BIOGYAN

VOLUME   3 

BIOINFORMATICS CENTRE NEWS LETTER

Quarterly news letter

                                                                     PREFACE

           In recent time, Biotechnology has played a key role in the developmental processes of human civilization. We are aware that our pristine biological resources is gradually loosing its diversity due to the inevitable urbanization, destruction of forest for developmental activities and conversion of land for agriculture etc. However, the discovery of using biotechnology in genetic mapping and marker-assisted selection is aiding more precise and rapid development of new strains of improved crops and livestock followed by other biotechnological applications such as tissue culture and micro-propagation which are rapidly gaining popularity world wide for its quick multiplication of disease-free planting materials for our farmers.

          Consequently, it becomes very essential to understand the concept of future biotechnological activities,the much simpler bio-computing with web support came up as a helping tool for the biotechnological researcher. Today, we have facilities, through which large number of biological databases can be retrieved through internet or can be store in the computer with the help of various computer Softwares. This stored databases has been found to be resourceful for the researchers/students and scientists working in various field throughout the world, especially to those working in the field of biological sciences.

          Sikkim Bioinformatics Centre, is a Distributed Information Centre (DISC), of Bioinformatics network (BTIS net) established by the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India under Sikkim State Council of Science & Technology, Department of Science & Technology. Sikkim having recognized as one of storehouse of biological resources, many commendable researches and investigations have been initiated in the past by various scientists. Hence, the digital documentation of this biological wealth of our state must be considered in priority. In respect to this the Sikkim Bioinformatics Centre under Sikkim State Council of Science & Technology has already initiated to develop the databases on Rhododendrons, Medicinal Herbs and other floral and faunal species of Sikkim and database on scientific fraternity of the state.
Hence, we are presenting the third edition of quarterly news letter ‘BIOGYAN”. Biogyan is an Informattive scientific news letter for the concern to bring awareness of scientific activities happening in the state and through out the nations as well thereby inculcating scientific temperament among fraternity and the individual as well. I shall highly appreciate for the comments and suggestions from the readers.


                                                                                                                                       M.L. Arrawatia, I.F.S.
                                                                                                                                          (Member Secretary)
                                                                                                  Sikkim State Council of Science & Technology
 

                                                                         Contents     

1. Introduction and Scope of Computational Biology                                          1
    - Report

2. Protein identifies the disease causing genes                                                     2
    - Laydong Lepcha

3. Animation-its role in easy understanding the Biological life processes               3
    - P.Sharma, B.C.Basistha, R.Gurung & L.Lepcha

4. A brief history of Cymbidium Meristem culture                                               4
    - K.B. Subba & B.C. Basistha

5. Tanacetum atkinsonii (Clarke) Kitam (Asteraceae), a rare and useful              5
    plant of Sikkim Himalaya
    - A.K. Sahoo

6. Medicinal uses of plants by the local inhabitants of Tarethang,                         6 - 8
    East Sikkim.
    - A.A. Ansari & D. Tamang

6. A brief Ethno-botanical note of Pangolakha Wild Life Sanctuary (PWS)         9 - 12
    - S.R. Lepcha & A.P. Das

7. A report on Training on “Environmental Genomics and Biodiversity”               13 - 14
    - Sikkim Bioinformatics Centre

                                                Training on Introduction & Scope of Computational Biology
                                                                Sikkim Bioinformatics Centre
                                                   Sikkim State Council of Science & Technology

          Three days training program on “Introduction and scope of Computational Biology” was organized by and held at Bioinformatics Centre, Sikkim State Coucil of Science and Technology from 31/12/2007 to 5/12/2007. The main objective of the training programme was to inculate a scientific temperament, introduce and create awareness on Computational Biology amongst the scientific fraternity. Twenty five trainees were trained in the training program. Target group included science graduates, Post graduates, Research Scholars, Lecturers and unemployed (Science graduates, Post graduates) youth. Shri. Saubashya Sur, Bio-Informatician, Siliguri college; Dr. D. Purohit, Reader and Head (Mathematics),Sikkim Government College, Tadong; Dr. A.A. Ansari, Joint Director and Scientist in Charge, Botanical Survey of India, Gangtok and Shri Biren Chettri, State Informatics Officer, National Informatics Centre, Tashiling were invited as Guest lecturers for the training progr-amme. After every lecture session, half an hour time was dedicated for discussion so as to make the training more interactive.
          On 3/12/2007 the program was inaugurated by Shri. M. L. Arrawatia, IFS, Member Secretary, Sikkim State Council of Science and Technology. In his introductory speech he spoke about the Bioinformatics Centre and the facilities being provided by the Centre. Shri. Arrawatia also encouraged the students and research scholars to take up projects in Bioinformatics and Biotechnology and assured that the centre would provide possible help to the students. Shri. B.C.Basistha, Sr. Scientific officer cum-Coordinator (Bioinformatics Centre) highlighted on the importance and scope of computational Biology.

