Browsing by Author "Jeevaraj, Theboral"

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Dehydration-responsive chickpea chloroplast protein, CaPDZ1, confers dehydration tolerance by improving photosynthesis
(John Wiley & Sons, 2022) Lande, Nilesh Vikram; Barua, Pragya; Gayen, Dipak; Wardhan, Vijay; Jeevaraj, Theboral; Kumar, Sunil; Chakraborty, Subhra; Chakraborty, Niranjan
The screening of a dehydration-responsive chloroplast proteome of chickpea led us to identify and investigate the functional importance of an uncharacterized protein, designated CaPDZ1. In all, we identified 14 CaPDZs, and phylogenetic analysis revealed that these belong to photosynthetic eukaryotes. Sequence analyses of CaPDZs indicated that CaPDZ1 is a unique member, which harbours a TPR domain besides a PDZ domain. The global expression analysis showed that CaPDZs are intimately associated with various stresses such as dehydration and oxidative stress along with certain phytohormone responses. The CaPDZ1-overexpressing chickpea seedlings exhibited distinct phenotypic and molecular responses, particularly increased photosystem (PS) efficiency, ETR and qP that validated its participation in PSII complex assembly and/or repair. The investigation of CaPDZ1 interacting proteins through Y2H library screening and co-IP analysis revealed the interacting partners to be PSII associated CP43, CP47, D1, D2 and STN8. These findings supported the earlier hypothesis regarding the role of direct or indirect involvement of PDZ proteins in PS assembly or repair. Moreover, the GUS-promoter analysis demonstrated the preferential expression of CaPDZ1 specifically in photosynthetic tissues. We classified CaPDZ1 as a dehydration-responsive chloroplast intrinsic protein with multi-fold abundance under dehydration stress, which may participate synergistically with other chloroplast proteins in the maintenance of the photosystem.
Nuclear proteome reprogramming and acquired thermotolerance in chickpea exposed to escalating high-temperature stress
(Elsevier B.V., 2026) Pareek, Akanksha; Wardhan, Vijay; Mishra, Divya; Rathi, Divya; Khan, Iqra Nafees; Subba, Pratigya; Saxena, Harshita; Jeevaraj, Theboral; Chakraborty, Subhra; Chakraborty, Niranjan
Global chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) production amounted to ∼17.55 MMT during 2024-2025, whose market size is valued at ∼$16.83 billion. Chickpea is highly susceptible to high-temperature stress (HTS), and its yield declines 10-15% with the rise in each degree of temperature. In this study, the HTS-responsive nuclear proteome of a thermotolerant chickpea cultivar ICC 1205 was investigated, leading to the identification of 2705 proteins, including 424 differentially regulated proteins designated as HTS-responsive (HRPs). Of these, 212 were shared between immediate (day-1) and later (day-4) stages of HTS, with 117 proteins specific to day-1 and 95 to day-4. Functional network analysis revealed a complex network of nuclear proteins involved in regulatory and stress-related functions. Detailed analysis of the proteome revealed several non-canonical proteins, suggesting HTS-responsive reprograming of the nuclear proteome landscape. The cross-species multiple abiotic stress responses recognized unique HRPs, reflecting genetic foundation that leads to crop adaptation. Comparison of protein and mRNA expression shed light on the intricate regulatory mechanisms of thermotolerance response in chickpea. The characterization of root-phototropism 2 protein (CaRPT2), a member of the NPH3 gene-family, showed significant regulations, particularly under dehydration stress and ABA treatments. Subcellular localization of CaRPT2 demonstrated its dual localization in both plasma membrane and nucleus. Analysis of physiological indices in atrpt2 loss-of function mutants in Arabidopsis demonstrated better germination rate, resilience and growth under progressive HTS, suggesting the putative role of RPT2 in regulating multiple stress-responsive genes.
The plant cytoskeleton takes center stage in abiotic stress responses and resilience
(John Wiley & Sons, 2023) Kumar, Sunil; Jeevaraj, Theboral; Yunus, Mohd Hadi; Chakraborty, Subhra; Chakraborty, Niranjan
Stress resilience behaviours in plants are defensive mechanisms that develop under adverse environmental conditions to promote growth, development and yield. Over the past decades, improving stress resilience, especially in crop species, has been a focus of intense research for global food security and economic growth. Plants have evolved specific mechanisms to sense external stress and transmit information to the cell interior and generate appropriate responses. Plant cytoskeleton, comprising microtubules and actin filaments, takes a center stage in stress-induced signalling pathways, either as a direct target or as a signal transducer. In the past few years, it has become apparent that the function of the plant cytoskeleton and other associated proteins are not merely limited to elementary processes of cell growth and proliferation, but they also function in stress response and resilience. This review summarizes recent advances on the role of plant cytoskeleton and associated proteins in abiotic stress management. We provide a thorough overview of the mechanisms that plant cells employ to withstand different abiotic stimuli such as hypersalinity, dehydration, high temperature and cold, among others. We also discuss the crucial role of the plant cytoskeleton in organellar positioning under the influence of high light intensity.