Avik Ray

Bio: Avik Ray is an academic researcher from National Centre for Biological Sciences. The author has contributed to research in topics: Domestication & Population. The author has an hindex of 9, co-authored 22 publications receiving 277 citations. Previous affiliations of Avik Ray include Tata Institute of Fundamental Research & Bose Institute.

How Many Wild Edible Plants Do We Eat—Their Diversity, Use, and Implications for Sustainable Food System: An Exploratory Analysis in India

Abstract: Wild edible plants still cater to a large section of the global population and ensure affordable food and nutritional security. We tested this in an Indian context, where enormous diversity of such plants constitutes a significant part of rural diet and their acceptance has been high. In this study, we assessed diversity of wild edible plant resource, importance of species based on the use and its pattern. We have also shortlisted a set of plants to make an informed-decision on prioritization. We found a great variety of plants (1403 species) from 184 families consumed across India, although the first forty-four families (24%) contributed largely to the (75%) diversity. Leguminosae followed by Compositae, Poaceae, Malvaceae, Rosaceae were the families with highest number of species. We note that a few species from the large pool were extensively used throughout the country while another few were valued for their multiple edible plant parts. Leafy shoots (722 species) followed by fruits (652 species) were two most-eaten plant parts. Our results strengthen the fact that (a) wild edibles have been an integral part of the diet, (b) their widespread assimilation into local food culture suggests untapped potential to ensure easy availability and access to micronutrients for sustainable food system, thus in social welfare, (c) they required to be incorporated into the national food policy for formal cultivation and promotion.

Origin of the Aromatic Group of Cultivated Rice (Oryza sativa L.) Traced to the Indian Subcontinent.

Abstract: The aromatic group of Asian cultivated rice is a distinct population with considerable genetic diversity on the Indian subcontinent and includes the popular Basmati types characterized by pleasant fragrance. Genetic and phenotypic associations with other cultivated groups are ambiguous, obscuring the origin of the aromatic population. From analysis of genome-wide diversity among over 1,000 wild and cultivated rice accessions, we show that aromatic rice originated in the Indian subcontinent from hybridization between a local wild population and examples of domesticated japonica that had spread to the region from their own center of origin in East Asia. Most present-day aromatic accessions have inherited their cytoplasm along with 29-47% of their nuclear genome from the local Indian rice. We infer that the admixture occurred 4,000-2,400 years ago, soon after japonica rice reached the region. We identify aus as the original crop of the Indian subcontinent, indica and japonica as later arrivals, and aromatic a specific product of local agriculture. These results prompt a reappraisal of our understanding of the emergence and development of rice agriculture in the Indian subcontinent.

Phenotypic characters of rice landraces reveal independent lineages of short-grain aromatic indica rice

Abstract: Rice landraces are lineages developed by farmers through artificial selection during the long-term domestication process. Despite huge potential for crop improvement, they are largely understudied in India. Here, we analyse a suite of phenotypic characters from large numbers of Indian landraces comprised of both aromatic and non-aromatic varieties. Our primary aim was to investigate the major determinants of diversity, the strength of segregation among aromatic and non-aromatic landraces as well as that within aromatic landraces. Using principal component analysis, we found that grain length, width and weight, panicle weight and leaf length have the most substantial contribution. Discriminant analysis can effectively distinguish the majority of aromatic from non-aromatic landraces. More interestingly, within aromatic landraces long-grain traditional Basmati and short-grain non-Basmati aromatics remain morphologically well differentiated. The present research emphasizes the general patterns of phenotypic diversity and finds out the most important characters. It also confirms the existence of very unique short-grain aromatic landraces, perhaps carrying signatures of independent origin of an additional aroma quantitative trait locus in the indica group, unlike introgression of specific alleles of the BADH2 gene from the japonica group as in Basmati. We presume that this parallel origin and evolution of aroma in short-grain indica landraces are linked to the long history of rice domestication that involved inheritance of several traits from Oryza nivara, in addition to O. rufipogon. We conclude with a note that the insights from the phenotypic analysis essentially comprise the first part, which will likely be validated with subsequent molecular analysis.

