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Fluted pumpkin (Telfairia occidentalis Hook F.) is an underutilized indigenous leafy vegetable with enormous prospects for food security in sub-Saharan Africa. However, relatively little is known about genetic relationships and population structure in the species. In this study, 32 landraces of fluted pumpkin collected across three southern geographical regions in Nigeria were assessed for genetic diversity and population structure using 8 start codon-targeted (SCoT) makers. The polymorphic information content of the SCoT markers ranged from 0.48 in SCoT36 to 0.94 in SCoT28, with an average of 0.77. Hierarchical cluster dendrogram based on Ward's method and principal component analysis grouped the landraces into four clusters without affiliation to provenance. Overall, the mean values of the population genetic diversity parameters – Nei's gene diversity (H) and Shannon's information index (I) showed values of 0.28 ± 0.01 and 0.43 ± 0.02, respectively, implying a narrow genetic base for the landraces. The result was further corroborated by a very close Nei's genetic distance and identity among populations of the landraces. Furthermore, the south-west population exhibited the higher genetic diversity (H = 0.31 ± 0.02 and I = 0.45 ± 0.03). Population structure analysis inferred three subpopulations for the accessions with varying degrees of allelic admixture. An analysis of molecular variance revealed that almost all the genetic variation occurred within (99%) than between (1%) populations. The findings shed light on the genetic diversity of southern Nigerian fluted pumpkin and have significant implications for the characterisation, conservation, exploitation and improvement of the species.

In the last few decades,Moringa oleifera, a multipurpose medicinal plant (MMP) has received increased research attention and commercial interest for its nutritional, therapeutic and pharmacological properties. Rigorous approaches including biological assays, animal and clinical trials are required towards safe usage as herbal therapy. We conducted a systematic review of the known pharmacological activities, toxicity, and safety ofM. oleifera, usually used locally in the treatment and prevention of myriads of illnesses. Five major bibliographic databases (SCOPUS, Web of Science, Science Direct, PubMed, and Mendeley) were searched for studies reported on pharmacological activities, toxicity, and safety assessment ofM. oleiferain the last 29 years (1990 – 2019). Studies on animals and humans involving aqueous leaf extracts and different preparations fromM. oleiferaseed and bark were also considered. All articles retained, and data collected were evaluated based on the period of the article, country where such studies were conducted and the document type. Our search results identified and analyzed 165 articles while 63 studies were eventually retained. Diverse pharmacological activities including neuroprotective, antimicrobial, antiasthmatic, anti-malaria, cardioprotective, antidiabetic, antiobesity, hepatoprotective and cytotoxic effects, amongst others, were recorded. Toxicity studies in animal models and few human studies showed thatM. oleiferais safe with no adverse effect reported. The importance of the plant is highlighted in the search for new bioactive compounds to explore its therapeutic potentials towards drug discovery and development in the pharmaceutical and allied industries.

Solanum tuberosum (Potato) is one of the essential economic crops with the potential to reduce hunger due to its high yield per unit area of land compared with many economic crops. However, its yield losses due to pest and disease attacks could be as high as 100%, depending on its tolerance level and pest and disease. Over the years, several disease management strategies have been researched, ranging from synthetic pesticides to the formulation of biopesticides as disease control measures. Moreso, recent breakthroughs in genetic engineering have simplified plant disease management strategies by developing techniques for conferring resistance on plants. Potato is a vital food crop worldwide, and with the struggle to suppress world food insecurity, effective disease management strategies must be employed for high production of quality and quantity potato, enough to feed the ever-increasing world population. Therefore, attention must be given to how disease-free potatoes can be produced to meet the unending demand for food by the continually increasing world population.

