- Passionate about metabolic engineering in model and nonmodel plants and algae.edit
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Microalgae are important renewable feedstock to produce biodiesel and high-value chemicals. Different wavelengths of light influence the growth and metabolic activities of algae. Recent research has identified the light-sensing proteins... more
Microalgae are important renewable feedstock to produce biodiesel and high-value chemicals. Different wavelengths of light influence the growth and metabolic activities of algae. Recent research has identified the light-sensing proteins called photoreceptors that respond to blue or red light. Structural elucidations of algal photoreceptors have gained momentum over recent years. These include channelrhodopsins, PHOT proteins, animal-like cryptochromes, blue-light sensors utilizing flavin-adenine dinucleotide (BLUF) proteins. Pulsing light has also been investigated as a means to optimize energy inputs into bioreactors. This review summarizes the current structural and functional basis of photoreceptor modulation to optimize the growth, production of carotenoids and other high-value metabolites from microalgae. The review also encompasses novel photobioreactor designs that implement different light regimes including light wavelengths and time to optimize algal growth and desired metabolite profiles for high-value products. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Abstract Plants are commonly exposed to a wide range of environmental stresses. Abiotic stresses are the key factors accountable for yield and quality losses in plants. In response to abiotic stresses, plants have regulatory mechanisms by... more
Abstract Plants are commonly exposed to a wide range of environmental stresses. Abiotic stresses are the key factors accountable for yield and quality losses in plants. In response to abiotic stresses, plants have regulatory mechanisms by expressing their stress response-related genes to cope with these conditions. In the past 2 decades, small RNAs (sRNAs) have emerged as promising candidates for advancing crop improvement and functional genomics studies. sRNAs (siRNA and miRNA) are key regulators in the development and growth plants at both post-transcriptional and transcriptional levels by regulating gene expression. An sRNA tool has already been proven to be an advanced technology for combating various stresses such as abiotic (salt, drought, heat, and cold) and biotic stresses (bacteria, virus, fungi, and nematode). This chapter summarizes the prospective of sRNA technology to increase abiotic stress tolerance in plants.
Research Interests:
Endophytic fungi are associated with plants and reside inside it without causing any harm to the host plants. These fungi are considered as one of the natural sources for getting diverse high-value compounds. Natural compounds which are... more
Endophytic fungi are associated with plants and reside inside it without causing any harm to the host plants. These fungi are considered as one of the natural sources for getting diverse high-value compounds. Natural compounds which are primarily produced by the host plants including Taxol, camptothecin, podophyllotoxin, vinblastine, vincristine, and huperzine A are also produced by these fungi. Therefore, these endophytic fungi can be considered as an alternate source of high-value natural compounds. The medicinally important plant metabolites isolated from endophytic fungi, their biological properties, and the challenges associated with it are presented in this chapter. Various methods used to optimize the culture conditions, including one strain many compounds (OSMAC), response surface method (RSM), and the genetic tools along with other techniques like cocultivation and epigenetic modification to overcome the problem of attenuation of metabolite synthesis, are also discussed.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Abscisic acid (ABA), the popular plant stress hormone, plays a key role in regulation of sub-set of stress responsive genes. These genes respond to ABA through specific transcription factors which bind to cis-regulatory elements present... more
Abscisic acid (ABA), the popular plant stress hormone, plays a key role in regulation of sub-set of stress responsive genes. These genes respond to ABA through specific transcription factors which bind to cis-regulatory elements present in their promoters. We discovered the ABA Responsive Element (ABRE) core (ACGT) containing CGMCACGTGB motif as over-represented motif among the promoters of ABA responsive co-expressed genes in rice. Targeted gene prediction strategy using this motif led to the identification of 402 protein coding genes potentially regulated by ABA-dependent molecular genetic network. RT-PCR analysis of arbitrarily chosen 45 genes from the predicted 402 genes confirmed 80% accuracy of our prediction. Plant Gene Ontology (GO) analysis of ABA responsive genes showed enrichment of signal transduction and stress related genes among diverse functional categories.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
From precise drought tolerance screening of local rice landraces of Koraput, six rice landraces were identified as superior drought tolerant capacity in our earlier study. However, little information is available on their physiological... more