                                               Fig. Trainees along with the Secretary, DST and resource persons

          On the first day i.e., On 3/12/2007, Shri. Saubashya Sur delivered lecture on“Bioinformatics Databases”. In his lecture Shri. Sur gave introductory lecture on what exactly is Bio-informatics and its scope. He spoke about different types of biological databases, their characteristics and also discussed important databases like EMBL, NCBI, PDB, CATH , etc. Shri. Sur also said that Bioinformatics databases would facilitate mankind to enter the dominion of biological diversity, customized medicines, cure diseases, produce high yielding as well as low cost crops and garner environmental benefits. Hands on training on data search, pair wise alignment and phylogenetic analysis using tree view was also provided to the trainees. On the second day i.e.,on 4/12/2007 lecture was delivered by Dr. D. Purohit on “Computational Biology Models of population dynamics using Recursion relation (Ni+1=f(Ni))”. Dr. Purohit highlighted on Computational biology and spoke on different types of graphs with specific reference to population dynamics. Using recursion model. In his lecture he explained the concept of stastical analysis.

                                                Training under progress

          In the second half, Shri Biren Chettri spoke on the ever increasing advancement/modernization of world today right from the invention of abacus to the different generations of those massive computers to the latest modern computer available today. He also spoke on the scope of Information technology in the field of education and explained how inter- net has become a time saving factor in helping the students for their reference study work and for searching the national and international job opportunities available in the various field within the fleck of time.

                                                                                                                   BIOINFORMATICS CENTRE
                                                                    SIKKIM STATE COUNCIL OF SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
                                                                                       DEPARTMENT OF SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

                                                                              1

                                                                                    "PROTEIN"

                                                                   identifies the disease causing genes

                                                                             Laydong Lepcha

                                                                         Bioinformatics Centre

                                                          Sikkim State Council of Science & Technology

          Proteins, an essential elements or molecule formed by a long chain of amino acids are well known as supplier for the complete development of humanbody. It serves as an enzymes, hormones etc. These molecular body apart from being needful supplier also reaches out to become Crucial identifier of disease causing genes. The Scientists from Institute of Biology led by Akhilesh Pandey, M.D., Ph.D, Assistant Professor at the John Hopkins University, Baltimore, USA had undergone this research. The research led to huge  discoveries of Human Interactome.  During  the  study  analysis  of  largest  human  interactomes were  done from which  more than 25,000 protein-protein  interactions were developed. It was found that large scale analysis of interactions between Proteins in human cells hold promise for identifying new genes which are involved in genetic diseases. The analysis was based on information compiled in the

Human Protein Reference Database (HPRD).
                                        

          The study included information among 1,077 genes codingfor proteins linked to 3,133 diseases. Sigificantly it showed that proteins encoded by genes that are mutated in inherited disorders were likely to interact with proteins already known to cause similar disorders. This is a novel approach to identify the new candidate genes involved in human disease and should accelerate the research on identification of disease-causing genes.

          This study also suggests that the importance of a protein cannot be determined by the number of its interacting proteins alone. This is contrary to earlier studies that suggested more the interaction partners a protein has more essentiality is in a cell. To study this problem, they had collected data on 6,014 genes in yeast, which are almost all the genes and 16,069 interactions. In addition they had obtained data on 2,284 genes in the mouse where the effect on survival of mice lacking these genes were known. In contrast, earlier studies had used only 1,870 genes and 2,240 interactions in yeast. They had much larger dataset available for the analysis.  Their analysis on comparison of almost 25,000 humans,16,000 yeasts, 5,500 worms and 25,000 flies protein-protein interactions showed that, amongst these more than 70,000 links, only 16 were common to all four species. This low overlap is surprising because of a large number of interactions in each of these organisms and many biological processes are common in  these organisms. They claim that this could be because of the limitations of the large-scale yeast two hybrid method used and individual biochemical experiments must be carried out alongside high throughout experiments if an accurate and comprehensive interaction map is to be created.  This comparison of human data with other organisms also provided them with ‘connections’ that previously had not been discovered in humans. Experimentally tested 9 of these 36 interactions in our laboratory validation will become common place in the future. Importantly, this approach also allowed to‘fill in the blanks’ in cases where the circuitry in humans was missing certain components.
                                                            

