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Understanding the level of genetic diversity in any population is an important requisite towards strategizing measures for conservation and improvement of stocks. This study focused on the assessment of phylogenetics and molecular divergence of tilapia fish species obtained from two populations (Domita in South-South and Odeda in South-West, Nigeria) using the displacement loop (D-loop) and cytochrome b region of the mitochondrial deoxyribonucleic acid (mtDNA). A total of 28 samples (15 from South-South and 13 from SouthWest) were used for the genetic analysis. DNA was extracted from the tissue of all the samples using Quik-gDNA TM miniPrep kit. The D-loop containing the hypervariable region was sequenced for all samples from the two populations, while cytochrome b (Cyt b) region of mtDNA was only sequenced for samples from South-South population. Chromatograms of the sequences were viewed and edited using Bioedit software. Multiple sequence alignment was carried out using molecular evolutionary genetic analysis (MEGA) software before subsequent genetic analyses. Phylogenetic analysis grouped the samples into two clusters based on population. Also, when the two mitochondrial regions were pooled together, they clustered into two major groups based on mitochondrial regions. Analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) revealed 37.32% variation within population and 62.68% variation among population with a significant fixation index of 0.627 (p < 0.05).

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African bush apple [Heinsia crinita (Afzel.) G. Taylor] is a threatened orphan crop with immense nutritional and medicinal value to many rural African communities. We developed an efficient system for the in vitro induction of direct multiple shoot organogenesis from different explants of the crop using combinations of two cytokinins (benzyl adenine - BA and thidiazuron - TDZ) and the auxin, naphthalene acetic acid (NAA) in Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium. Multiple shoot induction was most effectively achieved from hypocotyl and stem explants using 1.0 mg/L BA + 0.1 mg/L NAA combination. In vitro-regenerated shoots were successfully rooted on hormone-free 0.5x MS medium and acclimatized to generate H. crinita plantlets, thus providing a strategy for in vitro conservation of this crop as well as a pathway for its genetic improvement via biotechnology.

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