From precise drought tolerance screening of local rice landraces of Koraput, six rice landraces were identified as superior drought tolerant capacity in our earlier study. However, little information is available on their physiological response of redox regulation and photochemical activity under drought stress. The present work evaluates their redox regulations driven by ascorbate–glutathione cycle and photochemical activity of photosystem II under simulated drought stress by polyethylene glycol 6000. Leaf chlorophyll content, electron transport rate and effective quantum yield of PSII were significantly higher in studied indigenous rice genotypes in comparison with susceptible check variety under drought condition. Further, greater quantities of ascorbate and elevated levels of ascorbate–glutathione cycle enzyme activities were observed under drought treatment in studied indigenous rice genotypes in compared with susceptible IR64. The findings suggested that maintenance of better photochemical activity in studied rice genotypes under water-deficit condition may be due to improved redox regulation of ascorbate and efficient ascorbate regeneration pathways. This study thus shows a new light into drought stress response of indigenous rice of Koraput with global implications.
Research Interests:
Drought stress often impairs growth and yield of finger millets worldwide. The present study investigated the drought stress responses in four indigenous finger millets (Gangabali, Dengsameli, Kada and Badu) of Koraput compared to one... more
Drought stress often impairs growth and yield of finger millets worldwide. The present study investigated the drought stress responses in four indigenous finger millets (Gangabali, Dengsameli, Kada and Badu) of Koraput compared to one improved variety (Bhairabi) under simulated drought condition at the early growth stage. The physiological and biochemical responses of indigenous finger millets were assessed through chlorophyll fluorescence technique, photosynthetic pigments, antioxidants, proline, protein and lipid peroxidation. The results showed that drought treatment significantly declined the photosystem (PS) II activity by declining the maximal fluorescence, maximum photochemical efficiency of PSII, yield of PSII photochemistry, electron transport rate and photochemical quenching with concomitant increase in minimum fluorescence and non-photosynthetic quenching compared to the respective control plants. Further, the present finding indicates that finger millet leaves responded to PEG-induced drought stress by significantly enhancing antioxidant enzyme activity. The proline accumulation was increased with increasing concentration of drought, which suggests that plants’ ability to resist the effect of drought. Based on the phenotypic response under drought stress, indigenous finger millet genotypes such as Gangabali and Badu showed superior drought tolerance capacity than the improved genotype (Bhairabi) during seedling stages. Overall, the results suggest that these indigenous finger millet genotypes may be beneficial for rainfed areas affected by drought stresses and can be used for future breeding programs.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Abstract The present study evaluated submergence responses in 88 lowland indigenous rice (Oryza sativa L.) landraces from Koraput, India, to identify submergence-tolerant rice genotypes. In pot experiments, variations in survival rate,... more
Abstract The present study evaluated submergence responses in 88 lowland indigenous rice (Oryza sativa L.) landraces from Koraput, India, to identify submergence-tolerant rice genotypes. In pot experiments, variations in survival rate, shoot elongation, relative growth index, dry matter, chlorophyll, soluble sugar and starch contents were evaluated in two consecutive years under well-drained and completely submerged conditions. Principal component analysis showed that the first three axes contributed 96.820% of the total variation among the landraces, indicating wide variation between genotypes. Major traits such as survival rate, relative growth index, soluble sugar and starch contents appeared to be important determinants of phenotypic diversity among the landraces. Phenotypic coefficient of variance was higher than genotypic coefficient of variance for all the traits and all showed high heritability (90.38%–99.54%). Five rice landraces (Samudrabali, Basnamundi, Gadaba, Surudaka and Dokarakuji) were the most tolerant to submergence. When submerged for up to 14 d, Samudrabali, Basnamundi and Godoba were notable for having greater survival rates than a standard submergence tolerant variety FR13A, and also notable for elongating more vigorously and accumulating more biomass. These three landraces may therefore be especially useful in lowland rice growing areas that are affected by both moderate stagnant water and flash flooding. Molecular genotyping revealed that the submergence tolerance of Samudrabali, Basnamundi and Godoba is linked to the presence of one or more different Sub1 loci and it may well prove useful for breeding improved submergence tolerant rice varieties, thereby assising to improve yield stability in the rainfed lowland agro-ecosystem.