                                                            Fig. Animation slide of Protein synthesis-Translation
                                                                   developed in Sikkim Bioinformatics Centre

Glossary :

HPRD - Human Protein Reference Database (HPRD) is an object database that intergrates a wealth of information relevant to the function of huma proteins in health and disease.
Genetic code - The genetic code is set of rules by which information encoded in genetic material (DNA or
RAN sequences) is translated into proteins amino acid sequences) by living cells.

Source:
U.B. Singh, J. Arora, N. Suresh, H. Pant, T. Rana,
C. Sola, N. Rastogi, J.N. Pande
Departments of Microbiology, All India Institute of
Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India)
Image source Sikkim Bioinformatics Centre
 

                                                                               2

                                      Animation-its role in easy understanding of biological life processes
                                    Prakash Sharma, B.C. Basistha, Rabina Gurung & Laydong Lepcha
                                                               Bioinformatics Centre
                                           Sikkim State Council of Science & Technology

          Defining animation, it is a technique to create action/motion from a series of images by repeatedly making small changes to model unit using software such as Macromedia flash, Flash Mx, Maya, 3-D Max, Java, etc.

          To differentiate  animation with video, video takes continuous motion and breaks it up into discrete frames but animation starts with independent pictures and puts them together to form the illusion of continuous motion. Modeling, simulation, visualization, and animation play a significant role in the study of Bioinformatics. The programming language is used for modeling, simulation, visualization,and animation on interactions of cells in order to better understand the basics of biological processes and to predict their likely behaviors.

                                                    Fig. Animation slide of Plant cell and its organnele
                                                   (slide of animation developed at Sikkim Bioinformtiics Centre)

          The animation program should also be able to produce “rollover” controls, for example as the mouse controlled cursor is placed over a symbol, the symbol changes shape to highlight the command line. A rollover could also function so that when a student points the cursor at an item on the screen, say a protein, the name of the protein pops up. Thus, the names of the various cell parts or proteins do not clutter the illustration. The use of animation and associated sounds may present the concept more effectively than static illustrations or reading of text.

                                                    Fig. Stage of Mitosis Animation slide
                                                    (slide of animation developed at Sikkim Bioinform-
                                                        atics Centre)

Conclusion :
          The general conclusion can be made that lectures/teachings using animation can give a better understanding of certain cell biology concepts than lectures that use only static illustrations. Cell biology topics that would benefit the most from animation would involve sequential steps in a pathway motion or physical modification of a biological organelle. The importance of animation is born out of the fact that it has simplified the task of getting information rather than wasting time flipping over piles of pages and going through long texts thus giving an efficiency in explaining even the complicated of processes in the simplest form.Thus it can be only said that the future teaching tools for all fields of biology will increasingly benefit from an expansion of animation.

Source:
Mc-Grew, Hill Comp
Encylopaedia, Britanica
Wikipedia.
Copper. The cell, A molecular approach

                                                                                3

                                                A brief history of Cymbidium Meristem Culture

                                                          K.B. Subba & B.C. Basistha

                                                    State Tissue Culture Centre (STCC)

                                              Sikkim State Council of Science & Technology

                                                   Developement Area, Gangto - 737 101

                                                                            Sikkim

          Meristem culture is the removal of undifferentiated meristematic cells under aseptic conditions and culturing aseptically in an artificial medium to multiply the cells. The technique is used to produce phenomenal number of plants, all carbon copies of the plant from which the tissue or cells were originally removed. The idea of Cymbidium meristem culture was initiated due to Cymbidium Mosaic Virus (CyMv). It is one of the widespread of the orchid virus diseases. It was Jensen (1950) who extensively worked on CyMv. Since then the symptoms of virus is well known and easy to recognize.

          It appears first on the new shoots as small elongate chlorotic spots, these spots enlarge quickly and become more defined. They show as elongated yellowship streaks scattered throughout the leaves, especially conspicuous by their transparency. On old leaves some of these areas become necrotic on the under side. Leaves with strong necrotic symptoms die earlier than normal ones. He had shown that the virus was very stable and easy to transmit. The disease mostly spreads with knives and pruning shears during vegetative propagation of the plants. Sterlization of tools by alcohol or detergent is not entirely effective. It is impossible to eliminate this virus by inactivation with heat in the living plant without killing the plant first. The virus spreads through all the plants: root, bulbs, leaves and flowers. The embryos, however, remain virus free and all the plants obtained from seeds of a diseased mother plant are accordingly, virus free. But in this case the non-infected embryos are not of much help; the cultivated hybrids are so heterozygous they never breed true.

