Research Groups
Plant Biology: Plant Transformation
Research Interests and Description
Research Interests
Transgenic crops with improved agronomic traits, chloroplast genetic engineering, molecular farming, biofuel, fungal resistance, cotton genomics.
Description of Research
The Group focuses on molecular farming to produce
recombinant proteins of interest in human health, biofuels based on chloroplast
genetic engineering and genomics of cotton, with emphasis on the role of genes
associated with fiber development. We mainly work with cotton, rice and tomato
crops.
Molecular farming
Plant based production is considered to
be cost-effective for large-scale production of recombinant proteins. For this we
have been following chloroplast genetic engineering and expressed a
number of foreign proteins useful in agriculture, industry and human health. We
over expressed, for example, xylanase, an enzyme that degrades xylan, used in
paper pulp, bakery and animal feed industries and in the biofuel industry to
convert lignocelluloses into ethanol. We are currently working to produce
monoclonal antibodies and other cell wall degrading enzymes. We have also developed
a strategy to purify plant expressed pharmaceutically useful proteins.
Research into allergic reactions includes those to cow’s milk
and respiratory allergies (rhinitis and asthma, with prevalance as high as
15–30%). We look at Allergic bronchopulmonary aspergilliosis (ABPA), a lung
hypersensitivity disease mediated by an allergic inflammatory response to
allergens of Aspergillus fumigatus. Asp f1, one of the major and well
characterized allergens and a monoclonal antibody that can neutralize milk
allergin protein are the focus to produce in plants. These projects are pursued
in collaboration with VTT, Finland.
We explore alternate energy sources in the production of
fuels from biomass. Enzymatic degradation of cellulose and hemicelluloses has
enormous economic potential for the conversion of plant biomass into fuels and
other chemicals. Large scale production of a variety of cellulytic enzymes
required in this process is a major limit and plants are considered efficient
protein production platforms for large scale production of enzymes required in
the industry. With the University of Pavia we have initiated a major program to
express a number of cellulases, pectinases, xylanases and lignases to develop procedures
to produce ethanol through fermentation.
Genomics of cotton fiber development
Single-celled cotton fibers are phenomenal biological model systems to study
molecular events that control fiber morphogenesis. We characterize the fiber
transcriptome and proteome to identify genes that regulate fiber development, to elucidate the genetic mechanisms underlying fiber morphogenesis,
which in turn have major impact on molecular approaches to cotton
breeding. Promoters that are highly active during boll development are of significance
in the expression of foreign proteins such as Bt toxins. ICGEB has initiated a
major collaborative project involving NRCPB, New Delhi and UAS Dharwad to study
the genomics of cotton fiber development.
Bt. cotton and Rice
We have developed an efficient Agrobacterium
mediated transformation protocol for cotton and rice and introduced several Bt
genes in collaboration with the Insect Resistance Group. Transgenic lines
showing stable expression of Bt. proteins offered protection to various pests. A
highly efficient regeneration and transformation system based on somatic
embryogenesis has been developed for an elite cultivar Narsimha (NM)
and is being used in cotton genome project to validate the candidate gene functions.
Recent Publications
Bharadwaj, A., Leelavathi, S., Mazumdar-Leighton, S., Ghosh, A., Ramakumar, S., Reddy, V. S. 2008. The Critical Role of Partially Exposed N-Terminal Valine Residue in Stabilizing GH10 Xylanase from Bacillus sp.NG-27 under Poly-Extreme Conditions. PLOS One, 3, e3063
Nasare, K., Yadav, A., Singh, A.K., Shivasharanappa, K. B., Nerkar, Y. S., Reddy, V. S. 2007. Molecular and Symptom Analysis Reveal the Presence of New Phytoplasmas Associated with Sugarcane Grassy Shoot Disease in India. Plant Disease 91, 1413-1418
Girdhar, K., Amita, P., Reddy, V.S., Deswal, R., Bhattacharya, A., Upadhyaya,K.C., Sopory, S.K. 2007. Antisense expression of a gene encoding a calcium-binding protein in tobacco leads to altered morphology and enhanced chlorophyll. J. Biosci. 32, 251-260
Manikandan, K., Bhardwaj, A., Gupta, N., Lokanath, N.K., Amit Ghosh, A., Reddy, V.S., Ramakumar, S. 2006. Crystal structures of native and xylosaccharide-bound alkali thermostable xylanase from an alkalophilic Bacillus sp. NG-27: Structural insights into alkalophilicity and implications for adaptation to polyextreme conditions. Protein Sci. 15, 1951-1960
Pattanayak, G.K., Biswal, A.K., Reddy, V.S. Tripathy, B.C. 2005. Light-dependent regulation of chlorophyll b biosynthesis in chlorophyllide a oxygenase overexpressing tobacco plants. Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 326, 466-471