Diet plays an essential role in human development and growth, contributing to health and well-being. The socio-economic values, cultural perspectives, and dietary formulation in sub-Saharan Africa can influence gut health and disease prevention. The vast microbial ecosystems in the human gut frequently interrelate to maintain a healthy, well-coordinated cellular and humoral immune signalling to prevent metabolic dysfunction, pathogen dominance, and induction of systemic diseases. The diverse indigenous diets could differentially act as biotherapeutics to modulate microbial abundance and population characteristics. Such modulation could prevent stunted growth, malnutrition, induction of bowel diseases, attenuated immune responses, and mortality, particularly among infants. Understanding the associations between specific indigenous African diets and the predictability of the dynamics of gut bacteria genera promises potential biotherapeutics towards improving the prevention, control, and treatment of microbiome-associated diseases such as cancer, inflammatory bowel disease, obesity, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. The dietary influence of many African diets (especially grain-base such as millet, maize, brown rice, sorghum, soya, and tapioca) promotes gut lining integrity, immune tolerance towards the microbiota, and its associated immune and inflammatory responses. A fibre-rich diet is a promising biotherapeutic candidate that could effectively modulate inflammatory mediators’ expression associated with immune cell migration, lymphoid tissue maturation, and signalling pathways. It could also modulate the stimulation of cytokines and chemokines involved in ensuring balance for long-term microbiome programming. The interplay between host and gut microbial digestion is complex; microbes using and competing for dietary and endogenous proteins are often attributable to variances in the comparative abundances of Enterobacteriaceae taxa. Many auto-inducers could initiate the process of quorum sensing and mammalian epinephrine host cell signalling system. It could also downregulate inflammatory signals with microbiota tumour taxa that could trigger colorectal cancer initiation, metabolic type 2 diabetes, and inflammatory bowel diseases. The exploitation of essential biotherapeutic molecules derived from fibre-rich indigenous diet promises food substances for the downregulation of inflammatory signalling that could be harmful to gut microbiota ecological balance and improved immune response modulation.

Highlights • We established the introduction of diverse sub-Lineages of Lineage B into Africa within the first few months of the SARSCoV-2 outbreak. • The evolutionary rate of SARSCoV-2 sequences in Africa is consistent with previous reports indicating congruence with global viral evolution. • The G614 spike protein mutant was the most prevalent in this study., Background The ongoing SARSCoV-2 pandemic was introduced into Africa on 14th February 2020 and has rapidly spread across the continent causing severe public health crisis and mortality. We investigated the genetic diversity and evolution of this virus during the early outbreak months between 14th February to 24th April 2020, using whole genome sequences. Methods We performed recombination analysis against closely related CoV, Bayesian time scaled phylogeny and investigated spike protein amino acid mutations. Results recombination signals were observed between the AfrSARSCoV-2 sequences and reference sequences within the RdRPs and S genes. The evolutionary rate of the AfrSARSCoV-2 was 4.133 × 10-4 Highest Posterior Density (HPD 4.132 × 10-4 to 4.134 × 10-4) substitutions/site/year. The time to most recent common ancestor (TMRCA) of the African strains was December 7th 2019, (95% HPD November 12th 2019-December 29th 2019). The AfrSARCoV-2 sequences diversified into two lineages A and B with B being more diverse with multiple sub-lineages confirmed by both maximum clade credibility (MCC) tree and PANGOLIN software. There was a high prevalence of the D614-G spike protein amino acid mutation 59/69(82.61%) among the African strains. Conclusion This study has revealed a rapidly diversifying viral population with the G614 spike protein variant dominating, we advocate for up scaling NGS sequencing platforms across Africa to enhance surveillance and aid control effort of SARSCoV-2 in Africa.

The human genome is composed of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) organized into 23 pairs of chromosomes in the nucleus of human cells, as well as the small DNA found inside individual mitochondria. Complete sequencing of the 3 billion base pairs that make up the human genome has made available a deluge of information that has enhanced our understanding of evolution, physiology, causality of disease, and association between heredity and environment in humans. This chapter discusses discoveries in genetics that spawned the field of human genomics. It further highlights the role of human genome in disease susceptibility, as well as its prospects for the future of healthcare.