          In 1956, George Morel, a French scientist and his coworkers discovered that it is possible to cultivate shoot apices and obtain virus-free orchid plants. The techniques in producing virus-free Cymbidium were described in the American Orchid Society Bulletin in 1960. Subsequently they discovered a new phenomenon which will made it possible to obtain many thousand seedling plants in a year. This new technique of clonal multiplication by meristem culture was described in American Orchid Society Bulletin in 1964. It was, in fact, a greatest revolution in the orchid industry and has touched every one who grows and loves orchids. Vacherot and Lecoufle laboratory (French) led by a biologist, Michel Vacherot and orchidist, Maurice Lecoufle is the first commercial laboratory offering Cymbedium mericlones.
                                                  

                                                   Fig. Tissue culture in progress in Laboratory, DST

          In India the successful isolation and commercial production of Cymbidium through tissue culturre was started in 1980s by U.C. Pradhan from Kalimpong who had undergone training on the technique of Cymbidium meristem culture in France under the guidance of Georghe Morel, the pioneer in Cymbidium meristem culture. Presently, a number of commercial laboratories are thriving in the Kalimpong catering the need of Cymbidium seedlings of the whole of north east region. The successful initiation of Cymbidium through shoot tip meristem culture and its mass propagation was achieved in Sikkim by the State Tissue Culture Laboratory, State Council of Science &Technology in the year 1995, as then under the State Forest Department.

                                               Cymbidium eburneum

                                                                                         4
 

                                          Tanacetum atkinsonii (Clarke) Kitam. (Asteraceae), a rare aromatic

                                                               and useful plant in Sikkim Himalaya

                                                 Botanical Survey of India, Sikkim Himalayan Circle, Gangtok

                                                                    A.K. Sahoo & A.A. Ansari

          Sikkim, a small state in Eastern Himalaya is luxuriant with floristic elements of tropical, subtropica temperate and alpine vegetation in the altitudinal range of 200-5000m. The botanical and ethnobotanical field tours are regularly undertaken by Botanical Survey of India throughout the state of Sikkim in order to document both flowering and non flowering plants and also to inventorise various rare and threatened useful plants. During the course of floristic studies in Meimenchu and Tsango lake catchement areas (East Sikkim at 3200-4200m) in the month of September, Tanacetum atkinsonii (Clarke) Kitam was spottedgrowing with rare population at 3900m. Because of its aromatic properties, the local people were contacted and the plant has been studied as a bioperseptive one with some useful properties. The plant specimen collected from the field is processed, preserved and deposited at BSHC as a reference material.

Tanacetum L.(Asteraceae) with ca 70 species available in temperate climate of the Northern Hemisphere; 12 species in India;4 species i.e. T. atkinsonii (Clarke) Kitam., T. Dolichophyllum (Kitam.) Kitam.,T. gossypinum Hook.f. & Thomas.ex C.B Clarke and T. nubigenum Wall. are reported from Sikkim. The relevant information on the rare T.atkinsonii, i.e. Botanical nomenclature,citation,basionym,brief description for its identification in the field, flowering & fruiting period along with photograph, distribution, local uses recorded during field tour, probable chemical constituent noted from available literature along with conservation strategies are described.

          Perennial aromatic herbs, up to 40cm high Radical leaves pinnatisect, 10-15cm long, petiolate. Cauline leaves pinnate, alternate,oblong-lanceolate, 5-7 cm long, more or less glabrous. Receptacle convex naked. Ray flores bright yellow, ligule oblong, linear, recurved, 3-fid. Disc florets purple, slender, tubular, limbs 5-fid. Achenes angular, ca 3mm long, 5-ribbed, pappus absent.  Tanacetum atkinsonii (Clarke) Kitam. in Enum.Fl.Nep. 3:45.1982. Chrysanthemum atkinsonii Clarke, Comp. Ind. 147. 1876 & in Fl.Brit. India 3:315.1881. Naithani, B.D. In Hajra, P.K., R.R.Rao, D.K. Singh & B.P. Uniyal(ed.)1995.Flora India: Asteraceae.12:49.(Asteraceae).