Research Interests: Biology and Indigenous
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests: Agronomy, Plant Biology, Biology, Oryza Sativa, Germination, and 3 moreGermplasm, Seedling, and Shoot
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Rice cell suspension culture (RCSC) is one of the most widely studied plant cell culture systems next to tobacco and carrot. Simple cell culture techniques, scalability and high genetic transformation potential make RCSC an ideal platform... more
Rice cell suspension culture (RCSC) is one of the most widely studied plant cell culture systems next to tobacco and carrot. Simple cell culture techniques, scalability and high genetic transformation potential make RCSC an ideal platform to produce high-value recombinant proteins and plant specialized metabolites (PSM). Our understanding of the rice genome and its genetic regulation makes RCSC amenable to efficient genetic engineering with precision genome editing tools such as CRISPR/Cas. Further, the metabolic pool of RCSC can be harnessed and bioengineered to produce recombinant proteins and PSM. This review highlights the studies performed on transgenic RCSC and potential of this platform to synthesize PSM. Recent advancements in RCSC-mediated production and yield enhancement of bioactives using precision molecular biology tools such as CRISPR/Cas, media optimization and challenges associated with the establishment of RCSC are also summarized. This effort is to put the spotlight back on RCSC, which can become an attractive alternative to existing transgenic plant cell suspension culture systems. New developments in transgenic rice cell suspension culture and subsequent bioprocess optimization have potential to advance the field of plant-based biopharmaceutical production. Further use of precise genetic engineering tools can leverage the prospects of rice cell suspension culture for molecular pharming.
Research Interests: Synthetic Biology, Computational Biology, Biotechnology, Plant Biology, Biology, and 12 moreMetabolic Engineering, CRISPR, Genome Engineering, Genetic transformation, Oryza Sativa, Plant sciences, Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology, Bioprocess, Science Technology, Recombinant Proteins, Genome Editing, and Life Sciences & Biomedicine
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Vanilla, a popular flavour extracted from Vanilla planifolia pods was tested for its antibiotic modulatory activity against extensively drug-resistant (XDR) Pseudomonas aeruginosa clinical isolates. Cured vanilla pod extract (VPE) was... more
Vanilla, a popular flavour extracted from Vanilla planifolia pods was tested for its antibiotic modulatory activity against extensively drug-resistant (XDR) Pseudomonas aeruginosa clinical isolates. Cured vanilla pod extract (VPE) was found non-bactericidal even at high doses (> 2000 µg/mL), however, it modulated the activity of several antibiotics at a sub-inhibitory concentration of 500 µg/mL. This modulation activity of VPE was observed for last line antibiotic options such as meropenem and tigecycline, as well as commonly used antibiotics like ciprofloxacin, levofloxacin and chloramphenicol. Further, it was observed that VPE inhibited the activity of efflux pumps in XDR P. aeruginosa clinical isolates. GC-MS spectral analysis revealed the dominance of vanillin, furfuran and some short-chain fatty acids in VPE. Therefore, further studies on the constituent ingredients in VPE are recommended to identify the active compounds and use them as antibiotic modulators and efflux pump inhibitors. Graphical abstract Vanilla extract inhibits dominant efflux pump in Pseudomonas aeruginosa and modulates the activity of last line and commonly used antibiotics
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
The discovery and repurposing of CRISPR/Cas have accelerated the process of precise genetic engineering to improve the yield, nutrition, and climate resilience of plants. The development of new Cas variants further empowered molecular... more
