Browsing by Author "Jain, Deepti"

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Active site geometry of oxalate decarboxylase from Flammulina velutipes: Role of histidine coordinated manganese in substrate recognition
(Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, 2002) Chakraborty, Subhra; Chakraborty, Niranjan; Jain, Deepti; Salunke, Dinakara M; Datta, Asis
Oxalate decarboxylase (OXDC) from the wood-rotting fungus Flammulina velutipes, which catalyzes the conversion of oxalate to formic acid and CO2 in a single-step reaction, is a duplicated double-domain germin family enzyme. It has agricultural as well as therapeutic importance. We reported earlier the purification and molecular cloning of OXDC. Knowledge-based modeling of the enzyme reveals a ␤-barrel core in each of the two domains organized in the hexameric state. A cluster of three histidines suitably juxtaposed to coordinate a divalent metal ion exists in both the domains. Involvement of the two histidine clusters in the catalytic mechanism of the enzyme, possibly through coordination of a metal cofactor, has been hypoth- esized because all histidine knockout mutants showed total loss of decarboxylase activity. The atomic absorption spectroscopy analysis showed that OXDC contains Mn2+ at up to 2.5 atoms per subunit. Docking of the oxalate in the active site indicates a similar electrostatic environment around the substrate-binding site in the two domains. We suggest that the histidine coordinated manganese is critical for substrate recognition and is directly involved in the catalysis of the enzyme.
Analysis of gene expression in response to water deficit of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) varieties differing in drought tolerance
(BioMed Central, 2010) Jain, Deepti; Chattopadhyay, Debasis
Chickpea (C. arietinum L.) ranks third in food legume crop production in the world. However, drought poses a serious threat to chickpea production, and development of drought-resistant varieties is a necessity. Unfortunately, cultivated chickpea has a high morphological but narrow genetic diversity, and understanding the genetic processes of this plant is hindered by the fact that the chickpea genome has not yet been sequenced and its EST resources are limited. In this study, two chickpea varieties having contrasting levels of drought-tolerance were analyzed for differences in transcript profiling during drought stress treatment by withdrawal of irrigation at different time points. Transcript profiles of ESTs derived from subtractive cDNA libraries constructed with RNA from whole seedlings of both varieties were analyzed at different stages of stress treatment.
CAP2 enhances germination of transgenic tobacco seeds at high temperature and promotes heat stress tolerance in yeast
(Wiley-Blackwell, 2009) Shukla, Rakesh Kumar; Tripathi, Vineeta; Jain, Deepti; Yadav, Rajiv Kumar; Chattopadhyay, Debasis
We reported earlier that ectopic expression of CAP2, a single AP2 domain containing transcription activator from chickpea (Cicer arietinum) in tobacco improves growth and development, and tolerance to dehydration and salt stress, of the transgenic plants. Here, we report that, in addition, the CAP2-transgenic tobacco seeds also exhibit higher germination efficiency at high temperature and show higher expression levels of genes for tobacco heat shock proteins and a heat shock factor. CAP2 was able to activate the 5¢-upstream activating sequence of tobacco heat shock factor. Surprisingly, expression of CAP2 cDNA in Saccharomyces cerevisiae also enhanced heat tolerance, with increased expression of the gene for yeast heat shock factor 1 (Hsf1) and its target, the gene for yeast heat shock protein 104 (Hsp104). Sequence analysis of the Hsf1 promoter revealed the presence of a dehydration-responsive element ⁄ C-repeat-like element (DRE/ CRE). Recombinant CAP2 protein bound to the DRE/CRE in the Hsf1 promoter in a gel shift assay and transactivated the Hsf1 promoter–His reporter construct. The full-length CAP2 protein was required to provide thermotolerance in yeast. If these findings are taken together, our results suggest that CAP2 is involved in the heat stress response and provides an example of functioning of a plant transcription factor in yeast, highlighting the strong evolutionary conservation of the stress response mechanism.
CaZF, a plant transcription factor functions through and parallel to HOG and calcineurin pathways in Saccharomyces cerevisiae to provide osmotolerance
(PLOS, 2009) Jain, Deepti; Roy, Nilanjan; Chattopadhyay, Debasis
Salt-sensitive yeast mutants were deployed to characterize a gene encoding a C2H2 zinc finger protein (CaZF) that is differentially expressed in a drought-tolerant variety of chickpea (Cicer arietinum) and provides salinity-tolerance in transgenic tobacco. In Saccharomyces cerevisiae most of the cellular responses to hyper-osmotic stress is regulated by two interconnected pathways involving high osmolarity glycerol mitogen-activated protein kinase (Hog1p) and Calcineurin (CAN), a Ca(2+)/calmodulin-regulated protein phosphatase 2B. In this study, we report that heterologous expression of CaZF provides osmotolerance in S. cerevisiae through Hog1p and Calcineurin dependent as well as independent pathways. CaZF partially suppresses salt-hypersensitive phenotypes of hog1, can and hog1can mutants and in conjunction, stimulates HOG and CAN pathway genes with subsequent accumulation of glycerol in absence of Hog1p and CAN. CaZF directly binds to stress response element (STRE) to activate STRE-containing promoter in yeast. Transactivation and salt tolerance assays of CaZF deletion mutants showed that other than the transactivation domain a C-terminal domain composed of acidic and basic amino acids is also required for its function. Altogether, results from this study suggests that CaZF is a potential plant salt-tolerance determinant and also provide evidence that in budding yeast expression of HOG and CAN pathway genes can be stimulated in absence of their regulatory enzymes to provide osmotolerance.