Flowering & Fruiting: August-October, collected at the altitudinal range of 3600-4200m in Tsango lake catchment area, East Sikkim (SAHOO, A.K. 31539).

Distribution: Eastern Himalaya including Nepal, Bhutan.

                                                     Tanacetum atkinsonii (Clarke) Kitam (Asteraceae) at East
                                                      Sikkim (3900m)

Local Use:
i). Fresh leaves crushed and massaged externally on affected portion to get relief from arthritic pain.
ii). The paste applied on old wounds to heat.
iii). The paste massaged on the skin to keep glossy.

Chemical constituent: There is no report available yet on the extraction of the chemical constituent of this plant. But the essential oil with aromatic smell may contain thujone, camphor, borneol-cineol and umbellulon which are extracted from an allied species called Tansy i.e.Tanacetum vulgare L.(The Wealth of India,1976).

Conservation stratergies: The plant with bright yellow flowers is collected rampantly by the visitors to the locality. It is also collected and used by the local people for its aromatic and useful properties. It requires both in-situ conservation measures of the plant for its protection and maintenance for future generation.

References:
i). Anonymous,1976. The Wealth of India, a dictionary of Indian raw materials & industrial products.
    10:126.
ii). Naithani,B.D. In Hajra, P.K., R.R. Rao, D.K.Singh & B.P. Uniyal(ed.). 1995.Flora India: Asteraceae.
    12:49

Acknowledgements:
The authors are grateful to Dr. M.Sanjappa, Director, BSI
for the facilities.

                                                                                            5

                                          Medicinal uses of plants by the local inhabitants of Tarethang,
                                                                               East Sikkim
                                                                    Botanical Survey of India
                                                     Sikkim Himalayan Circle, Gangtok- 737103
                                                             A.A. Ansari & Deepa Tamang
                                                           e-mail: bsigangtok@hotmail.com

          Sikkim is very tiny hilly state in Eastern Himalayas with a geographical area of 7096 sq.km., Which is only 0.2% of the total geographical area of Indian sub-continent. In India there are 17,500 flowering &30,000 non-flowering plants. Of the 3,000 species of medicinal plants widely used in India, Sikkim alone is represented by more than 424 species. The figure would go up if other lesser known plants are included in the list. Thus, Sikkim Himalaya is owed with abundant medicinal plants. The state is divided into four districts of which East district is the most populated. East district covers a total area of 954 sq km.

          Of many places in East Sikkim, Tarethang is one of the places where most of the peoples are engagged in agriculture. There are a number of renowned local healers who practices with the local plants for medicines found locally. We came to know about the local healer whose name is Krishna Pyakure but he is known by the name Pyakure Saila. We got an opportunity to meet him at his place. He gave us many information about uses of local plants as medicines. Based on this and information gathered from the local people, a list of the following 24 plants are provided in this paper. The details include correct botanical names with authority authority, synonyms if any, family to which it belongs local names if any followed by brief description, flowering & fruiting time, parts used and medicinal uses including mode of use etc. (Table I).

Table-I: List of Medicinal plants

                                                                               6

                                                                                                                                                      Biogyan, Vol. III. 2008,

                           A brief note on Ethno-botanical studies of Pangolakha Wild life Sanctuary (PWS)
                                                               (S.R. Lepcha & A.P. Das)
                                                 Sikkim State Council of Science & Technology
                                               Department of Botany University of North Bengal

Introduction

          Pangolakha Wild life Sanctuary is the biggest Wildlife sanctuary of Sikkim. It falls under the Himalayan biogeographic under the IBS site Code no. IN-SK-09 and is located in the eastern flank of East district of Sikkim.  The total area of the sanctuary is 128 sq.km (29.429.53 Hectares) and is situated in between 27⁰ 08 03 N latitude to 27⁰ 21 59 N latitude in northern tip extended from 88⁰ 55 23 E latitude to 88⁰ 41 21 E latitude. The lowest point of the sanctuary falls at the 27⁰11 35 N latitude and 88⁰ 43 43 E longitude at the elevation of 1200m and where as the highest elevation points falls on 27⁰ 21 01N latitude and 88⁰ 53 16 E longitude at the elevation of 4570m.  The sanctuary covers various altitudinal ranges right from the tropical to Alpine zone. The entire region crossing along the international border between Sikkim, China and Bhutan harboring the virgin forests and alpine pastures.  It provides contiguous intact belt of habitat for many carnivores and ungulates connecting borders adjoining Bhutan and West Bengal.  Many of the species reported are either enroute into Sikkim via Bhutan or West Bengal on migration. Further, a large number of Army bunkers and settlement as well as civilian settlements fell along the road.

