Publications of NIPGR Scientists

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    Abiotic stress tolerance in plants: Brassinosteroids navigate competently
    (MDPI AG, 2022) Chaudhuri, Abira; Halder, Koushik; Abdin, Malik Z; Majee, Manoj; Datta, Asis
    Brassinosteroid hormones (BRs) multitask to smoothly regulate a broad spectrum of vital physiological processes in plants, such as cell division, cell expansion, differentiation, seed germination, xylem differentiation, reproductive development and light responses (photomorphogenesis and skotomorphogenesis). Their importance is inferred when visible abnormalities arise in plant phenotypes due to suboptimal or supraoptimal hormone levels. This group of steroidal hormones are major growth regulators, having pleiotropic effects and conferring abiotic stress resistance to plants. Numerous abiotic stresses are the cause of significant loss in agricultural yield globally. However, plants are well equipped with efficient stress combat machinery. Scavenging reactive oxygen species (ROS) is a unique mechanism to combat the deleterious effects of abiotic stresses. In light of numerous reports in the past two decades, the complex BR signaling under different stress conditions (drought, salinity, extreme temperatures and heavy metals/metalloids) that drastically hinders the normal metabolism of plants is gradually being untangled and revealed. Thus, crop improvement has substantial potential by tailoring either the brassinosteroid signaling, biosynthesis pathway or perception. This review aims to explore and dissect the actual mission of BRs in signaling cascades and summarize their positive role with respect to abiotic stress tolerance.
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    May the fittest protein evolve: favoring the plant-specific origin and expansion of NAC transcription factors
    (John Wiley & Sons, 2018) Mathew, Iny Elizebeth; Agarwal, Pinky
    Plant‐specific NAC transcription factors (TFs) evolve during the transition from aquatic to terrestrial plant life and are amplified to become one of the biggest TF families. This is because they regulate genes involved in water conductance and cell support. They also control flower and fruit formation. The review presented here focuses on various properties, regulatory intricacies, and developmental roles of NAC family members. Processes controlled by NACs depend majorly on their transcriptional properties. NACs can function as both activators and/or repressors. Additionally, their homo/hetero dimerization abilities can also affect DNA binding and activation properties. The active protein levels are dependent on the regulatory cascades. Because NACs regulate both development and stress responses in plants, in‐depth knowledge about them has the potential to help guide future crop improvement studies.
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    KIX domain of AtMed15a, a Mediator subunit of Arabidopsis, is required for its interaction with different proteins
    (Taylor & Francis Group, 2018) Kumar, Vinay; Waseem, Mohd; Dwivedi, Nidhi; Maji, Sourobh; Kumar, Angad; Thakur, Jitendra K.
    Med15 is an important subunit of Mediator tail module and is characterized by a KIX domain present in the amino terminal. In yeast and metazoans, Med15 KIX domain has been found to interact with various transcription factors, regulating several processes including carbohydrate metabolism, lipogenesis, stress response and multidrug resistance. Mechanism of Med15 functioning in Arabidopsis is largely unknown. In this study, interactome of Arabidopsis Med15, AtMed15a, was characterized. We found 45 proteins that interact with AtMed15a KIX domain, including 11 transcription factors, 3 single strand nucleic acid-binding proteins and 1 splicing factor. The third helix of the KIX domain was found to be involved in most of the interactions. Mapping of the regions participating in the interactions revealed that the activation domain of a transcription factor, UKTF1 interacted with AtMed15a KIX domain. Thus, our results suggest that in Arabidopsis, activation domain of transcription factors target KIX domain of AtMed15a for their transcriptional responses.
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    Decoding the transcriptome of rice seed during development
    (InTech, 2017) Mahto, Arunima; Mathew, Iny Elizebeth; Agarwal, Pinky
    Rice seed development is a continuous process wherein it undergoes complex molecular and tissue reprogramming. It is a collective effect of embryo and endosperm development, each of which undertakes its own developmental paths, with endosperm development significantly affecting embryo. Understanding the mechanistics of the regulatory networks administrating this process is the building block for any future research on grain yield and quality. High-throughput transcript profiling and small RNA profiling studies have proved useful in providing information about the molecular changes occurring in various tissues associated with seed development. Transcriptome sequencing studies have highlighted the significant genes and pathways that are operating during seed development. The involvement of TFs and hormones has also been implicated in regulating key aspects of seed development, including embryo patterning and seed maturation. This chapter will review the information provided by high-throughput sequencing studies on various aspects of rice seed development, highlighting the developmental complexities of embryo and endosperm.
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    Transcription factor repertoire of necrotrophic fungal phytopathogen Ascochyta rabiei: predominance of MYB transcription factors as potential regulators of secretome
    (Frontiers Media S.A., 2017) Verma, Sandhya; Gazara, Rajesh K.; Verma, Praveen K.
    Transcription factors (TFs) are the key players in gene expression and their study is highly significant for shedding light on the molecular mechanisms and evolutionary history of organisms. During host–pathogen interaction, extensive reprogramming of gene expression facilitated by TFs is likely to occur in both host and pathogen. To date, the knowledge about TF repertoire in filamentous fungi is in infancy. The necrotrophic fungus Ascochyta rabiei, that causes destructive Ascochyta blight (AB) disease of chickpea (Cicer arietinum), demands more comprehensive study for better understanding of Ascochyta-legume pathosystem. In the present study, we performed the genome-wide identification and analysis of TFs in A. rabiei. Taking advantage of A. rabiei genome sequence, we used a bioinformatic approach to predict the TF repertoire of A. rabiei. For identification and classification of A. rabiei TFs, we designed a comprehensive pipeline using a combination of BLAST and InterProScan software. A total of 381 A. rabiei TFs were predicted and divided into 32 fungal specific families of TFs. The gene structure, domain organization and phylogenetic analysis of abundant families of A. rabiei TFs were also carried out. Comparative study of A. rabiei TFs with that of other necrotrophic, biotrophic, hemibiotrophic, symbiotic, and saprotrophic fungi was performed. It suggested presence of both conserved as well as unique features among them. Moreover, cis-acting elements on promoter sequences of earlier predicted A. rabiei secretome were also identified. With the help of published A. rabiei transcriptome data, the differential expression of TF and secretory protein coding genes was analyzed. Furthermore, comprehensive expression analysis of few selected A. rabiei TFs using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction revealed variety of expression patterns during host colonization. These genes were expressed in at least one of the time points tested post infection. Overall, this study illustrates the first genome-wide identification and analysis of TF repertoire of A. rabiei. This work would provide the basis for further studies to dissect role of TFs in the molecular mechanisms during A. rabiei–chickpea interactions.
