1NewsletterQ4 2018

What’s Inside?The Power of FrankincensePlant Growth & Genome Sequencing Value in WasteYouth, Entrepreneurship & BiodiversityMacrofungi Project

Q4 2018Newsletter

For private circulation onlyTRANSFORMING GENETIC RESOURCES INTO VALUE

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NewsletterQ4 2018

Editorial

Microbial genetic resources associated with frankincense producing Boswellia sacra tree

Endophytic bacteria Sphingomonas sp. LK11 complete genome sequencing and its potential in plant growth

Under the Microscope With Dr Sivakumar Nallusamy

OAPGRC News

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As we begin a New Year, OAPGRC is proud to reflect on the considerable achievements and accomplishments of the year that we have now completed. Our efforts to protect and conserve Oman’s precious and valuable genetic resources have been reinforced through projects such as TAJMEE, the new Oman Biodiversity App, developed in collaboration with the Information Technology Authority and through the establishment of the National Seed Genebank at the University of Nizwa.

We take pride too in the great strides we have made in promoting the environmental importance and economic potential of our amazing biodiversity through initiatives such as the GenoBusiness Forum which also shared the fruits of research carried out in Oman with the international community. It was at the GenoBusines Forum that the Nawa range of beauty products was launched, highlighting the business possibilities and potential of Oman’s natural wealth. The Manafa’a Ideathon introduced this important subject to Oman’s ambitious young entrepreneurial community.

Through the Science Café Series we continued to inform and educate the general public on our wonderful natural world. OAPGRC research projects continued apace, investigating topics ranging from the Sultanate’s macrofungal species and Epibentic Diatom Communities to the Arabian Gazelle Population, the repatriation of native seed samples and more. In addition to this, in 2018 OAPGRC also added to its publications catalogue with the release of a variety of papers and volumes including the Arabic Translation of the Socioeconomic Plants Conservation Strategy for the Sultanate of Oman and Dr Michel R. Claereboudt’s Shallow Water Echinoderms of the Sultanate of Oman.

During the year, the OAPGRC Newsletter has played its part in demonstrating the importance of Oman’s genetic resources and showcasing the strength of Omani research into the plant, animal, marine and microbial kingdoms. And in this final volume of the year, we are delighted to present features on: the frankincense producing Boswellia sacra tree; the Sphingomonas sp genome; SQU’s Dr. Sivakumar Nallusamy and his research on the biotechnological applications of microorganisms; and the OAPGRC Macrofungi Project.

Editorial

I would like to take this opportunity to wish you a Happy New Year and look forward to welcoming you to the new OAPGRC headquarters on Innovation Park Muscat.

Dr. Nadiya Al SaadyExecutive DirectorOAPGRC

Our efforts to protect and conserve Oman’s precious and

valuable genetic resources have been reinforced through projects such as TAJMEE, the new Oman Biodiversity App, developed in

collaboration with the Information Technology Authority

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Chloroflexi, Candidatus, Latescibacteria, and Nitrospirae were not significantly different among three populations.

The abundances of genus among different population also varied greatly as around 191 different genera were observed throughout the data. For example, Chitinophaga, Steroidobacter, Opitutus, Ohtaekwangia, Streptomyces, Promicromonospora, Glycomyces, and Novosphingobium were significantly higher (P<0.0001; from 1.2 to 20.1%) in BSA rhizospheric samples as compared to BSD and BSW (Figure 5; Table S4). Gemmatimonas, Pirellula, and Lysobacter were significantly abundant (P<0.0001; from 1 to 6%) in BSD rhizospheric samples as compared to BSA and BSW. Phenylobacterium, Planctomyces, and Sphingomonas (P<0.008; from 1 to 8.6%) were significantly abundant in BSW rhizosphere as compared to BSA and BSD samples (Figure 5; Table S4). Whereas, Gemmatimonas, Ohtaekwangia, Gaiella, Mycobacterium, and Dongia were commonly distributed across the three rhizospheric samples from BSA, BSD and BSW (Figure 5; Table S4). In case of bacterial species, the abundance of uncultured bacteria was high across all the three samples. However, Gamma-proteobacterium, Acidobacteria sp., Planctomycete sp., Firmicutes sp., Actinomycete sp., Escherichia coli, Prevotella nanceiensis, Chloroflexi sp., Rubrobacter sp., Lactobacillus reuteri, Bacillus niabensis,

and Actinoplanes sp. were identified and distributed across the rhizosphere of BSA, BSD and BSW ranging from 0.5 to 6.28%.