          Where is Pangolakha Wildlife sanctuary? The Northern boundary of the sanctuary starts from the Zuluk and runs towards Gnathang,Tukla, Neola, Kupup, Jalepla etc. The southern boundary starts from the point whereDichu meets the internal boundary with Bhutan up to Rachila and further it runs along the state boundary with Neora national park, West Bengal. The eastern boundary starts from Jalepla and run along with the International boundary with TAR (Tibet Autonomous Region) and meets the Tri-junction and further runs the international boundary with Bhutan up to where to where the Dichu meets the Indo-Bhutan boundary. The western boundary starts from the points where the Reserve line of Chandey R.F. Meets with the boundary with West Bengal State.  This area is now partially inhabited by the BSF as well as the Indian army and the rest of the areas are mostly occupied by the Sherpas, few Bhutias, and others who helps the army in the form of the labourers, contractors, suppliers etc.

What is Pangolakha Wildlife Sanctuary famous for?
          The Pangolakha wildlife sanctuary has been idetified as one of the richest store house of the biological resources. The Pangolakha  range is one among the most difficutl  terrain which is guarded by steep mountain, dense forest etc.  Due to such  natural limitation, the natural habitat of flora and fauna of  this sanctuary remain undisturbed for past many centuries resulting a significant plethora of diversity is one of the significant features of this reserve forest. The sanctuary has its own distinct identity in regards to the existence of variety in Orchids, ferns, bamboos, rhododendron etc. Ever since, the Pangolakha wildlife sanctuary covers both alpine and temperate part of the vegetatoin uphold an ideal hapitats for both flora & fauna and also act as a home for the many lower groups species. The Pangolakha wild life sanctuary is also identified as one of the important repository of various economic plant wealth, specially the high valued medicinal plants and several other plants indispensable floral species directly or indirectly associated with the mankind. The sanctuary is also importance for its existence of high value Non Timber Forest Product (NTFP) such as Bamboos, high altitude medicinal plants, dye etc. The two major trijunction of Sikkim viz, Rachela trijunction (3100m) where the border of Sikkim, West Bengal and the kingdom of Bhutan meets and the other is Batangla trijunction (000)which is also a trijunction among Sikkim (India), Kingdom of Bhutan and Tibet Autonomous Region of China (TAR). Both this peak is one of the most fascinating in regards to picturesque. It is amazing to record the nearly one third of the Sikkim Himalayas can be viewed for this two point. Apart from this, the sanctuary also acts as source of important river of east Sikkim like Rongli, Dikchu, and Ratey chu etc.

Ethno-medicinal uses plants There are many plants species which have been used as medicine for the treatment of common cough and cold or fever or wounds. Many of these are also found on sale in Rhenock and Rongli in the East Sikkim during the Haat day. Jankri, Phedangma, Bongthing and other folk healers possesses enormous knowledge of this plants and their usages. Following table (Table 1) highlighted some important ethno-medicinal plants of Sanctuary.

Ethno-ornamental plants
          The Pangolakha Wild life sanctuary is the home of large number of plant resources with tremendous ornamental value. These plants are of great value of ornamentals in houses, for the people residing in the vicinity of the sanctuary. Many of the species have already been domesticated for their beautiful foliage and flowers. Some of the prominent species of ethno-ornamental plants species have been enumerated in the table below (table 2 ).

Ethno-edible plants
          Large number of the wild ethno-edible species of plants are identified from the sanctuary. It was observed that, the people settled in the vicinity are survived through wild edible plants and fetches little amount of cash by them during the vegetable shortage in the markets. Some important wild edible species of Pangolakha Wildlife Sanctuary have been enumerated as below (table ).

                                                                             9

Table.1.   Ethno-medicinal Plants of Pangolakha Wildlife Sanctuary.                                   Biogyan, Vol. III. 2008,

                                                                               10

Table 2. Ethno-ornamental species of plants of Pangolakha Wildlife Sanctuary.

                                                                         11

Table 3. Some important ethno-edible plant species of Pangolakha Wildlife Sanctuary.                      Biogyan Vol. III, 2008

Conclusion:
          The study revealed that Pangolakha Wildlife Sanctuary is one of the important repositories of economically vital plants.The local Vidyas, Bongthings, Phedangmas are the key people who use the majority of ethno-medicinally significant plnats.Medicinal Plants, Orchids, Rhododendrons and other highly endangered plants of Sikkim.

