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Acacia pachyceras O. Schwartz (Leguminoseae), a woody tree growing in Kuwait is critically endangered. High throughput genomic research is immediately needed to formulate effective conservation strategies for its rehabilitation. We therefore, performed a genome survey analysis of the species. Whole genome sequencing generated ~97 Gb of raw reads (92x coverage) with a per base quality score above Q30. The k-mer analysis (17 mer) revealed its genome to be 720Mb in size with an average guanine-cytosine (GC) ratio of 35%. The assembled genome was analyzed for repeat regions (45.4%-interspersed repeats; 9%-retroelements; 2%-DNA transposons). BUSCO assessment of completeness of genome identified 93% of assembly to be complete. Gene alignments in BRAKER2 yielded 34,374 transcripts corresponding to 33,650 genes. Average length of coding sequences and protein sequences were recorded as 1,027nts and 342aa, respectively. GMATA software filtered a total of 901,755 simple sequence repeats (SSRs) regions against which 11,181 unique primers were designed. A subset of 110 SSR primers were PCR validated and demonstrated for its application in genetic diversity analysis of Acacia. The SSR primers successfully amplified A. gerrardii seedlings DNA depicting cross transferability among species. The principal coordinate analysis and the split decomposition tree (bootstrapping runs of 1000 replicates) distributed the Acacia genotypes into two clusters. The flow cytometry analysis revealed the A. pachyceras genome to be polyploid (6x). The DNA content was predicted as 2.46 pg, 1.23 pg, and 0.41 pg corresponding to 2C DNA, 1C DNA and 1Cx DNA, respectively. The results provide a base for further high throughput genomic studies and molecular breeding for its conservation.

Haloxylon salicornicum Moq. Bunge ex Boiss (Rimth) is one of the main structural elements in Eastern Arabian vegetation associations. The plant is utilized as a food source for domestic stock, stabilizes the soil surface besides providing suitable microclimates for exotic species. It is considered one of the most promising species for re-vegetation. H. salicornicum community is under threat from overgrazing leading to a reduction in the percentage of distribution from 22.7% to 2.2% in Kuwait. Therefore, genome characterization of this important Kuwaiti plant is required to formulate strategies for its conservation. Here we report the draft of the H. salicornicum genome, which was sequenced on an Illumina HiSeq 2500 platform. BUSCO assessment revealed 69% of the genome was to be complete. Overall, 12960 gene structures, 11280 protein-coding genes, 11309 mRNAs (protein-coding), 51265 exons and 48100 CDSs were predicted. Functional annotation was carried out by interproscan-5.29-68.0. A total of 7222 protein-coding sequences were, annotated out of 11309 by at least one ontology term. All these genes were associated with 11 major biological processes branched into 60 child processes.

Natural populations of Rhanterium eppaposum Oliv. (Arfaj), a perennial forage shrub, have depleted due to unethical human interventions and climate change in Kuwait. Therefore, there is an urgent need to conserve this native plant through the assessment of its genetic diversity and population structure. Genotyping by sequencing (GBS) has recently emerged as a powerful tool for the molecular diversity analysis of higher plants without prior knowledge of their genome. This study represents the first effort in using GBS to discover genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of local Rhanterium plants to assess the genetic diversity present in landraces collected from six different locations in Kuwait. The study generated a novel set of 11,231 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and indels (insertions and deletions) in 98 genotypes of Rhanterium. The analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) revealed ~1.5% variation residing among the six populations, ~5% among the individuals within the population and 93% variation present within the populations (FST = 0.029; p = 0.0). Bayesian and UPGMA analyses identified two admixed clusters of the tested samples; however, the principal coordinates analysis returned the complete population as a single group. Mantel’s test returned a very weak correlation coefficient of r2 = 0.101 (p = 0.00) between the geographic and genetic distance. These findings are useful for the native species to formulate conservation strategies for its sustainable management and desert rehabilitation.