127, 995 (BSA), 98,088 (BSD) and 75,979 (BSW), whereas, for bacterial communities, it was 146,650 (BSA), 199,516 (BSD) and 188,036 (BSW), suggesting lower read count/OTUs in wild than the cultivated population. A significantly higher (1006) bacterial and fungi (60.6) OTUs were revealed. BSA showed significantly higher (P<0.02; 102) fungal OTUs as compared to BSD and BSW populations whilst, BSD showed higher bacterial OTUs as compared with other two populations. The Shannon diversity indices was also higher for BSD (Figure 2).

In fungal phylum, Ascomycota, Basidiomycota, Chytridiomycota, Glomeromycota and Zygomycota were the abundant in BSA, BSD and BSW populations. Among populations, Ascomycota was significantly higher (P<0.001; 60%) in wild population (BSW), which was followed by BSA (47%) of B. sacra. Basidiomycota, on the other hand, was significantly higher (52%) in BSA rhizosphere. The results showed that Haematonectria was highly abundant (1.1 to 8.1%) in all the three populations. Where, Aspergillus, Exophiala, Coprinopsis and Veronaea were significantly higher (4 to 7.6%) only in BSA samples as compared to BSD and BSW samples. Glomus and Rhizophagus were solely abundant in BSD population. Contrarily, Chaetomium and Spizellomyces were highly abundant (4 to 7.8%) in BSW population as compared to other two samples.

In case of bacterial communities of B. sacra tree, Acidobacteria, Actinobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Proteobacteria, Planctomycetes, and Gemmatimonadetes were the highly abundant bacterial phyla. However, Acidobacteria, Planctomycetes. Gemmatimonadetes and Proteobacteria were significantly higher (from 5 to 29%) in BSD rhizosphere, whereas, Actinobacteria was significantly higher in BSW (27%). Bacteroidetes and Verrucomicrobia were significantly higher (from 4 to 28%) in BSA. Firmicutes was significantly higher (5.2%) in BSW as compared to other populations. Chlamydiae, Armatimonadetes,

Abstract Boswellia sacra, frankincense producing endemic to Oman, is least understood interms of its microbial symbiota. Using next generation sequencing approaches, we elucidated the microbial (bacterial and fungal) communities of rhizosphere region of the tree, which revealed the presence of 1006 ± 8.9 and 60.6 ± 3.1 operational taxonomic unit for bacterial and fungal communities, respectively. In fungi, Ascomycota in wild tree and Basidiomycota in cultivated tree rhizospheres were abundant. Similarly, 31 bacterial phyla were found, in which Actinobacteria in wild and Proteobacteria and Acidobacteria in cultivated trees were abundant. This variation was observed in exozymes, and indole acetic acid contents in wild and cultivated populations of the tree. The B. sacra tree rhizosphere shared core microbial communities, however, a significant variation in microbial diversity and structure existed between wildly growing trees and the cultivated ones.

Introduction Boswellia sacra is the economically important frankincense producing tree of the Sultanate of Oman (Raffaelli et al., 2003). Resin from Boswellia has been traded as incense from the southern coast of Arabia to the Mediterranean region for more than a millennium (Gebrehiwot et al., 2003). There are about twenty species of Boswellia, and Boswellia sacra is an endemic species that grows only in the Dhofar region of Oman. It is a keystone species that is known to provide an important oleo gum resin, which has long-standing cultural and medicinal history. The essential oil and boswellic acids have been known to possess potent anticancer activities (Al-Harrasi et al., 2008; Takahashi et al., 2012). The local population obtains solid and semi-solid resin (commonly known as Luban) by making a series of wounds/incisions in the bark of the tree (Figure 1). The annual production of frankincense ranges between 80 to 100 tons from nearly 500,000 trees (Farah, 2008; Eshete et al., 2012). In some areas, the collection of resin is an economically favorable use of land than crop production and accounts for the majority of a rural household’s income (Tolera et al., 2013). Very least is known about the microbial community profile of Boswellia sacra. Only