Reference
Lepcha, S.R., Chhetri, G. and Das, A.P. (2007) The genus Juncus (Journ. L.in East Sikkim (India) with special reference
to Pangolakha Wildlife Sanctuary: Pleione 1(2): 6-14, 2007.

Rai, Y.K., Rai, L.K. & Sundriyal, M. (1994) On the availability and marketting aspects of wild edibles plants in Mamlay watershed: A field report SSS News Letter VII (4): 11-17.

Singh, S.C.,(1960) Some Wild plants of food value in Nepal: Jour. Tribhuwan University, Kathmandu 4(1): 50-56.

Singh, V., (1995) Lesser Known wild edibles of Sikkim Himalaya. Journal of Economic Taxanomy of Botany, 19(2).

                                                                              12

                                                               A Report on Training on “Environmental
                                                                       Genomics and Biodiverstity:”

                                        Sikkim Bioinformatics Centre, Development Area, Gangtok-Sikkim

                                                           (25^th March 2008 - 26^th March 2008

          Bioinformatics Centre of Sikkim State Council of Science and Technology, Department of Science & Technology,

Development Area had successfully organized a two days training program on “Environmental Genomics and Biodiversity” on 25/03/08 and 26/03/08 at the Bioinformatics Centre.

          The objective of the training program was to make the trainees aware of the bounty bioresources of Sikkim. Sikkim is not only hotspot of Biodiversity but also the home of many endemic floral and faunal species. Medicinal plants, Orchids, and

Rhododendrons are the major economically potential areas for future sustainability. However, due to several biotic and
abiotic factors many important plant species in its natural habitat is under serious threat. Significantly, many other such species are yet to study in detail for its potentialities for human uses.

                                                    Fig. Trainees hearing the lectures at the training program

          Conservation and protection of these red alert species in its natural habitat is one of the issues of major concern. The
documentation of our rich biodiversity and its valuable usages is the need of an hour. The documentation of our bio-resources
is also essential for the Intellectual property Right (IPR) and is also essential for bio-piracy and its related issue in future.
The two day training programme was innaugurated by Shri. M.L. Arrawatia, Member Secretary, Sikkim State Council of Science & Technology. Shri. B.C. Basistha, Sr. Scientific Officer com Coordinator welcomed the gathering and introduced

Bioinformatics and the free internet facility for the students and researchers and free library facility. The programme was also

attended by the Officials and Staffs of Department of Science & Technology and Sikkim State Council of Science &

Technology.

                                                   Fig. The Member Secretary, Sikkim State Council of Science &
                                                   Technology delivering the Inaugural speech of the training programme.
                                                   Sitting besides are (from the left) Shri. B.C. Basistha, Coordinator,

                                                   Bioinformatics Centre, Dr. Shyam C.Srivastava, Director, Birbal
                                                   Savitri Sahni Foundation, Lucknow, Dr. Hafiz Ahmed Khan, Vice
                                                   chairperson, Birbal Savitri Sahni Foundation, Lucknow, Dr. A. A. Ansari,

                                                   Joint Director, Botanical Survey of India.

          The Resource person during training were Dr. Hafiz Ahmed Khan,Vice chairperson, Birbal Savitri Sahni Foundation,

Lucknow; Dr. Shyam C. Srivastava, Director, Birbal Savitri Sahni Foundation, Lucknow; Dr. A.A. Ansari, Joint Director, Botanical Survey of India, Gangtok and Dr. Mahendra Pradhan,Senior Lecturer, Sikkim Government College, Tadong, Mrs.Usha Lachungpa, Senior Research Scientist from Forest Department. The training was exclusively for the Science Post graduates, Graduates, Research scholrs and Government Officials from Line Departments.
 

          In his inaugrual address, the Secretary, Scinece & Technology highlighted the role played by the Sikkim Bioinformatics Centre and the facilities provided by Centre. He informed that the Bioinformatics Centre has a repository of database  on biological resources (Medicinal plants, Rhododendrons, Orchids, etc) and scientific publications on bio-resources of Sikkim. He also desired to develop the Bio-informatics Centre as storehouse of scientific information, database on scientific manpower of the state, database on scientific women personals of the state, digital database on biological resources of Sikkim and database on traditional knowledge. In addition, he also appeal to all the scientific organizations and line department to work together in collaboration in order to conserve the rich  biological resources.

