Molecular Biology Laboratory

The Molecular Biology Laboratory focuses on the conservation and genetic improvement of forest trees through genomic and transcriptomic approaches.

The Molecular Biology Laboratory has a strong background in forest genomics and has undertaken various national and international projects for the estimation of spatial population genetic structure, gene flow parameters, genetic diversity status of natural populations/ provenances/clones deploying genome-wide molecular marker surveys viz. isozymes, RAPD, AFLP, ISSR and microsatellites. Extensive work has also been carried out in the molecular characterisation of soil microbiota of plantations as well as natural populations using 16SrDNA sequences, which are used for the identification of families, genera and species of bacteria and also to infer phylogenetic relationships.

The laboratory is currently more focused on functional genomics/transcriptomic research to meet the challenges of improving the quality and productivity of forests by directly looking at the coding DNA sequences. Association genetic mapping research is currently underway, which aims to develop expressed sequence tags (ESTs) for the quantitative trait of interest in forest trees. The putative functional roles of the identified SNPs are being tested and evaluated through association mapping.

A central DNA barcoding facility for various life forms has also been developed recently. It is equipped with a ready-to-use DNA barcoding technique for plants, animals, insects, fungi, etc.. The Department has also ventured into the genetic screening for inherited disorders in the particularly vulnerable forest-dwelling tribal community in collaboration with the research team at Calicut Medical College.

The Molecular Biology Laboratory is equipped with laminar airflows, autoclaves, a bioreactor, high-speed refrigerated centrifuges, PCR machines, a spectrophotometer, a nanodrop, gel electrophoresis and gel documentation units, ice flaker machines, deep freezers.