1 Natural and Medical Sciences Research Center, University of Nizwa, Oman

recently, El-Nagerabi et al. (2014) and Khan et al. (2016) have shown the endophytic microbial communities of the tree. In current study, the core fungal and prokaryotic communities, and their structure in the three population of B. sacra tree was elucidated through detailed metagenomics and bioinformatic approaches.

Methods Rhizospheric soil samples of Boswellia sacra three major location at Adonab (BSA; N17°20.47’ E054°04.51), Dowkah National Park (BSD; N19°4.89’ E054°22.81) and Dowkah valley (BSW; N19°07.76’ E054°25.43) of Sultanate of Oman in dry summer season. The mixture of rhizospheric soil samples were multiplexed and subject to total DNA extraction through combined manual and kit based methods. PCR free libraries of each DNA sample were made by amplifying the internal transcribe spacer (3F/4R (ITS3-4di) and 16S (V3-V4) for fungal and prokaryotic communities respectively (Coleman-Derr et al., 2016). A Paired-end 250 bp sequencing approach was performed on an Illumina MiSeq instrument (Illumina Inc., San Diego, CA, USA) operating with v2 chemistry (User Guide Part # 15027617 Rev. L). All quality sequences related to this project are available in the NCBI Sequence Read Archive (SRA) under project ID RA337739, BioProject PRJNA337739, 16S accessions (KY694695 – K694751), and ITS accessions (KY694662 – KY694694). Raw reads were contaminant-filtered, quality trimmed, merged and clustered to pro- taxonomic units (OTUs), respectively, at 95% and 97% identity using the USARCH pipeline. Taxonomies were assigned to each OTU using the RDP Naıve Bayesian Classifier (Wang et al., 2007) with custom reference databases. The detailed methods is mentioned in Khan et al. (2017).

Results We assessed the prokaryotic and fungal communities of the rhizosphere of three distinctive populations of B. sacra viz. (i) Adonab, (ii) Dowkah and their comparison with wildly grown tree population. A total of 678Mbp and 1.24Gbp of high quality read data was generated for fungal and bacterial microbial communities respectively. The average bases counted were 1,219,536 and 546,307 for fungi and bacterial microorganisms respectively. The mean GC content for ITS was 49.44%; whereas it was 58.32% for 16S. The mean read count of fungal communities was

Dr. Abdul Latif Khan Natural & Medical Sciences Research Center

University of Nizwa, Oman

Microbial genetic resources associated with frankincense producing Boswellia sacra tree Abdul Latif Khan, Ahmed Al-Harrasi, Sajjad Asaf, Ahmed Al-Rawahi, In-Jung Lee

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ConclusionThe current results provide a genomic baseline to further deepen our understanding of the complex microbe interactions with plants growing in arid land ecosystem and especially B. sacra. To a certain degree our results are in correlation with recent metagenomic data on the diversity of microbiomes associated with arid/semi-arid medicinal plants. These plants were studied for the first time. The identification of specific taxa particularly at genus levels can provide a new insight for future research work on the associated functions and inter-play of enriched species in rhizosphere of Boswellia species. We also predict that secretion of exozymes and essential metabolites at microbial community level can offer better opportunities for these plants to survive the harsh arid-land environmental conditions.

