melica persica Kunth (Kumari and Saggoo Several research groups, led mainly by V. K. Singhal 2016), Eremurus himalaicus Baker (Kumari and Sag- goo), Angelica glauca Edgew (Rani et al. 2016), Pteris * Corresponding author, e-mail: [email protected] cretica L. (Saggoo and Kaur 2017a), Adiantum DOI: 10.1508/cytologia.83.223 lunulatum Burm (Saggoo and Kaur 2017b), †Professor Dr Sheikh Shamimul Alam of Botany Department at Dhaka University (DU) died at a hospital in Singapore on 18 De- Anthoxanthum odoratum L. (Singhal and Kumari 2017), cember 2017. He was 57. some dicots (Singhal et al. 2016b), and Neurobasis 224 S. Kawano Cytologia 83(3) Fig. 1. Three regions (A, B, and C) within the Indomalayan biogeographic realm; these regions are further classified into five biomes: green, tropical rainforest; dark ocher, tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests; yellow-green, tropical and subtropical coniferous forests; light ocher, deserts and xeric shrublands; and pink, mangrove. chinensis L. (Walia et al. 2016) in Himachal Pradesh. germplasms. Various breeding procedures, such as hy- Species endemic to Jammu and Kashmir include bridization, mutation, and polyploidy breeding, are used Angelica glauca Edgew. (Rani et al. 2016), Lavatera to increase germplasm variability; these procedures rely cachemiriana Cambess (Saggoo et al. 2017), Heracleum on accurate quantification and qualification of genetic pinnatum C. B. Clarke (Singhal et al. 2016a), Tanacetum variability. Karyotype analysis provides preliminary artemisioides Sch. Bip. ex Hook. f. (Singhal et al. information about the genome of a specimen. It is stable 2016c), Physochlaina praealta (Decne) Miers (Singhal and specific to each individual. Probably due to the large et al. 2017). North India also encompasses the Thar number and small size of chromosomes, it was not possi- Desert, which lies mainly in the state of Rajasthan. ble to determine detailed karyotypes until recently. Endemic species of this desert include Abutilon indicum Conventional karyotype analysis alone remains unable (L.) Sweet (Gill and Kaur 2016), some members of the to express critical differences among species if they Agrostideae and Eragrosteae tribes (Gupta et al. 2017a, possess similar 2n chromosome numbers or other karyo- 2017b), and some members of the Paniceae tribe (Kaur type parameters. In such cases, a combination of modern and Gupta 2016). cytogenetic and molecular techniques is necessary to compare chromosomes between species. Professor Dr. Bangladesh downstream of the Ganges and Brahmapu- Sheikh Shamimul Alam† and his coworkers at the Bota- tra Rivers and around their delta ny Department at Dhaka University (Fig. 1B) have Bangladesh is located almost at the center of Indo- revealed the genetic diversity among Gossypium malaya. It is notable for its soil fertility, especially in the hirsutum L. germplasms and genotypes using chromo- Ganges Delta, Sylhet Division, and the Chittagong Hill mycin A3 (CMA) and 4′,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole Tracts. Agriculture is the largest economic sector in this (DAPI) banding, random amplification of polymorphic region, employing about 45% of the workforce. Thus, DNA (RAPD), and simple sequence repeat (SSR) molec- the agricultural sector has a major impact on employ- ular markers (Sultana and Alam 2016a, b, Hossain et al. ment, poverty alleviation, human resources develop- 2017). ment, and food security. More Bangladeshis earn their Coccinia grandis L. has an active XX–XY sex deter- living from agriculture than from any other sector. The mination system with male heterogametic and morpho- country is among the top producers of rice (fourth), po- logically distinguishable sex chromosomes. Both male tatoes (seventh), tropical fruits (sixth), jute (second), and and female plants have equal medicinal importance; farmed fish (fifth) worldwide. Cotton (Gossypium spp.) therefore, this plant has long been used as traditional is the most important cash crop in Bangladesh after jute. medicine by the local people of Bangladesh. As a con- Cotton is a major natural fiber crop that provides edible sequence, C. grandis is now under threat. Scientists oil and seed by-products for livestock food. are working to conserve and to create awareness about A successful breeding program depends on a com- the proper use of this plant. The genetic information of plete knowledge and understanding of the genetic diver- a plant is essential to this type of conservation work. sity within and among the genetic resources of available Through a combination of cytogenetic and molecular 2018 Chromosome Studies in Three Regions of the Indomalayan Realm 225 analyses, male and female C. grandis from Bangladesh andamanensis (Supiwong et al. 2017b), Synchiropus were characterized for the first time (Hossain et al. ocellatus, S. picturatus (Kasiroek et al. 2017c), Axis axis 2016). These researchers also used the same combi- (Khongcharoensuk et al. 2017), Plectorhinchus pictus nation of analyses to obtain genetic information for (Jantarat et al. 2017a), Micronema cheveyi (Pinthong Cicer arietinum L. (Begum and Alam 2016), Gynura et al. 2017b), Scolopsis vosmeri (Patawang et al. 2017d), nepalensis DC. (Begum and Alam 2017), Ocimum spp. and Crassostrea iredalei (Chooseangjaew et al. 2018). (Dash et al. 2017), Oxalis L. spp. (Bonna et al. 2017), Professor Tanomtong won the second Wada Memorial and Asparagus L. spp. (Akter et al. 2017) within a short Award for this achievement. time span. The chickpea (C. arietinum L.) plays an Khon Kaen is a rural city in northern Thailand important role in human nutrition as a source of protein, (Trisurat et al. 2018). Covering an area of