Browsing by Author "Kumari, Sangita"

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4

EssOilDB: A database of essential oils reflecting terpene composition and variability in the plant kingdom
(Oxford University Press, 2014) Kumari, Sangita; Pundhir, Sachin; Priya, Piyush; Jeena, Ganga; Punetha, Ankita; Chawla, Konika; Jafaree, Zohra Firdos; Mondal, Subhasish; Yadav, Gitanjali
Plant essential oils are complex mixtures of volatile organic compounds, which play indispensable roles in the environment, for the plant itself, as well as for humans. The potential biological information stored in essential oil composition data can provide an insight into the silent language of plants, and the roles of these chemical emissions in defense, communication and pollinator attraction. In order to decipher volatile profile patterns from a global perspective, we have developed the ESSential OIL DataBase (EssOilDB), a continually updated, freely available electronic database designed to provide knowledge resource for plant essential oils, that enables one to address a multitude of queries on volatile profiles of native, invasive, normal or stressed plants, across taxonomic clades, geographical locations and several other biotic and abiotic influences. To our knowledge, EssOilDB is the only database in the public domain providing an opportunity for context based scientific research on volatile patterns in plants. EssOilDB presently contains 123 041 essential oil records spanning a century of published reports on volatile profiles, with data from 92 plant taxonomic families, spread across diverse geographical locations all over the globe. We hope that this huge repository of VOCs will facilitate unraveling of the true significance of volatiles in plants, along with creating potential avenues for industrial applications of essential oils. We also illustrate the use of this database in terpene biology and show how EssOilDB can be used to complement data from computational genomics to gain insights into the diversity and variability of terpenoids in the plant kingdom. EssOilDB would serve as a valuable information resource, for students and researchers in plant biology, in the design and discovery of new odor profiles, as well as for entrepreneurs--the potential for generating consumer specific scents being one of the most attractive and interesting topics in the cosmetic industry. Database URL: http://nipgr.res.in/Essoildb/
Quantification of the plant terpenome: predicted versus actual emission potentials
(Springer, 2016) Priya, Piyush; Kumari, Sangita; Yadav, Gitanjali
Plant essential oils are complex mixtures of volatile organic compounds, which play indispensable roles in communication, defense, and adaptive evolution. The complete chemical library produced by a plant is referred to as its terpenome. The potential biological information stored in essential oil composition data can provide an insight into the silent language of plants, as well as roles of terpene emissions in direct and indirect defense, and for playing a crucial role in adaptive evolution. In this work, we have attempted to measure the plant terpenome from a global perspective. One way of measuring the terpenome is to observe and record actual emissions in natural conditions, and this has been in practice for over a century through variously evolving methods of comprehensive GC–MS and HPLC. An alternative method is a knowledge-based prediction of the terpenome, and this method has gained popularity in recent years, with the advent of large-scale genome sequencing technologies. Over the past decade, our laboratory has been involved in compilation and investigation of the plant terpenome using both these methods and this has offered us the opportunity to compare and contrast data from actual and potential emissions, in order to better understand the terpenome and its roles in primary, secondary and adaptive metabolism. We have used emission data in conjunction with genomic data in order to understand how a plant creates the so-called final terpenome, specific to itself, and whether or not plants tap the complete potential for terpene biosynthesis at their disposal according to their genomes. For measuring actual emissions, we have used EssOilDB (the ESSential OIL DataBase), the largest contextual web resource for phytochemicals and for measuring the total plant potential for emissions, we have used TERZYME, an automated algorithm for identification and analysis of genes and proteins involved in isoprenoid biosynthesis.
The role of lectins and HD-ZIP transcription factors in isoprenoid based plant stress responses
(INSA, 2012) Kumari, Sangita; Shridhar, Smriti; Singh, Daljit; Priya, Piyush; Farmer, Rohit; Hundal, Jasreet; Sharma, Priyanka; Bavishi, Krutika; Schrick, Kathrin; Yadav, Gitanjali
It was over half a century ago when the overwhelming array of chemicals found in plants was postulated to be more than just by-products of primary metabolism. Ever since, extensive research has been conducted on plant secondary metabolites which are now known to be the end points of sophisticated survival mechanisms that plants have developed as a response to various kinds of stresses. Stress, defined by its negative effect on the growth and development of an individual, can be internal (metabolic or genetic), external (biotic or abiotic), permanent or acute. To cope, organisms must develop tolerance, resistance or avoidance mechanisms. Isoprenoids, often released as volatiles from plants, constitute the most diverse groups of natural products and play an essential part in plant defense systems, both directly (as emitted volatiles) and indirectly (the principle of inviting friends to feast on foes). Research over the last decade has resulted in a significant improvement in our understanding of the isoprenoid biosynthesis but there remains much to learn about the complex regulatory network controlling the various steps of these pathways and their dynamic co-ordination. Here we identify novel plant proteins and provide a putative role for them in isoprenoid based stress responses, along with insights into future perspectives for research.
Structural and biochemical perspectives in plant isoprenoid biosynthesis
(Springer, 2013) Kumari, Sangita; Priya, Piyush; Misra, Gopal; Yadav, Gitanjali
The isoprenoid family represents one of the most ancient and widespread classes of structurally and functionally rich biomolecules known to man. Although these natural products are synthesized in all organisms, the plant kingdom exhibits tremendous variation in their chemistry and roles, ranging from primary metabolism to secondary metabolism and specialized ecological interactions with the environment. Despite enormous diversity in structure and function, all isoprenoids are derived from the universal C5 precursor isoprene. The isoprenoid biosynthetic pathway has three major stages, viz., (1) synthesis of the isoprene building blocks, followed by their (2) assembly into flexible linear and branched hydrocarbon substrates, which then undergo (3) multistep reaction cascades to generate the vast assortment of isoprenoid end products. One of the most interesting aspects of isoprenoid biosynthesis is its being finely tuned by a multilayered and complex regulatory network, which excellently controls the machinery producing one of the most heterogeneous groups of molecules in plants. Terpene synthases, enzymes of the final stage, are key players in the generation of isoprenoid diversity, catalyzing one of the most complex reactions known to chemistry and biology. Unraveling the mechanism by which a minimal pool of substrates is thus converted into tens of thousands of regiospecific and stereospecific products, is a promising research avenue: This knowledge may be practically used for rational design of novel compounds by metabolic engineering, in order to yield plants with improved nutritional efficacy, stress resistance, bio-pharmaceutical properties etc. This review is an attempt to summarize the biochemical, molecular, physiological, structural, genomic and evolutionary aspects of isoprenoid biosynthesis, providing new insights into how these enzymes utilize various innovative strategies for creation of the so-called final terpenome.