AcknowledgmentThis work was financially supported by the Oman Research Council, Open Research Grant Project (ORG/EBR/15/007). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

Fig 2.Distribution of bacterial communities operational taxonomic units (OTUs) and Chao-1 of each replica from data generated through MiSeq sequencing (16S and ITS) of the rhizospheric samples from wild and cultivated rhizosphere of B. sacra tree

Boswellia sacra is the economically important frankincense producing

tree of the Sultanate of Oman (Raffaelli et al., 2003). Resin from

Boswellia has been traded as incense from the southern coast of Arabia to the Mediterranean

region for more than a millennium (Gebrehiwot et al., 2003)

Fig 1.Plant habitats and their location. B. scara growing in wild and in cultivated conserved areas.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/rv1v1g0t62tv7cy/Metagenomic20%plosone.pdf?dl=0To read the paper, please click on the link

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Endophytic bacteria Sphingomonas sp. LK11 complete genome sequencing and its potential in plant growth

AbstractOur study aimed to elucidate the plant growth-promoting characteristics and the structure and composition of Sphingomonas sp. LK11 genome using the Single Molecule Real Time (SMRT) sequencing technology of Pacific Biosciences. Detailed genomic analyses revealed that the Sphingomonas sp. LK11 genome consists of a circular chromosome (3.78 Mbp; 66.2% G+C content) and two circular plasmids (122,975 bps and 34,160 bps; 63% and 65% G+C content, respectively). Annotation showed that the LK11 genome consists of 3,656 protein-coding genes, 59 tRNAs, and 4 complete rRNA operons. Functional analyses predicted that LK11 encodes genes for phosphate solubilization and nitrate/nitrite ammonification, which are beneficial for promoting plant growth. Similarly, Sphingomonas spp. analysis revealed an open pan-genome and a total of 8,507 genes were identified in the Sphingomonas spp. pan-genome and about 1,356 orthologous genes were found to comprise the core genome.

Introduction The endophytic bacterium Sphingomonas sp. LK11 was first isolated from the leaves of the arid medicinal plant Tephrosia apollinea and was subsequently found to actively increase growth and stress tolerance in tomato plants during salinity and cadmium stress (Halo et al. 2015; Khan et al. 2014). It has also been suggested that LK11 can produce phytohormones such as gibberellins (GAs) and auxins (Khan et al. 2014). Similarly, the LK11 strain can reduce Cd2+ uptake, accumulate intracellular Zn2+, and increase metallothionein expression (which excludes heavy metals and prevents their binding by related proteins) in their host plants (Khan et al. 2014). Furthermore, LK11 was recently reported to improve plant growth in both wild type and Got-3 mutant tomato plants when exogenously introduced to the plants via jasmonic acid (JA) treatment (Khan et al. 2017).

The current study aimed to elucidate the whole LK11 genome and its plant growth-promoting activity. Sequencing the complete genome of LK11 will aid in resolving the complex biological mechanisms of this microorganism that promote plant growth and induce hardiness against salinity and heavy metal stress.

MethodsSurface sterilization and germination experiments were carried out according to Asaf et al. (2017b). After germination, randomly selected uniform plant seedlings were planted in one round plastic pot (10 × 9 cm) and grown for 20 days using one of two treatments., (1) control plants without LK11 or (2) plants inoculated with LK11. Different plant physiological parameters like shoot length, root length, and fresh and dry weight were analyzed. Quantification of GAs in the freeze-dried samples of soybean plants was carried out according to the protocol established by Lee et al. (1998) using gas chromatography with a mass spectrometer (Agilent Technologies). Genomic DNA of LK11 was extracted from an overnight cell suspension culture using the Qiagen™ QIAamp DNA Mini Kit (Qiagen, Hilden, Germany). Complete genome sequencing was performed using the Single Molecule Real Time (SMRT) sequencing technology of Pacific Biosciences (PacBio, Menlo Park, CA, USA) as described previously (Chan et al. 2014). Complete genome annotation was performed using the NCBI Prokaryotic Genome Annotation Pipeline (Angiuoli et al. 2008). The annotation process helped elucidate functional genomic units, such as structural RNAs (5S, 16S, and 23S), tRNAs, and small noncoding RNAs. Additional gene prediction analysis and functional annotation were performed by Rapid Annotation using Subsystem Technology (RAST) version 3.0 (Aziz et al. 2008). Pan-genome and core genome analyses of LK11 against related species were carried out using EDGAR version 2.0 (Blom et al. 2009) and PGAP version 1.12 (Zhao et al. 2012).

