Browsing by Author "Veena Pande"

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Enzymatic biomethanol production: Future perspective
(Elsevier B.V., 2023) Saif Khan; Gourav Jain; Alka Srivastava; Praveen C. Verma; Veena Pande; Rama S. Dubey; Mahvish Khan; Shafiul Haque; Saheem Ahmad
The need for an alternative, renewable, and environment-friendly fuel is widely recognized across various energy sectors. Methanol emerged as a promising alternative fuel with numerous economic and environmental benefits. Methanol can be produced either synthetically using chemicals as a feedstock or through the utilization of renewable resources like waste biomass. Utilizing different thermochemical and biochemical routes, bio-methanol can be synthesized from waste biomass like agricultural wastes, food wastes, forest litter, clipping, etc. The conversion of waste biomass into biogas, which can then be used for bio-methanol production, relies on the involvement of methanotrophs. Methanotrophs have a specific enzyme known as methane monooxygenase (MMO) that enables the transformation of methane into methanol. Subsequently, methanol dehydrogenase (MDH) converts methanol to formaldehyde. By manipulating the culture media and using specific MDH inhibitors, large-scale production of bio-methanol can be achieved. This review explores the methodologies for utilizing biogas derived from waste biomass as a feedstock for methanol production. Apart from methanotrophs, the Pectin methylesterase (PME) enzyme also produces methanol, by demethylesterifying pectin. Additionally, the review identifies the shortcomings of the present research and prescribes a way for future studies to overcome these limitations and move towards a sustainable generation of eco-friendly bio-methanol. © 2023 Elsevier B.V.
Heavy metal tolerance in crop plants: Physiological and biochemical aspects
(Springer Singapore, 2017) Reshu Chauhan; Surabhi Awasthi; Amit Pal Singh; Sudhakar Srivastava; Veena Pande; Rudra Deo Tripathi; Amit Kumar
Plants are immobile and they have to adapt against adverse conditions of the environment for their survival. Heavy metal (HM) toxicity is posing a serious concern for the plant life and seriously hampering the food grain productivity. Heavy metals include the transition metals essential for plant nutrition as well as the nonessential elements. All these elements become toxic to crop plants when they are present at high tissue concentrations. Elevated concentration of HMs in soil may be due to natural as well as anthropogenic activities. Plants growing in HM-contaminated regions may accumulate a significant amount of these HMs. This paves a way for HMs to enter into food chain posing serious health concerns for animal and human life. A number of morphological, biochemical, and physiological alterations occur during HM toxicity including alteration in uptake mechanism and transportation of water, root and shoot growth, oxidative stress, and changes in HM complexing ligands for sequestration of these HMs into vacuole to reduce the HM concentration in cytoplasm. The present chapter deals with the physiological and biochemical responses of plants to HM toxicity along with shedding light on uptake and transport mechanisms of HMs in brief. © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2017.
Identification and characterization of pectin remodeling gene families in Withania somnifera and their interaction during biotic stress
(Elsevier B.V., 2023) Gourav Jain; Yogeshwar Vikram Dhar; Alka Srivastava; Manisha Singh; Sushmita; Sanchita Singh; Ankit Saxena; Sanjeev K. Shukla; Ratnasekhar Ch; Mehar Hasan Asif; Veena Pande; Praveen Chandra Verma
The Pectin methylesterase (PME), Pectin methylesterase inhibitor (PMEI), and Subtilase (SBT) are pectin remodeling enzymes that play an important role in plant growth and development as well as response to various biotic and abiotic stress conditions. Withania somnifera is an important medicinal plant that gained attention for its phytochemical properties, but relatively little in-depth genomic exploration has been available, including PME, PMEI, and SBT genes. In the present study, 54 PMEs, 19 PMEIs, and 51 SBTs genes were identified from the W. somnifera transcriptome. A detailed phylogeny was performed, followed by a conserved sequence signature analysis, which revealed the major phylogenetic division with Solanum lycopersicum. Insect infestation can cause a significant increase in the functions of these genes, which were identified using PME activity, methanol content, and emission, often by several orders of magnitude. WsPME28, WsPME32, and WsPME50 are putative genes that are significantly upregulated up to six fold during insect infestation, according to gene expression profile analysis. To study specific relative interactions for a PME-SBT pair, molecular docking analysis was performed and found that the serine residue of WsSBT37 interacts with the processing motif (RKLL) of WsPME28 and releases mature PME. As per our best knowledge, this is the first investigation into the identification and characterization of the PME, PMEI, and SBT gene families in W. somnifera. This study will lay the groundwork for future studies targeting these genes, thus giving a better understanding of the stress tolerance mechanism in W. somnifera, and will serve as a reference for determining the most specific SBT-PME pairs in development and stress conditions. © 2023 Elsevier B.V.