Aim: The aim of this study is to develop a protocol for in vitro regeneration of a Nigerian indigenous pumpkin (C. pepo L.) via seedling-derived cotelydon, cotyledonary node and hypocotyl explants. Study Design: A combination of 0.00, 1.00, 2.00 and 3.00 mgl-1 of 6-Benzylaminopurine (BAP) and 0.00 or 0.05 mgl-1 of 2,4-Dichlorophenoxy acetic acid (2,4-D) for each explant type were set up in three replicates making a total of 36 culture vessels in the entire experimental set up. Five explants were cultured per combination. Place and Duration of Study: The work was conducted in the Plant Tissue Culture Laboratory of the Department of Biological Sciences, College of Science and Technology, Covenant University, Ota, Ogun State, Nigeria, between January 2017 and July 2017. Methodology: Hypocotyl, cotyledonary node and cotyledon explants derived from 4-week old

Background: Launaea taraxacifolia (Willd) Amin Ex.C Jeffrey is an undervalued traditional leafy vegetable, which is economically important as food and medicine. It also has several therapeutic and nutritive values. The cultivation is hampered by low seed viability, seed dormancy and poor vegetative propagation. Aim: The study aimed to develop an efficient protocol for micropropagation of L. taraxacifolia. Place and Duration of Study: The study was conducted at the tissue culture laboratory of National Centre for Genetic Resources and Biotechnology, Moor Plantation, Ibadan. Nigeria. Methodology: One centimetre (1.00 cm) double-sterilized single-node explants of L. taraxacifolia cultured on Murashige & Skoog (MS) medium amended with a constant concentration (0.5 mg/l) of 1-Naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA) in combination with varying concentration (0.5 mg/l, 1.0 mg/l, 1.5 mg/l, 2.0 mg/l and 2.5 mg/l) of two cytokinins, 6-Benzylaminopurine (BAP) and kinetin were investigated for their effects on shoot proliferation, multiplication and rooting. Growth parameters were observed and recorded and the data subjected to statistical analysis. Results: Among the cytokinin treatments, significant increase in means was observed with increase in the concentration of BAP. There was no significant difference among the treatments with kinetin. BAP treatments at 2.5 mg/l gave significantly highest number of shoots (3.33 and 4.67) and number of leaves (16.70 and 30.00) at 4 and 8 weeks of culture, respectively as compared to the control. Shoot length was highest in treatment with MS+2 mg/l BAP+0.5 mg/l NAA and MS+1 mg/l KIN+0.5 mg/l NAA (2.33 and 0.30) and these were higher than that of control at 4 weeks and equal at 8 weeks. Residual effect of the Plant growth regulators (PGRs) was observed in treatment with MS+0.5 mg/l KIN+0.5 mg/l NAA alone. Conclusion: The results from the study revealed that L. taraxacifolia nodal explants resulted in multiple shoots in BAP treatments than in kinetin treatments. Double disinfection with treatment with MS+2.5 mg/l BAP+0.5 mg/l NAA which produced the highest number of clean multiple shoots and leaves is thereby proposed as shoot multiplication medium for this species.

Plasmodium falciparum, a malaria pathogen, has shown substantial resistance to treatment coupled with poor response to some vaccines thereby requiring urgent, holistic, and broad approach to prevent this endemic disease. Understanding the biology of the malaria parasite has been identified as a vital approach to overcome the threat of malaria. This study is aimed at identifying essential proteins unique to malaria parasites using a reconstructediPfagenome-scale metabolic model (GEM) of the 3D7 strain ofPlasmodium falciparumby filling gaps in the model with nineteen (19) metabolites and twenty-three (23) reactions obtained from the MetaCyc database. Twenty (20) currency metabolites were removed from the network because they have been identified to produce shortcuts that are biologically infeasible. The resulting modifiediPfaGEM was a model using thek-shortest path algorithm to identify possible alternative metabolic pathways in glycolysis and pentose phosphate pathways ofPlasmodium falciparum. Heuristic function was introduced for the optimal performance of the algorithm. To validate the prediction, the essentiality of the reactions in the reconstructed network was evaluated using betweenness centrality measure, which was applied to every reaction within the pathways considered in this study. Thirty-two (32) essential reactions were predicted among which our method validated fourteen (14) enzymes already predicted in the literature. The enzymatic proteins that catalyze these essential reactions were checked for homology with the host genome, and two (2) showed insignificant similarity, making them possible drug targets. In conclusion, the application of the intelligent search technique to the metabolic network ofP. falciparumpredicts potential biologically relevant alternative pathways using graph theory-based approach.