Results The results showed that LK11 produces different quantities of GAs in its pure culture (Figure 1A). Among these, physiologically active GA3 and GA4 were produced in significantly high quantities while inactive GA53 and GA19 were abundant in the pure culture of Sphingomonas sp. LK11.The results showed that Sphingomonas sp. LK11 significantly increased shoot, root, and plant biomass compared with control plants (Figure 1B). This was further validated by changes in endogenous GA content of soybean plants. GA3 (88.2%), GA7 (8.2%), and GA4 (23.8%) were significantly higher in LK11-inoculated soybean plants than in control plants (Figure 1D).

The complete genome of Sphingomonas sp. LK11 was found to consist of a 3,781,071 bp circular chromosome with a G+C content of 66.2% and two circular plasmids of 122,975 bp and 34,160 bp with G+C contents of 63% and 65%, respectively (Figure 2). When combined, the chromosome and plasmids contained 3,739 annotated genes, including 59 tRNAs, 4 complete rRNA, and 3,656 protein-coding sequences (CDSs). The LK11 genome encodes cystathionine γ-lyase (CSE; locus AV944_16960), 3-mercaptopyruvate sulfurtransferase (3MST; locus AV944_12370), and cysteine aminotransferase (CAT; locus AV944_01390), which are known for hydrogen sulfide (H2S) production. We also identified glucose-1-dehydrogenase (gcd; locus AV944_13915) in the LK11 genome, suggesting that LK11 can solubilize inorganic mineral phosphates. In addition to gcd, the phosphate-specific transport (pst) system is used for free inorganic phosphate transport in Bacillus subtilis and Escherichia coli. In the present study, genomic analyses of LK11 revealed that it also carries

Natural and Medical Sciences Research Center, University of Nizwa, Oman

Sajjad Asaf, Abdul Latif Khan, Ahmed Al-Harrasi

the pst operon (pstA, pstB, pstC, and pstS genes; locus AV944_10605, locus AV944_10610, locus AV944_10600, and locus AV944_10615, respectively), as well as phoB (locus AV944_10590), phoP (locus AV944_05370), and phoR (locus AV944_10620) genes for phosphate transport. Recently, Sphingomonas sp. LK11 was reported to significantly increase plant height, biomass, under varying drought stresses (Asaf et al. 2017a). These findings were further validated by the presence of trehalose biosynthesis pathways (otsA/otsB and treY/treZ) in the genome of LK11. Trehalose can act as an osmoprotectant and the otsA/otsB pathway is considered the most widely occurring biochemical pathway in many organisms that are under environmental stressors (Duan et al. 2013; Garg et al. 2002). In addition, the LK11 genome was found to contain a number of salt tolerance genes that can synthesize the osmolyte glycine betaine from choline by encoding the betT choline transporter (Lamark et al., 1996), the betA choline dehydrogenase, and the betB betaine aldehyde dehydrogenase.

Many bacterial species possess mechanisms that make them resistant or tolerant to heavy metals (Diels et al. 1995; Ji and Silver 1995; Kunito et al. 1996). Our analysis of the LK11 genome revealed the presence of a czc operon in the chromosome and plasmids. The czc operon was found comprised of three structural genes, czcA, czcB, and czcC, as well as two regulatory genes, czcD and czcR (Figure 3). This operon was previously found to confer resistance to three heavy metals, namely cobalt, zinc, and cadmium (Kunito et al. 1996; Nies 1995; Silver and Phung 1996).

Fig 1.Gibberellin (GA) production by Sphingomonas sp. LK11 (A). Effect of Sphingomonas sp. LK11 culture on (B, C) different growth attributes and (D) endogenous GA of soybean plants.

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Furthermore, pan-genome analysis revealed that for every Sphingomonas species genome sequenced, an average of 1,000 new genes were added to the pan-genome (Figure 3BC). Likewise, the pan-genome curve showed that the representative species from genus Sphingomonas displayed an open pan-genome. Additionally, the Venn diagram shows that 1,356 genes are shared by all five Sphingomonas species analyzed. LK11 shares 53, 77, 133, and 87 genes exclusively with Sphingomonas sp. MM1, Sphingomonas sp. NIC1, Sphingomonas taxi, and Sphingomonas hengshuiensis, respectively (Figure 3D). The number of unique genes possessed by LK11, Sphingomonas sp. MM1, Sphingomonas sp. NIC1, Sphingomonas taxi, and Sphingomonas hengshuiensis were 740, 1,553, 473, 542, and 1,653, respectively (Figure 3D).

