About the Authors

Nahid H. Hajrah

Affiliation Biotechnology Research Group, Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, King Abdulaziz University (KAU), Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Abdullah Y. Obaid

Affiliation Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, King Abdulaziz University (KAU), Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Ahmed Atef

Affiliation Biotechnology Research Group, Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, King Abdulaziz University (KAU), Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Ahmed M. Ramadan

Affiliations Biotechnology Research Group, Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, King Abdulaziz University (KAU), Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Agricultural Genetic Engineering Research Institute (AGERI), Agriculture Research Center (ARC), Giza, Egypt

Dhivya Arasappan

Affiliation Department of Integrative Biology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, United States of America

Charllotte A. Nelson

Affiliation Centre of Genomic Research, Institute for Integrative Biology, Crown Street, Liverpool, United Kingdom

Sherif Edris

Affiliations Biotechnology Research Group, Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, King Abdulaziz University (KAU), Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Department of Genetics, Faculty of Agriculture, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt, Princess Al-Jawhara Al-Brahim Centre of Excellence in Research of Hereditary Disorders (PACER-HD), Faculty of Medicine, King Abdulaziz University (KAU), Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Mohammed Z. Mutwakil

Affiliation Biotechnology Research Group, Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, King Abdulaziz University (KAU), Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Alawia Alhebshi

Affiliation Biotechnology Research Group, Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, King Abdulaziz University (KAU), Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Nour O. Gadalla

Affiliations Department of Arid Land Agriculture, Faculty of Meteorology, Environment and Arid Land Agriculture, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Genetics and Cytology Department, Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology Division, National Research Center, Dokki, Egypt

Rania M. Makki

Affiliation Biotechnology Research Group, Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, King Abdulaziz University (KAU), Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Madgy A. Al-Kordy

Affiliation Genetics and Cytology Department, Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology Division, National Research Center, Dokki, Egypt

Fotouh M. El-Domyati

Affiliation Department of Genetics, Faculty of Agriculture, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt

Jamal S. M. Sabir

Affiliation Biotechnology Research Group, Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, King Abdulaziz University (KAU), Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Mohammad A. Khiyami

Affiliation King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST), Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Neil Hall

Affiliations Biotechnology Research Group, Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, King Abdulaziz University (KAU), Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, The Earlham Institute, Norwich Research Park, Norwich, United Kingdom

Ahmed Bahieldin

Affiliations Biotechnology Research Group, Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, King Abdulaziz University (KAU), Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Department of Genetics, Faculty of Agriculture, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt

Robert K. Jansen

jansen@austin.utexas.edu

Affiliations Biotechnology Research Group, Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, King Abdulaziz University (KAU), Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Department of Integrative Biology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, United States of America

Competing Interests

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Author Contributions

Conceptualization: NHH AYO JSMS MAK NH AB RKJ. Data curation: AB RKJ. Formal analysis: A. Atef DA CAN. Funding acquisition: JMSM AYO NH AB RKJ. Investigation: AYO AMR SE MZM A. Alhebshi RMM NOG MAA FME. Methodology: SE A. Atef DA CAN. Project administration: NHH JSMS NH RKJ. Resources: NHH JSMS NH RKJ. Software: A. Atef DA. Supervision: JSMS NH RKJ. Validation: NHH SE AB. Visualization: AB SE. Writing – original draft: NHH AB NH RKJ. Writing – review & editing: NHH AYO AMR DA CAN SE MZM A. Alhebshi NOG RMM MAA FME JSMS MAK NH AB RKJ.