Kuwait is a country with a very high dust loading; in fact it bears the world's highest particulate matter concentration in the outdoor air. The airborne dust often has associated biological materials, including pathogenic microbes that pose a serious risk to the urban ecosystem and public health. This study has established the baseline taxonomic characterization of microbes associated with dust transported into Kuwait from different trajectories. A high volume air sampler with six-stage cascade impactor was deployed for sample collection at a remote as well as an urban site. Samples from three different seasons (autumn, spring and summer) were subjected to targeted amplicon sequencing. A set of ~ 50 and 60 bacterial and fungal genera, respectively, established the core air microbiome. The predominant bacterial genera (relative abundance ≥ 1%) were Brevundimonas (12.5%), Sphingobium (3.3%), Sphingopyxis (2.7%), Pseudomonas (2.5%), Sphingomonas (2.4%), Massilia (2.3%), Acidovorax (2.0%), Allorhizobium (1.8%), Halomonas (1.3%), and Mesorhizobium (1.1%), and the fungal taxa were Cryptococcus (12%) followed by Alternaria (9%), Aspergillus (7%), Candida (3%), Cladosporium (2.9%), Schizophyllum (1.6%), Fusarium (1.4%), Gleotinia (1.3%) and Penicillium (1.15%). Significant spatio-temporal variations were recorded in terms of relative abundances, α-diversities, and β-diversities of bacterial communities. The dissimilarities were less pronounced and instead the communities were fairly homogenous. Linear discrimant analysis revealed three fungal genera known to be significantly differentially abundant with respect to different size fractions of dust. Our results shed light on the spatio-temporal distribution of airborne microbes and their implications in general health.

Rhanterium eppaposum Oliv. (Arfaj) the national plant of Kuwait, is a perennial bushy shrub and the national flower of Kuwait. It is one of the most palatable forage plants and an excellent performer for desert rehabilitation. Due to several anthropogenic activities and climate change, this native plant has suffered severe degradation. In order to formulate conservation strategies, the genetic diversity of Rhanterium, was assessed by inter simple sequence repeat (ISSR) markers. A total of 93 wild landraces distributed in six remote locations in Kuwait were tested using 17 primers (PIC = 0.31; polymorphism = 92.8 %) that produced 195 unambiguous and reproducible bands. Overall, diversity indices were high enough (Nei’s gene diversity (h') - 0.286; Shannon’s diversity index - 0.414) for these populations. AMOVA test returned a fixation coefficient (FST) of 0.116 (p = 0.0) with higher genetic variations detected within (88 %) the populations as compared to among (12 %) the populations. Satisfactory levels of genetic differentiation (GST = 0.186; G’ST = 0.250; D’ = 0.295) were recorded for R. eppaposum with a gene flow (NM) maintained at 1.9. The maximum genetic distances were observed between Maqwa and Mina Abdulla (Ds- 0.158; FST- 0.228) whereas minimum was between Al Kabd and SANR (Ds - 0.06; FST- 0.05). A weak Mantel’s correlation (r2 - 0.139; P = 0.014) between the six populations was also recorded. A narrow population structure was observed through the PCoA (2 groups), STRUCTURE (2 groups, K = 2) and SPLIT decomposition (1 cluster). The high genetic diversity within the populations are encouraging, however the low genetic differentiation raises concerns. The population structure should be improved by planting genetically diverse genotypes in areas of very low diversity to broaden its genetic base. Keywords: Conservation management, Genetic diversity, Molecular markers, Arfaj, Polymorphism

Haloxylon salicornicum moq. Bunge ex Boiss (Rimth) is one of the native plants of Kuwait, extensively depleting through the anthropogenic activities. It is important to conserve Haloxylon community in Kuwait as it can tolerate extreme adverse conditions of drought and salinity to be potentially used in the desert and urban revegetation and greenery national programs. Therefore, a set of 16 inter simple sequence repeat (ISSR) markers were used to assess genetic diversity and population structure of 108 genotypes from six locations in Kuwait. The ISSR primers produced 195 unambiguous and reproducible bands out of which 167 bands were polymorphic (86.5%) with a mean PIC value of 0.31. The overall average values of Nei's gene diversity (h') and Shannon's diversity index (I) were 0.254 and 0.375, respectively. Results of AMOVA revealed high genetic variations within populations (77.8%) and low among populations (22%). The values of Fixation index (FST = 0.22; P = 0.0), Genetic differentiation (GST = 0.262; G'ST = 0.327; D = 0.335 and Gene flow (NM = 0.880) were indicative of heterozygous populations. The results of STRUCTURE and split decomposition analysis suggested that the Rimth accessions of Kuwait can be grouped into five and six subpopulations, respectively. Principal coordinate analysis (PCoA) grouped them into three clusters. The pairwise Nei's genetic distances (DS) among populations demonstrated a narrow range from 0.047 to 0.187 (Scale-0.0 to 1.0). The Mantel's test revealed a weak correlation (r2- 0.188; P-0.013) between the genetic distance and geographic distances. Our results suggest that the narrowly distributed Haloxylon community in Kuwait demonstrated a high genetic diversity within the populations however the overall population structure was weak.