Fig 2.Circular representation of the Sphingomonas sp. LK11 genome. From outer to inner circles, the two outer circles show the predicted protein-coding sequences on the plus (green) and minus (red) strand. The third circle shows the distribution of genes related to Clusturs of Orthologous Groups (COGs) categories, while the fourth and fifth circles show G+C content and G+C skew, respectively.

ConclusionsThe current study elucidates the growth-promoting characteristics and complete genetic makeup of Sphingomonas sp. LK11. Complete genome sequencing confirmed the presence of genes that are involved in plant growth-promoting traits; these include phosphate solubilization and H2S synthesis, which can improve the growth of associated plants. Moreover, biosynthesis pathways of trehalose and glycine betaine were found in the LK11 genome. A total of 8,507 genes were identified in the Sphingomonas spp. pan-genome and 1,356 orthologous genes were found to comprise the core genome. Utilization of this remarkably versatile PGPB may be an important eco-friendly alternative in improving phytoremediation strategies and crop growth under extreme environmental conditions.

Fig 3.Proposed model for the czc efflux system in LK11 (A). The number of gene clusters in the core and pan-genomes is plotted against the number of Sphingomonas spp. genomes sequenced (BC). Venn diagram illustrating the orthologous gene complements of Sphingomonas sp. LK11 with related Sphingomonas species. Numbers in the outer circles represent the total number of unique genes identified in each genome while numbers in the center represents the number of orthologous sequences common to all five genomes (D).

https://www.dropbox.com/s/fz2n5joa7vf910j/LK20%11genomic20%paper.pdf?dl=0To read the paper, please click on the link

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Dr. Sivakumar NallusamyAssistant Professor

Department of BiologyCollege of Science

Sultan Qaboos University, Oman

Under the MicroscopeWhat got you interested in science?I’ve been interested in science for as long as I can remember. Certainly my middle school teachers played their part in this though I really started to enjoy science, especially biological science, in my college days as I examined and explored the wonders of the natural world.

What convinced you to pursue an academic career?I have a high regard for teaching because it is: “the profession that teaches all the other professions.” For me, sharing ideas with students and mentoring them is an immensely satisfying experience. On top of that, in academia, I have the freedom to identify my own area of research, set up a lab and guide a team, and the opportunity to discuss concepts with other experts in related fields as well as unrelated ones.

Most of all, the satisfaction of acquiring new knowledge, contributing to my field of interest and, in doing so, serving the community is incrediby rewarding.

Tell us about who you are, what you do, and how your research is impacting Oman?Basically, I am an applied microbiologist, specilaising in the biotechnological applications of microorganisms especially bacteria. At Sultan Qaboos University (SQU), I focus on biorefinery and the bioconversion of waste materials into value added products. At present, I am working on the bioconversion of waste paper into commercially important products such as bioplastic, bioethanol and biodiesel. This

research is supported by The Research Council, Oman.Solid waste management is a challenging problem for the Sultanate. In Muscat, 366,000 tonnes of garbage are collected annually and dumped in landfills – often polluting the ground water and causing the emission of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane.

In Oman, this solid waste consists mainly of renewable sources such as wood, paper, food materials, plastics, metals and glass. In fact, waste paper is one of our major municipal solid wastes, accounting for more than 35 per cent of what’s known as lignocellulosic waste in Oman – a type of waste that because of its high cellulose content has the potantial to be a feedstock for the production of value added products.

So far, we have successfully utilized waste office paper and cardboard for the production of a commercially important cellulase enzyme. We used this enzyme for the saccharification, or breaking down, of waste paper – and by adding the appropraite microorgainsims we produced bioplastic, bioethanol and biodiesel.

