'Breakthrough': Scientists decode genome of 'endangered' turtle, map their habitats

'WE MUST ACT FAST TO PRESERVE GENETIC DIVERSITY...

- SOUMITRA NANDI

KOLKATA: A team of international scientists from the Republic of Korea and India has achieved a breakthrough in wildlife conservation by decoding the complete mitochondrial genome of the critically endangered Crowned River Turtle (Hardella thurjii) and forecasting habitat changes using next-generation genomics and climate-based modeling.

The study was published in the Ecology and Evolution journal by the British Ecological Society and John Wiley & Sons Ltd in June.

The researchers successfully sequenced the entire mitochondrial genome of H. thurjii, establishing its evolutionary position within the turtle family Geoemydidae. "Our phylogenetic analysis confirmed that