Indigenous Nigerian pumpkin is a cucurbitaceous plant primarily grown in Southwestern Nigeria for its young leaves, which are relished as pleasant-tasting vegetable. In spite of its nutritional value, the plant is scarcely available compared to other vegetables. As a result, development of a rapid in vitro regeneration procedure is imperative to ensure all year round availability. The influence of 6-Benzylaminopurine (BAP) and 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid on multiple shoots induction from cotyledonary node explant of indigenous Nigerian pumpkin has been previously reported. However, the concentrations of BAP used may have been high, hence the inhibition of shoots formation on medium amended with plant growth regulators (PGRs). Can low concentrations of BAP alone elicit multiple shoots from cotyledonary node explant of indigenous Nigerian pumpkin? To ascertain this, we cultured cotyledonary node explants derived from 3-week-old in vitro grown seedlings for 8 weeks on Murashige and Skoog (MS) basal medium fortified with 0.35, 0.45 and 0.55 mg/L BAP. Medium without BAP (0.00 mg/L) was used as control. Mean number of shoots per explant was not statistically significant (P≤0.05) among the BAP concentrations employed except for control and medium augmented with 0.45 mg/L BAP. Medium fortified with 0.45 mg/L of BAP gave 3.25±0.921 shoots per explant and was therefore most effective for multiple shoots induction. The result showed that low levels of BAP were capable of inducing shoots formation from cotyledonary node explant of indigenous Nigerian pumpkin. Nevertheless, much lower BAP concentration than used in the present study should be investigated for the likelihood to elicit higher shoot responses.

Globally, there has been a growing interest in medicinal plants by researchers. Telfairia occidentalis Hook F. (Fluted pumpkin) is cucurbitaceous vegetable grown in West Africa, particularly in Nigeria for its leaves and seeds. The curative properties of fluted pumpkin are popular in Nigerian folklore medicine, and several investigators have validated these therapeutic effects using animal models. The aim of this work therefore, was to review publicly available literature on the pharmacotherapeutic activities of T. occidentalis. Searches were performed on PubMed, Scopus, ScienceDirect, and Google Scholar for related studies, with search dates set between 1990 and 2018. A total of 499 articles were retrieved and analyzed, with 38 studies ultimately retained. Studies contained in this review were carried out in Nigeria, across different locations. 13 categories of pharmacological activities for fluted pumpkin were documented after analyzing full texts of the articles retained. T. occidentalis offers myriad of healing properties that can be explored by pharmaceutical industries. As the search for potent drugs from botanical sources continues, there is need for future investigations to isolate and characterize pharmacologically active agents that confer medicinal properties on fluted pumpkin, as well as elucidate the structures of these agents and pathways by which they exert their healing properties.

Solanecio biafrae (Olive and Hierne) C. Jeffrey (1986) (Family: Asteraceae), has synonyms Senecio biafrae Olive and Hierne (1877) and Crassocephalum biafrae (Olive and Hierne) S. Moore (1912). It is a perennial standent, underutilized African indigenous medicinal vegetable. It was first reported and published in Flora of Tropical Africa. Its common names varied from Gnanvule in Cote d’Ivoire to Worowo/bologi in Nigeria. It has alternate, simple, succulent, petiolated, and exauriculate leaves. Its propagation is vegetative by rooting of cuttings. However, there is no report on its propagation by seed. It is ubiquitous in cocoa plots in Nigeria, especially southwest; due to deliberate protection for economic revenue, but this has little‑uncoordinated cultivation indication. These deliberately protected few are exposed to contamination by a chemical used for protecting cocoa plants. It is highly nutritive and rich in protein. It is also medicinally important as a galactagogue and for treatment of diabetes, high blood pressure, and infertility. It has biological activity against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli. It also has traditional and cultural claims for initiation and rituals. Personal interviews and search of the available literature on S. biafrae in electronic peer‑reviewed English journals using scientific databases such as Google Scholar, Science Direct, PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science was employed.