My research has impact for Oman in two ways. Firstly, the utilization of cellulosic wastes in municipal solid wastes for the production of microbial products which can reduce waste management issues. Secondly, it shows a way to cut the production cost of commercially valuable products using microbes. Both are needed for the country to solve the waste management/pollution problems and could open the doors for starting bioprocessing companies in country.

What are the resources at Sultan Qaboos University that have made a difference to you and your research?SQU has well equipped laboratories which make life easier for a researcher. Faculty are given individual laboratories which provides freedom to set up a lab for your own specialization. This has allowed me to develop a team working on biorefinery and offers me the opportunity for capacity building. In addition, research proposals are supported by different funding facilities available therough SQU’s Deanship of Research.

What are the biggest challenges and most rewarding parts of your research on microbial fermentation?When I started my job at SQU, there was no bioprocessing laboratoty in the Department of Biology. In 2014, all the faculty were given individual research labs enabling me to establish a bioprocessing lab with all basic facilities to do the microbial fermentation studies and thanks to funding from The Research Council our lab is equipped with fermentors of different scales.

The most rewarding part of my research on microbial fermentation has been our success in producing bioplastic, ethanol, lipids and cellulase using the waste paper as a substrate. This is the first study of its kind in Oman. We have three PhD students working on this theme and I hope the outcomes will benefit the country by opening up the biological route for waste management.

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I should also mention the achievement of producing the protease enzyme using the gut waste of sardine fish, something that is abundantly available in Oman throughout the year. And, of course, I am proud to have have trained many undergraduate students in the field of microbial fermentation.

What’s the next milestone for your research?I am working on the pilot scale production of the above mentioned compounds. The first target is the production of bioplastic. Once this is achieved, I will work on collaborations with industries to strengthen the links between industry and university research – the benefits of linkages of this kind are wide-reaching for both parties.

How has being in Oman changed your perspective on your research or career goals?The variety of habitats here along with the hot and often humid climate means that Oman has novel bacterial strains that I can work with. And as my area of research is waste valorization, I am trying to utilize the major types of waste available in Oman such as paper, dates and fish waste as raw materials to produce value added products.

The academic friendly environment in our biology department here has also encouraged me to do more collaborative research.

Do you have advice for others thinking about pursuing a career in science? For a career in science, you need to have passion for your subject and enjoy what you do. By studying science, you are by default involved in writing, analysis, critical thinking, teamwork, ethics, creativity and much more - these skills are extremely valuable in the wider marketplace and research institutions, setting you up well for many things.

Bioplastic Bioethanol Biodiesel Cellulase

We have successfully utilized the waste office paper and

cardboard for the production of commercially important cellulase enzyme. Further,

we used the cellulase enzyme for the saccharification of

waste paper and successfully produced bioplastic,

bioethanol and biodiesel using appropriate microorganisms.

My research would impact Oman in two ways.

Waste

Oman Waste 2016

Paper

Plastics

Metals

Glass

Organic

54%

26%

12%

11%

5%

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OAPGRC News

“With a very practical focus ‘Biodiversity: A Business Environment’ introduced our young attendees to how our natural wealth – plants, animals, marine life and microbes - can help them realise their business aspirations, and how in doing so they can contribute to environmental protection and to Oman’s continued economic growth and progress. I think they were very surprised about the rewarding opportunities in the wonderful nature that surrounds us. ”

The Executive Director went on to explain that genetic resource based entrepreneurship is an option for students of the arts as well as of the sciences: “It’s a common assumption that to start a biodiversity-based business you have to be a biologist, a chemist, a zoologist – to have a background in ecology or a degree in a related field. This is so far from reality – from food and flowers to beauty, tourism, recycling and manufacturing, Oman’s treasure chest of natural resources really does offer a wealth of varied, exciting and achievable options.”

Sharing their expert advice and know-how with the Science Café audience were Dr. Bashair Al Riyami, Food & Beverages Innovation Consultant; Muhannad Al Ansari, CEO, Mouj and Noir Alglindani, Director of Human Resources, Basees Company.To find out about the 2019 Science Cafe season please visit, www. oapgrc.gov.om/Pages/event or call +968 22 30 54 03.