The discovery and repurposing of CRISPR/Cas have accelerated the process of precise genetic engineering to improve the yield, nutrition, and climate resilience of plants. The development of new Cas variants further empowered molecular biologists to understand and modulate the tightly regulated information flow across (DNA → RNA → protein) and beyond (epigenome and metabolome) the central dogma. However, contemporary approaches to deliver and perform CRISPR-mediated editing in plants are costly, resource-intensive, time-consuming, and have limitations such as low efficiency, tissue damage, narrow species range and restricted capacity to deliver cargo. Recent work on nano- and peptide-carriers (NC and PC) to deliver biomolecules (DNA/RNA/proteins/ribonucleoproteins) in plants exhibits the potential to address the difficulties associated with conventional techniques and further intensify the process of genetic transformation. The tunable physicochemical properties of NC and PC can be altered with acute precision to leverage their interactive capabilities displayed with biological matter, thus enabling them to traverse through the cellular barriers to deliver biomolecules. Currently, the area of NC- and PC-assisted delivery of biomolecules is in infancy and demands consolidated efforts at the interface of nanotechnology, proteomics, and plant transgenics to become a competent alternative to existing genetic transformation methods. Here, we have contextualized the advances in NC, PC, and NC–PC conjugates which makes them particularly attractive to deliver biomolecules in plants. Prominent challenges, limitations, and prospects of these carriers to deliver and perform CRISPR editing in plants are discussed. Lastly, a summary of the regulatory and safety aspects of these tiny techs is provided.
Research Interests:
Research Interests: Genetics, Plant Biology, Biology, Medicine, Biological Sciences, and 15 morePhylogeny, MYB, Alternative splicing, Oryza Sativa, Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, Genome, Gene, Plant Growth Regulation, Arabidopsis, Ascorbic Acid, Alternative Splicing, Amino Acid Sequence, Gene Family, Molecular Sequence Data, and Medical and Health Sciences
Research Interests:
Vanillin production by metabolic engineering of proprietary microbial strains has gained impetus due to increasing consumer demand for naturally derived products. Here, we demonstrate the use of rice cell cultures metabolically engineered... more
Vanillin production by metabolic engineering of proprietary microbial strains has gained impetus due to increasing consumer demand for naturally derived products. Here, we demonstrate the use of rice cell cultures metabolically engineered with vanillin synthase gene (VpVAN) as a plant-based alternative to microbial vanillin production systems. VpVAN catalyzes the signature step to convert ferulic acid into vanillin in Vanilla planifolia. As ferulic acid is a phenylpropanoid pathway intermediate in plant cells, rice calli cells are ideal platform for in vivo vanillin synthesis due to the availability of its precursor. In this study, rice calli derived from embryonic rice cells were metabolically engineered with a codon-optimized VpVAN gene using Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. The putative transformants were selected based on their proliferation on herbicide-supplemented N6D medium. Expression of the transgenes were confirmed through a β-glucuronidase (GUS) reporter assay and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis provided evidence of genetic transformation. The semiquantitative RT-PCR and real-time (RT)-qPCR revealed expression of VpVAN in six transgenic calli lines. High-performance liquid chromatography identified the biosynthesis of vanillin in transgenic calli lines, with the highest yielding line producing 544.72 (± 102.50) μg of vanillin-g fresh calli. This work serves as a proof-of-concept to produce vanillin using metabolically engineered rice cell cultures.