Syzygium (Myrtaceae): Monographing a taxonomic giant via 22 coordinated regional revisions

Abstract: 1 Recommended citation: SYZWG (2016) Syzygium Working Group 2 Faculty of Science & Natural Resources, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Jalan UMS, 88400 Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia. 3 The Mauritius Herbarium, Agricultural Services, Ministry of Agro-Industry and Food Security; R. E. Vaughan Building, Reduit, Mauritius. 4 Plant Gateway, 5 Talbot Street, Hertford, Hertfordshire, SG13 7BX, UK. 5 School of Biological Sciences, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, AB24 3UU, UK. 6 School of Biological Sciences, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia. 7 Ecology & Ecosystem Research, Georg-August-University Gottingen, Untere Karspule 2, 37073 Gottingen, Germany. 8 Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Botany, P.O. Box 9517, 2300 RA, Leiden, The Netherlands. 9 Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, TW9 3AE, UK. 10 Department of Biosciences, University of Mauritius, Reduit, Mauritius. 11 Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Sciences, Bengaluru, 560012, India. 12 Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE), Bengaluru, India 13 Department of Biology, Pittsburg State University, Pittsburg, Kansas, U.S.A. 14 College of Forestry, Guangxi University, Nanning, Guangxi 530005, PR China. 15 Royal Botanic Gardens, Mrs Macquaries Road, Sydney, NSW 2000, Australia

Plant Genetic Conservation

Abstract: Plant diversity sustains all animal life, and the genetic diversity within plants underpins global food security. This text provides a practical and theoretical introduction to the strategies and actions to adopt for conserving plant genetic variation, as well as explaining how humans can exploit this diversity for sustainable development. Notably readable, it initially offers current knowledge on the characterization and evaluation of plant genetic resources. The authors then discuss strategies from in situ and ex situ conservation to crop breeding, exploring how these can be used to improve food security in the face of increasing agrobiodiversity loss, human population growth and climate change. Each chapter draws on examples from the literature or the authors' research and includes further reading references. Containing other useful features such as a glossary, it is invaluable for professionals and undergraduate and graduate students in plant sciences, ecology, conservation, genetics and natural resource management.

The Impact of Genetic Changes during Crop Domestication

Abstract: Humans have domesticated hundreds of plant and animal species as sources of food, fiber, forage, and tools over the past 12,000 years, with manifold effects on both human society and the genetic structure of the domesticated species The outcomes of crop domestication were shaped by selection driven by human preferences, cultivation practices, and agricultural environments, as well as other population genetic processes flowing from the ensuing reduction in effective population size It is obvious that any selection imposes a reduction of diversity, favoring preferred genotypes, such as nonshattering seeds or increased palatability Furthermore, agricultural practices greatly reduced effective population sizes of crops, allowing genetic drift to alter genotype frequencies Current advances in molecular technologies, particularly of genome sequencing, provide evidence of human selection acting on numerous loci during and after crop domestication Population-level molecular analyses also enable us to clarify the demographic histories of the domestication process itself, which, together with expanded archaeological studies, can illuminate the origins of crops Domesticated plant species are found in 160 taxonomic families Approximately 2500 species have undergone some degree of domestication, and 250 species are considered to be fully domesticated The evolutionary trajectory from wild to crop species is a complex process Archaeological records suggest that there was a period of predomestication cultivation while humans first began the deliberate planting of wild stands that had favorable traits Later, crops likely diversified as they were grown in new areas, sometimes beyond the climatic niche of their wild relatives However, the speed and level of human intentionality during domestication remains a topic of active discussion These processes led to the so-called domestication syndrome, that is, a group of traits that can arise through human preferences for ease of harvest and growth advantages under human propagation These traits included reduced dispersal ability of seeds and fruits, changes to plant structure, and changes to plant defensive characteristics and palatability Domestication implies the action of selective sweeps on standing genetic variation, as well as new genetic variation introduced via mutation or introgression Furthermore, genetic bottlenecks during domestication or during founding events as crops moved away from their centers of origin may have further altered gene pools To date, a few hundred genes and loci have been identified by classical genetic and association mapping as targets of domestication and postdomestication divergence However, only a few of these have been characterized, and for even fewer is the role of the wild-type allele in natural populations understood After domestication, only favorable haplotypes are retained around selected genes, which creates a genetic valley with extremely low genetic diversity These “selective sweeps” can allow mildly deleterious alleles to come to fixation and may create a genetic load in the cultivated gene pool Although the population-wide genomic consequences of domestication offer several predictions for levels of the genetic diversity in crops, our understanding of how this diversity corresponds to nutritional aspects of crops is not well understood Many studies have found that modern cultivars have lower levels of key micronutrients and vitamins We suspect that selection for palatability and increased yield at domestication and during postdomestication divergence exacerbated the low nutrient levels of many crops, although relatively little work has examined this question Lack of diversity in modern germplasm may further limit our capacity to breed for higher nutrient levels, although little effort has gone into this beyond a handful of staple crops This is an area where an understanding of domestication across many crop taxa may provide the necessary insight for breeding more nutritious crops in a rapidly changing world