A pathogenesis related-10 protein CaARP functions as aldo/keto reductase to scavenge cytotoxic aldehydes
(Springer, 2016) Jain, Deepti; Khandal, Hitaishi; Khurana, Jitendra Paul; Chattopadhyay, Debasis
Pathogenesis related-10 (PR-10) proteins are present as multigene family in most of the higher plants. The role of PR-10 proteins in plant is poorly understood. A sequence analysis revealed that a large number of PR-10 proteins possess conserved motifs found in aldo/keto reductases (AKRs) of yeast and fungi. We took three PR-10 proteins, CaARP from chickpea, ABR17 from pea and the major pollen allergen Bet v1 from silver birch as examples and showed that these purified recombinant proteins possessed AKR activity using various cytotoxic aldehydes including methylglyoxal and malondialdehyde as substrates and the reduced form of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH) as co-factor. Essential amino acids for this catalytic activity were identified by substitution with other amino acids. CaARP was able to discriminate between the reduced and oxidized forms of NADP independently of its catalytic activity and underwent structural change upon binding with NADPH. CaARP protein was preferentially localized in cytosol. When expressed in bacteria, yeast or plant, catalytically active variants of CaARP conferred tolerance to salinity, oxidative stress or cytotoxic aldehydes. CaARP-expressing plants showed lower lipid peroxidation product content in presence or absence of stress suggesting that the protein functions as a scavenger of cytotoxic aldehydes produced by metabolism and lipid peroxidation. Our result proposes a new biochemical property of a PR-10 protein.
Promoter of CaZF, a chickpea gene that positively regulates growth and stress tolerance, is activated by an AP2-family transcription factor CAP2
(PLOS, 2013) Jain, Deepti; Chattopadhyay, Debasis
Plants respond to different forms of stresses by inducing transcription of a common and distinct set of genes by concerted actions of a cascade of transcription regulators. We previously reported that a gene, CaZF encoding a C2H2-zinc finger family protein from chickpea (Cicer arietinum) imparted high salinity tolerance when expressed in tobacco plants. We report here that in addition to promoting tolerance against dehydration, salinity and high temperature, the CaZF overexpressing plants exhibited similar phenotype of growth and development like the plants overexpressing CAP2, encoding an AP2-family transcription factor from chickpea. To investigate any relationship between these two genes, we performed gene expression analysis in the overexpressing plants, promoter-reporter analysis and chromatin immunoprecipitation. A number of transcripts that exhibited enhanced accumulation upon expression of CAP2 or CaZF in tobacco plants were found common. Transient expression of CAP2 in chickpea leaves resulted in increased accumulation of CaZF transcript. Gel mobility shift and transient promoter-reporter assays suggested that CAP2 activates CaZF promoter by interacting with C-repeat elements (CRTs) in CaZF promoter. Chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) assay demonstrated an in vivo interaction of CAP2 protein with CaZF promoter.
Role of DREB-Like proteins in improving stress tolerance of transgenic crops
(Springer, 2013) Jain, Deepti; Chattopadhyay, Debasis
How crop plants respond to stresses in their physical environment is crucial to their productivity. Of all parameters, abiotic environmental stresses contribute most significantly to the reduction in potential yield. Plants respond to different forms of abiotic stresses by inducing common and distinct set of genes in abscisic acid (ABA)-dependent and independent manner. These genes can be divided in two major classes, genes encoding functional proteins and genes encoding regulatory proteins. Because of practical limitations of expressing multiple genes in a plant in a tissue specific manner, genes that can regulate a number of functionally related genes can be attractive targets for genetic manipulation. Therefore, transcription factors operating very early in the stress response pathways before accumulation of ABA would be potential candidates for engineering stress tolerance. Studies in last decade have focused on such a group of transcription factors known as dehydration-responsive element-binding proteins (DREB) those functions in ABA-independent manner very early in stress response pathway. In recent years a group of small DREB-like proteins has emerged that shows ABA-responsiveness unlike the authentic DREB proteins. These proteins when ectopically expressed do not show any growth penalty in contrast to DREB-expressing transgenics. However, these genes impart stress tolerance to the expressing plants. All these observations are changing the decade-long concepts on functioning of DREB proteins and widening scope of research on this agronomically important family.