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Determining the bird assemblages is utmost important to identify the adequacy and efficiency of habitats. The line transect method was used to determine patterns of bird relative abundance, diversity indices, and conservation status in Sheikh Badin National Park from November 2017 to December 2019. In total, 7,919 individuals (2,592 migrants and 5,327 inhabitants) representing 42 species and 25 families were enlisted. Of 42 species, 27 were native (i.e., 67.26%) utilizing the study area throughout the year, while the remaining 15 species were migrant (e.g., 32.73%) that used the study area during the winter. Passer domesticus (0.06%), Merops persicus (0.05%), Tachymarptis melba, and Ploceus philippinus (each 0.04%) were the overwhelming bird species. In contrast, Francolinus francolinus (0.02%), Falco tinnunculus (0.008%), and Alectoris chukar (0.005%) were the rarest bird species. All species were identified as “Least Concern” based on IUCN RedList. Diversity results showed birds were assorted a diverse, i.e. H’ = 3.608 (resident birds; H’ = 3.608 and migratory birds; H’ = 2.543), rich; i.e. D = 0.031 (resident birds; D = 0.046 and migratory birds D = 0.093) and evenly distributed J = 0.965 (resident birds, J = 0.967 and migratory birds, J = 0.939). The perceptions of local inhabitants and personnel observation shown that bird species are facing confronting threats due to human endeavor, such as illegal hunting, habitat loss due deforestation, and uncontrolled grazing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) is an important crop worldwide cultivated for natural fiber and vegetable oil purposes. Artificial selection for pyramiding desirable traits in cotton varieties has a great influence on molecular evolution of cotton genome and species. Population structure and linkage disequilibrium (LD) are two important attributes that shed light on the underlying molecular evolution and genetic diversity of a plant species cultivated in a particular ecological region. In this study, population structure and linkage disequilibrium were assessed among 25 cotton cultivars from two important ecological regions (Central Punjab and South Punjab) in Pakistan. The 25 cultivars were genotyped with 92 primer pairs of simple sequence repeats (SSR) markers. Population structure was assessed by STRUCTURE 2.0 software. Linkage disequilibrium was assessed by TASSEL 2.1 software. The STRUCTURE analysis revealed three subpopulations. Sixty-six pairs of loci (0.83%) showed a significant LD (P = 0.001, 푟2 > 0.1). At 푟 = 0.001, three LD haplotypic blocks were identified on chr. 11 (A11), 16 (D7), and 23 (D9), indicating that artificial selection has had a strong influence on the molecular evolution of cotton crop in a specific ecological region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Oral microbiota is vital for human health and can be affected by various factors (i.e. diets, ethnicity). However, few studies have compared oral microbiota of individuals from different nationalities in the same environment. Here, we explored the assembly and interaction of oral microbial communities of Chinese and Pakistanis in one university. Firmicutes and Proteobacteria were the predominant microorganisms in the oral cavity of Chinese and Pakistanis. Streptococcus and Neisseria were the dominant genera of China, while Streptococcus and Haemophilus were the dominant genera of Pakistanis. In addition, the oral community membership and structure were not influenced by season, Chinese/Pakistani student and gender, reflecting the stability of the human oral microbiome. The beta diversity of oral microbiomes between Chinese and Pakistanis significantly differed in winter, but not in spring. The alpha diversity of Chinese students and Pakistani students was similar. Moreover, oral microbial community of both Chinese and Pakistani students was mainly driven by stochastic processes. The microbial network of Chinese was more complexity and stability than that of Pakistanis. Our study uncovers the characteristics of human oral microbiota, which is of great significance for oral and human health., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.)

Bacterial pathogens that infect patients also contaminate hospital surfaces. These contaminants impact hospital infection control and epidemiology, prompting quantitative examination of their transmission dynamics. Here we investigate spatiotemporal and phylogenetic relationships of multidrug resistant (MDR) bacteria on intensive care unit surfaces from two hospitals in the United States (US) and Pakistan collected over one year. MDR bacteria isolated from 3.3% and 86.7% of US and Pakistani surfaces, respectively, include common nosocomial pathogens, rare opportunistic pathogens, and novel taxa. Common nosocomial isolates are dominated by single lineages of different clones, are phenotypically MDR, and have high resistance gene burdens. Many resistance genes (e.g., bla NDM , bla OXA carbapenamases), are shared by multiple species and flanked by mobilization elements. We identify Acinetobacter baumannii and Enterococcus faecium co-association on multiple surfaces, and demonstrate these species establish synergistic biofilms in vitro. Our results highlight substantial MDR pathogen burdens in hospital built-environments, provide evidence for spatiotemporal-dependent transmission, and demonstrate potential mechanisms for multi-species surface persistence.

We sequenced the genome of a Pakistani male at 25.5x coverage using massively parallel sequencing technology. More than 90% of the sequence reads were mapped to the human reference genome. In subsequent analysis, we identified 3,224,311 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), of which 388,532 (12% of the total SNPs) had not been previously recorded in single nucleotide polymorphism database (dbSNP) or the 1000 Genomes Project database. The 5991 non-synonymous coding variants were screened for deleterious or disease-associated SNPs. Analysis of genes with deleterious SNPs identified 'retinoic acid signaling' and 'regulation of transcription' as the enriched Gene Ontology terms. Scanning of non-synonymous SNPs against the OMIM revealed several disease and phenotype-associated variants in Pakistani genome. Comparative analysis with Indian genome sequence revealed >1.8 million shared SNPs; 32% of which were annotated in ~14,000 genes. Gene Ontology (GO) terms analysis of these genes identified 'response to jasmonic acid stimulus', 'aminoglycoside antibiotic metabolic process' and 'glycoside metabolic process' with considerable enrichment. A total of 59,558 of small indels (1-5 bp) and 16,063 large structural variations were found; 54% of which was novel. Substantial number of novel structural variations discovered in Pakistani genome enforced previous inferences that (a) structural variations are major type of variation in the genome and (b) compared with SNPs, they putatively exhibit equivalent or superior functional roles. This genome sequence information will be an important reference for population-wide genomics studies of ethnically diverse South Asian subcontinent.