Science Café

OAPGRC Science Café Explores Biodiversity Business Environment with Young EntrepreneursSpecial youth edition of the popular monthly event Showing that it’s never too soon to think about setting up your own business, November’s OAPGRC Science Café was devoted to exploring a very special environment with young would-be entrepreneurs - the biodiversity business environment.

Providing down to earth tips on starting and growing a business in this fertile field for commercial ambitions, this special edition of the free-of-charge monthly event took place at Moka & More Cafe’, Al Ghubrah South at 7.30pm on Wednesday 28th November. Sponsored by Oman LNG, and held in Arabic, the Youth Science Café welcomed enterprise-minded and eco-conscious young people alike to come along ask questions, join the discussion or simply listen as we chatted about the responsible development of the opportunities presented by Oman’s amazing nature.

“This youth and business Science Café has was designed to impact on how Oman’s young people think about the Sultanate’s genetic resources and to inspire them to sustainably leverage the many possibilities these priceless natural resources offer,” said Dr. Nadiya Al Saady, OAPGRC Executive Director and Science Café organiser.

Attendees at November’s special youth edition of the Science Cafe

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Genetic Resource Policies Workshop (20 -17 September)

MATLAB course at SQU (2-6 September)

App development course at SAS (23 September - 4 October)

Workshop on Strengthening the Knowledge of Effective Omplementation of Plant Breeders Right (BPR) System in the Sultanate of Oman (11-9 October)

International Conference of Frankincense and Medicinal Plants (30 October - 1 November)

Annual Molecular Biology Meeting (Thermo Fisher Scientific) at grand millennium hotel (15 November)

Training on Diversity, Documentation, Gene Banking, & Database for Medicinal Plants(25 November - 1 December)

Substantive Examination of the Invention Patent Workshop (3-6 December)

Signing Collaborative agreement on “Collection, Characterization and Use of Genetic Diversity of Indigenous Banana Germplasm in Oman”

Omani Wheat & Barley Characterization Project

Medicinal Plant Collection

OAPGRC Workshops, Training & Field Work

OAPGRC staff celebrate National Day

We congratulateYasser Abdullah Al Hassani

on winning OAPGRC s BiodiversityApp logo design competition

OAPGRC wishes farewell toDr. Hameed Ghaloub

Expert for Gene Resources,Policies & Data Analysis

,

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NewsletterQ4 2018

Collection Phase of the Macrofungi Project

Project Title: Collection, Identification & Preservation of Macrofungal Species in the Sultanate of Oman Description: Macrofungi are fungi that form large fruiting bodies greater than 1 cm in height and/ or width making them visible without the aid of a microscope. Generally, late autumn through to early spring is the best time to see most types of macrofungi.

The first complete project of its kind, the main objective of this research is the collection, identification and preservation of the macrofungi species which grow naturally in different areas of Oman, as well as during the different times of year, especially the Dhofar region’s monsoon (khareef) season.

The Collection Phase has already been carried out in the Dhofar region. This took place 1– 15 September 2018, during the khareef. Approximately 64 samples were gathered, photographed and labeled. A database of the collection has been submitted to OAPGRC and to enable further analysis the collection has been preserved at –80ºc at Sultan Qaboos University’s College of Agriculture and Marine Science.

The next phases of the project will be:1: Identification (molecularly and morphologically) 2: Preservation of the whole sample, spores and DNA in the OAPGRC gene bank Key Dates 2018-2019March-June 2018: Project design

September 2018: Study area and sample collection August-October 2018: Order required items

November 2018 - July 2019: Morphological and molecular identification

August 2019: Preservation

September 2019: Final report

2019: Publication

OAPGRC Team Members

Moza Al Kharousi

Collectors

Nabil Al Danki Mohammed Al Jahwari Saif Al Salami

Dua’a Al Moqbali Abdullah Al Balushi Ibrahim Al Sabahi

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NewsletterQ4 2018

The Team celebrating our move to new office space on Innovation Park Muscat

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www.oapgrc.gov.omoapgrc@oapgrc.gov.om

@oapgrc

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