Wings of Life- Genomics, Biodiversity and Life Processes

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The singular impact of the Origin of Species (1859) by Charles Darwin facilitated a paradigm shift in the intellectual domain studying the biological evolution. This interest was not only confined to the world of the practising biologists alone, but proceeded substantially much beyond. The legacy of those historical contributions that we have been pursuing vigorously since then certainly calls for serious academic introspection. This is all the more necessary specially in the context of evolution mutation vis-à-vis migration-adaptation frame of biotic reference subsequently, the furtherance of highly specialised genetic studies placed the world of human knowledge in a much more higher academic spectrum. As a corollary, later on, environment and bio-diversity as the other important inputs registered their significant presence in juxta-position with the biological and other related areas of research. Put together the biogenic structure of life emboldened by the later genomic explorations were reasonably rationalised in understanding all forms of organic life.

The Asiatic Society, Kolkata organised a one-day seminar on the theme entitled "Genomics: Molecular to Ecosystem Level" during 9th December 2016. A number of very distinguished scholars took part in these deliberations. As the Editor of the volume has mentioned that in addition to the seminar presentations, a few contributions were also included from the invited scholars in view of a coverage on the overall thematic approach to the subject in hand.

I sincerely hope that our younger scholars and researchers in this specialised field of research programmes may find this new and important title of the Society's publication useful for their work and reference in future.

It is believed that the universe evolved by self-organisation of matter towards more and more complex structures. In the process of biological evolution from bacteria-like tiny cells (the last universal common ancestor) to all life on earth, including humans, complex life forms arose from simpler ones. Diversity of organic world has its common origin. Evolution of complexity in the organic world is trait specific. In the animal kingdom, 36 body-plans (Bauplan) are found. Genes, embryos and development together determine the form of an adult organism's body, through the complex switching processes involved in morphogenesis. Similar principle is also the characteristic attribute of plant kingdom.

Body-plan evolution in plants has involved fundamental changes in the forms of both gametophyte and sporophyte. Comparative analysis, based on molecular phylogenetic information, identifies fundamental body-plan features that originated during radiation of charophycean algae and were inherited by plants. These include, in prospective evolutionary order: cellulosic cell wall, multicellular body, cytokinetic phragmoplast, plasmodesmata, apical meristematic cell, apical cell proliferation (branching), three-dimensional tissues, asymmetric cell division, cell specialisation capacity, zygote retention, and placenta. Body-plan features of plants include: multicellular sporophyte body, histogenetic apical meristem in the gametophyte body, and capacity for tissue differentiation in both sporophyte and gametophyte (Graham et al., 2000)'.

The archetype of the form of all animals, based not on a shared body-plan but on conserved molecular homologies. Thus all organism that displays a particular spatial pattern of gene expression, is called zootype. The zootype hypothesis postulates that the primordial function of the zootype genes is to design an appropriate neuronal network in bilaterian animals, by controlling the genes involved in the specificity of the axon pathways.

**Contents and Sample Pages**