Research Interests:
Photosynthetic fixation of CO is more efficient in C than in C plants. Rice is a C plant and a potential target for genetic engineering of the C pathway. It is known that genes encoding C enzymes are present in C plants. However, no... more
Photosynthetic fixation of CO is more efficient in C than in C plants. Rice is a C plant and a potential target for genetic engineering of the C pathway. It is known that genes encoding C enzymes are present in C plants. However, no systematic analysis has been conducted to determine if these C gene family members are expressed in diverse rice genotypes. In this study, we identified 15 genes belonging to the five C gene families in rice genome through BLAST search using known maize C photosynthetic pathway genes. Phylogenetic relationship of rice C photosynthetic pathway genes and their isoforms with other grass genomes (Brachypodium, maize, Sorghum and Setaria), showed that these genes were highly conserved across grass genomes. Spatiotemporal, hormone, and abiotic stress specific expression pattern of the identified genes revealed constitutive as well as inductive responses of the C photosynthetic pathway in different tissues and developmental stages of rice. Expression levels of C specific gene family members in flag leaf during tillering stage were quantitatively analyzed in five rice genotypes covering three species, viz. Oryza sativa, ssp. japonica (cv. Nipponbare), Oryza sativa, ssp. indica (cv IR64, Swarna), and two wild species Oryza barthii and Oryza australiensis. The results showed that all the identified genes expressed in rice and exhibited differential expression pattern during different growth stages, and in response to biotic and abiotic stress conditions and hormone treatments. Our study concludes that C photosynthetic pathway genes present in rice play a crucial role in stress regulation and might act as targets for C pathway engineering via CRISPR-mediated breeding.
Research Interests:
Plant genetic transformation is an important technological advancement in modern science, which has not only facilitated gaining fundamental insights into plant biology but also started a new era in crop improvement and commercial... more
Plant genetic transformation is an important technological advancement in modern science, which has not only facilitated gaining fundamental insights into plant biology but also started a new era in crop improvement and commercial farming. However, for many crop plants, efficient transformation and regeneration still remain a challenge even after more than 30 years of technical developments in this field. Recently, FokI endonuclease-based genome editing applications in plants offered an exciting avenue for augmenting crop productivity but it is mainly dependent on efficient genetic transformation and regeneration, which is a major roadblock for implementing genome editing technology in plants. In this chapter, we have outlined the major historical developments in plant genetic transformation for developing biotech crops. Overall, this field needs innovations in plant tissue culture methods for simplification of operational steps for enhancing the transformation efficiency. Similarly, discovering genes controlling developmental reprogramming and homologous recombination need considerable attention, followed by understanding their role in enhancing genetic transformation efficiency in plants. Further, there is an urgent need for exploring new and low-cost universal delivery systems for DNA/RNA and protein into plants. The advancements in synthetic biology, novel vector systems for precision genome editing and gene integration could potentially bring revolution in crop-genetic potential enhancement for a sustainable future. Therefore, efficient plant transformation system standardization across species holds the key for translating advances in plant molecular biology to crop improvement.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Plant cell culture systems have become an attractive and sustainable approach to produce high‐value and commercially significant metabolites under controlled conditions. Strategies involving elicitor supplementation into plant cell... more
Plant cell culture systems have become an attractive and sustainable approach to produce high‐value and commercially significant metabolites under controlled conditions. Strategies involving elicitor supplementation into plant cell culture media are employed to mimic natural conditions for increasing the metabolite yield. Studies on nanoparticles (NPs) that have investigated elicitation of specialized metabolism have shown the potential of NPs to be a substitute for biotic elicitors such as phytohormones and microbial extracts. Customizable physicochemical characteristics allow the design of monodispersed‐, stimulus‐responsive‐, and hormone‐carrying‐NPs of precise geometries to enhance their elicitation capabilities based on target metabolite/plant cell culture type. We contextualize advances in NP‐mediated elicitation, especially stimulation of specialized metabolic pathways, the underlying mechanisms, impacts on gene regulation, and NP‐associated cytotoxicity. The novelty of the concept lies in unleashing the potential of designer NPs to enhance yield, harness metabolites, and transform nanoelicitation from exploratory investigations to a commercially viable strategy.