Pipeline to Investigate Genomic Erosion Indices for the Conservation of Agrobiodiversity

With the disappearance of harvested species, varieties and breeds, a wide range of unharvested species is also disappearing, the scale of loss is extensive with respect to habitat loss, habitat configuration, overgrazing, and over exploitation of the species over the past centuries has led to ‘genomic erosion’ processes characterized by reduced genetic diversity, increased inbreeding and accumulation of harmful mutations in the population. Still, genomic erosion estimates of modern-day populations lack concordance with the declining population sizes and conservation status of agrobiodiversity. A newly designed highly flexible, scalable, and only pipeline to compare the patterns of genomic erosion using samples from different period using the state-of-the-art bioinformatics tools and techniques to process whole genome re-sequenced data from historical samples and modern samples in order to produce the estimates of several genomic erosion indices that can be compared. Accordingly, extinction risks for different varieties and breeds can be identified and agricultural biodiversity conservation strategy plans can be framed.