Banaras Hindu University names new cyanobacteria species in honour of Malviya

VARANASI: A team of researchers from the department of Botany in Banaras Hindu University has made a breakthrough discovery of new species of cyanobacteria (blue green algae). An assistant professor of the department of Botany, Prashant Singh and his doctoral student Naresh Kumar discovered the new species of cyanobacteria from Jammu and Kashmir.

The study has been published and is now online in the International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology (IJSEM), a prestigious journal of the International Committee on Systematics of Prokaryotes (ICSP) and the Bacteriology and Applied Microbiology (BAM) division of the International Union of Microbiological Societies (IUMS).

Naresh, a native of Jammu and the first author in this study, has been working with cyanobacteria of these regions as a part of his PhD work. The new species has been named Amazonocrinis Malviyae in honor of the BHU founder Bharat Ratna Mahamana Pt Madan Mohan Malaviya.

“All the ecosystems where life could be imagined have a very important component known as Cyanobacteria (blue green algae). They are the organisms responsible for oxygenation of earth,” said Singh, adding that the Jammu region has been vastly unexplored in terms of studies that have used the modern polyphasic approach to study cyanobacteria. The region has been less studied, majorly because of the geographical complicacies and inclement weather that is experienced with extreme winters and months of snow being a regular occurrence.

He said that the present work will serve as a pilot study for researchers to further explore this region and help in conservation of biodiversity. The study becomes further significant and interesting as the genus Amazonocrinis was discovered recently by researchers in the Amazon forests of Brazil in 2021. The discovery of another new species of Amazonocrinis from the cold regions of Jammu within a short time further establishes the importance of studying these life forms in a bio-geographical context.

Through this work, Singh’s group aims to motivate more students and researchers all across India to join hands and work for the conservation of these precious life forms. “This could be one of the major ways through which we could fight global climate change and biodiversity loss”, said Singh.

The research team also comprises Aniket Saraf from RJ College, Mumbai, Sagarika Pal and Deeksha Mishra from BHU. The work was funded by the Department of Science and Technology (DST-SERB), Government of India, through the Core Research Grant Project.