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                                                                                                                                           Biogyan Vol. III, 2008

         In the technical session of the training programme, on 1st Day, i.e. 25th March, 2008, lectures were delivered by Dr. A. A.Ansari, Joint Director Botanical Survey of India,Botanical Survey of India, Gangotk; Mrs. Usha Lachungpa,Senior Research Scientist,Forest Department and Dr. Mahendra Pradhan, Senior Lecturer, Sikkim Government College had delivered the lecture. Dr. Ansari delivered a lecture on Biodiversity and the gave a clear concept of Biodiversity. He said that India is one of the twelve mega biodiversity center and highlighted the contribution of the rich and varied bio-resources of the state Sikkim.
Dr. Ansari also presented the detailed statistical data of the  angioperms and the flowering plants of the country as well as of Sikkim.

                                                          Fig. Dr. Ansari in the technical session

          Mrs. Usha Lachungpa highlighted on Biodiversity and conservation issues in Sikkim. Along with Biodiversity various geographical features like lakes, rivers and mountains of Sikkim and formation of Himalaya the youngest mountain were also discussed. The lecture was illustrated with photographs and paintings of some of the rare and endangered species of fauna like Snow Leopard, Tibetan fox, Blackened Crane, Dong (Wild Yak) and many more. Some of the rare species of butterflies and fishes were also discussed. The last lecture was given by Dr. Mahendra Pradhan. He made a presentation on actinorhizal and micorhizal symboint  of some of the important plants of Sikkim. Slides shows and detailed lecture on Frankial species of Alnus nepalensis found at 800 to 2500 meters was also delivered by Dr. Pradhan.  On 26th March, 2--8, the second day, Prof. Hafiz Ahmed  Khan and Dr. Shyam Chandra Srivastava from Birbal Sahni  Foundation,Lucknow made their presentations. Professor Khan discussed on general health and nutritional value of food. He also stressed on the need for conserving economically importaant, rare and endangered medicinal plants. Dr. Srivastava who had investigated the floristic study of Triassic outcrop from Nidpur in South Rewa Basin from the India from Gondwana informed the trainees that Sikkim being unexplored can become an important area to study the Mesozoic Palaeobotany.

                                                 Fig. Dr. Srivastava delivering the lecture

                                                  Fig. Dr. Hafiz Ahmed Khan interacting the session

          Dr. Srivastava who had investigated the floristic study of Triassic outcrop from Nidpur in South Rewa Basin from India
from Gondwana informed the trainees that Sikkim being unexplored can become an important area to study the Mesozoic
Palaeobotany. He also added that research study on the fossils found in Sikkim were necessary to study the status of glaciers.
During the valedictory programme, the trainees were said to speak on their training experience. Mementos were exchanged between the Department and Birbal Savitri Sahni Foundation, Lucknow. Dr. A. A. Ansar, Joint Director, Botanical Survey of India, Gangtok was felicitated by Birbal Savitri Sahni Foundation. Certificates were distributed to all the participants by the Secretary, Department of Science & Technology. The training successfully ended with a vote of thanks by Shri. S.R. Lepcha, Assistant Scientific Officer, Department of Science & Technology, Sikkim.

                                           
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                                                                                                                                       Biogyan Vol. III, 2008

Glimpses of Trainings conducted at Sikkim Bioinformatics Centre

Secretary,DST, Shri. M.L. Arrawatia, IFS with Dr. Ansari                                   Trainees

and Shri. B.C. Basistha, Coordinator, BTIS

Slide of animation developed at Sikkim Bioinformatics Centre

Our team:
1. Shri B.C. Basistha                                Coordinator
2. Shri. Sonam Rinchen Lepcha                Assistant Scientific Officer
3. Shri. K.B. Subba                                 Sr. Research Assistant
4. Mrs. Rabina Gurung                             Information Officer
5. Mr. Laydong Lepcha                           Data Entry Operator
6. Mr. Prakash Sharma                            Data Entry Operator

Contact Us:
ph.no. 03592-228370
bits_skm@yahoo.com

www.bioinformaticssikkim.gov.in
www.dstsikkim.gov.in

Chief Editor Shri. M.L. Arrawatia, IFS, Member Secretary, Sikkim State Council of Science & Technology,
Gangtok.
Editor Shri B.C. Basistha, Coordinator, Bioinformatics Centre, Sikkim State Council of Science &
Technology, Gangtok