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    Sub-functionalization in rice gene families with regulatory roles in abiotic stress responses
    (Taylor & Francis Group, 2017) Sharma, G.; Giri, Jitender; Tyagi, Akhilesh K.
    Plants have developed intricate mechanisms to overcome abiotic stresses. The process of signal perception and activation of signaling cascades involves a large number of factors and molecules belonging to diverse classes of gene families. In comparison to animals, plants harbor larger multigene families along with the occurrence of plant-specific ones. Gene families with abiotic-stress-responsive members were analyzed and categorized into classes such as transcription factors, signal transduction components, transporters, epigenetic regulators, and other regulatory components. The number of members, phylogeny, family expansion, domain composition, subcellular localization, and expression profiling during varied abiotic stresses have been summarized. Candidate genes from families, functionally characterized for abiotic stress responses, have been described. Based on our compilation, the expansion of abiotic-stress-responsive gene families in rice has occurred via segmental and tandem duplication events to accommodate sub-functionalization needed for regulating diverse abiotic stress responses at expression, localization, and functional levels. The information documented here can be further utilized as a primer for selecting candidate genes for improvement of rice yield under abiotic stresses.
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    Transcriptional regulation of drought response: a tortuous network of transcriptional factors
    (Frontiers Media S.A., 2015) Singh, Dhriti; Laxmi, Ashverya
    Drought is one of the leading factors responsible for the reduction in crop yield worldwide. Due to climate change, in future, more areas are going to be affected by drought and for prolonged periods. Therefore, understanding the mechanisms underlying the drought response is one of the major scientific concerns for improving crop yield. Plants deploy diverse strategies and mechanisms to respond and tolerate drought stress. Expression of numerous genes is modulated in different plants under drought stress that help them to optimize their growth and development. Plant hormone abscisic acid (ABA) plays a major role in plant response and tolerance by regulating the expression of many genes under drought stress. Transcription factors being the major regulator of gene expression play a crucial role in stress response. ABA regulates the expression of most of the target genes through ABA-responsive element (ABRE) binding protein/ABRE binding factor (AREB/ABF) transcription factors. Genes regulated by AREB/ABFs constitute a regulon termed as AREB/ABF regulon. In addition to this, drought responsive genes are also regulated by ABA-independent mechanisms. In ABA-independent regulation, dehydration-responsive element binding protein (DREB), NAM, ATAF, and CUC regulons play an important role by regulating many drought-responsive genes. Apart from these major regulons, MYB/MYC, WRKY, and nuclear factor-Y (NF-Y) transcription factors are also involved in drought response and tolerance. Our understanding about transcriptional regulation of drought is still evolving. Recent reports have suggested the existence of crosstalk between different transcription factors operating under drought stress. In this article, we have reviewed various regulons working under drought stress and their crosstalk with each other.
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    MYC2 differentially regulates GATA-box conaining promoters during seedling development in Arabidopsis
    (Landes Bioscience, 2013) Gangappa, Sreeramaiah N.; Chattopadhyay, Sudip
    MY C2 is an important transcription factor, which modulates transcription by directly binding to Z-, G- and E-box elements present in the promoters of light and different stress responsive genes. Very recently, we have shown that MY C2 plays a role in the regulation of Z- and/or G-box containing promoters during both seedling and adult plant growth. Although, MY C2 does not bind to the GATA box light responsive element (LRE ) in vitro as shown in DNA binding assays, its involvement in the regulation of GATA -box containing promoter in planta, if any, is not known. Here, we report that the promoter activity of GATA-NOS101 in atmyc2 mutant was found to be similar to wild-type in BL and dark grown seedlings, whereas it was found to be lower compared with wild-type as revealed from GUS staining results. Further, we will discuss the consequences of MY C2 regulating GATA -box containing promoter in combination with G-box containing promoters.
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    Role of DREBs in regulation of abiotic stress responses in plants
    (Oxford University Press, 2011) Lata, Charu; Prasad, Manoj
    Abiotic stresses such as drought, high salinity, and cold are common adverse environmental conditions that significantly influence plant growth and productivity worldwide. The phytohormone abscisic acid (ABA) plays an important role in physiological and developmental responses as well as in co-ordinating various stress signal transduction pathways in plants. DREBs (dehydration responsive element binding) are important plant transcription factors (TFs) that regulate the expression of many stress-inducible genes mostly in an ABA-independent manner and play a critical role in improving the abiotic stress tolerance of plants by interacting with a DRE/CRT cis-element present in the promoter region of various abiotic stress-responsive genes. This review summarizes recent studies highlighting the role of the DRE-binding family of TFs in the adaptive responses to different abiotic stresses and their structural and functional characters with emphasis on the expression and regulation of DREBs. The practical and application value of DREBs in crop improvement, such as stress tolerance engineering as well as marker-assisted selection (MAS), has also been discussed.