Reconstructing the demographic history of the Himalayan and adjoining populations
(Springer Verlag, 2018) Rakesh Tamang; Gyaneshwer Chaubey; Amrita Nandan; Periyasamy Govindaraj; Vipin Kumar Singh; Niraj Rai; Chandana Basu Mallick; Vishwas Sharma; Varun Kumar Sharma; Anish M. Shah; Albert Lalremruata; Alla G. Reddy; Deepa Selvi Rani; Pilot Doviah; Neetu Negi; Yarin Hadid; Veena Pande; Satti Vishnupriya; George van Driem; Doron M. Behar; Tikaram Sharma; Lalji Singh; Richard Villems; Kumarasamy Thangaraj
The rugged topography of the Himalayan region has hindered large-scale human migrations, population admixture and assimilation. Such complexity in geographical structure might have facilitated the existence of several small isolated communities in this region. We have genotyped about 850,000 autosomal markers among 35 individuals belonging to the four major populations inhabiting the Himalaya and adjoining regions. In addition, we have genotyped 794 individuals belonging to 16 ethnic groups from the same region, for uniparental (mitochondrial and Y chromosomal DNA) markers. Our results in the light of various statistical analyses suggest a closer link of the Himalayan and adjoining populations to East Asia than their immediate geographical neighbours in South Asia. Allele frequency-based analyses likely support the existence of a specific ancestry component in the Himalayan and adjoining populations. The admixture time estimate suggests a recent westward migration of populations living to the East of the Himalaya. Furthermore, the uniparental marker analysis among the Himalayan and adjoining populations reveal the presence of East, Southeast and South Asian genetic signatures. Interestingly, we observed an antagonistic association of Y chromosomal haplogroups O3 and D clines with the longitudinal distance. Thus, we summarise that studying the Himalayan and adjoining populations is essential for a comprehensive reconstruction of the human evolutionary and ethnolinguistic history of eastern Eurasia. © 2018, Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.
Transcriptome and proteome analyses reveal selenium mediated amelioration of arsenic toxicity in rice (Oryza sativa L.)
(Elsevier B.V., 2020) Reshu Chauhan; Surabhi Awasthi; Yuvraj Indoliya; Abhishek Singh Chauhan; Shashank Mishra; Lalit Agrawal; Sudhakar Srivastava; Sanjay Dwivedi; Poonam C. Singh; Shekhar Mallick; Puneet Singh Chauhan; Veena Pande; Debasis Chakrabarty; Rudra Deo Tripathi
Arsenic (As), a chronic poison and non-threshold carcinogen, is a food chain contaminant in rice, posing yield losses as well as serious health risks. Selenium (Se), a trace element, is a known antagonist of As toxicity. In present study, RNA seq. and proteome profiling, along with morphological analyses were performed to explore molecular cross-talk involved in Se mediated As stress amelioration. The repair of As induced structural deformities involving disintegration of cell wall and membranes were observed upon Se supplementation. The expression of As transporter genes viz., NIP1;1, NIP2;1, ABCG5, NRAMP1, NRAMP5, TIP2;2 as well as sulfate transporters, SULTR3;1 and SULTR3;6, were higher in As + Se compared to As alone exposure, which resulted in reduced As accumulation and toxicity. The higher expression of regulatory elements like AUX/IAA, WRKY and MYB TFs during As + Se exposure was also observed. The up-regulation of GST, PRX and GRX during As + Se exposure confirmed the amelioration of As induced oxidative stress. The abundance of proteins involved in photosynthesis, energy metabolism, transport, signaling and ROS homeostasis were found higher in As + Se than in As alone exposure. Overall, present study identified Se responsive pathways, genes and proteins involved to cope-up with As toxicity in rice. © 2020 Elsevier B.V.
Unravelling the distinct strains of Tharu ancestry
(Nature Publishing Group, 2014) Gyaneshwer Chaubey; Manvendra Singh; Federica Crivellaro; Rakesh Tamang; Amrita Nandan; Kamayani Singh; Varun Kumar Sharma; Ajai Kumar Pathak; Anish M. Shah; Vishwas Sharma; Vipin Kumar Singh; Deepa Selvi Rani; Niraj Rai; Alena Kushniarevich; Anne-Mai Ilumäe; Monika Karmin; Anand Phillip; Abhilasha Verma; Erik Prank; Vijay Kumar Singh; Blaise Li; Periyasamy Govindaraj; Akhilesh Kumar Chaubey; Pavan Kumar Dubey; Alla G. Reddy; Kumpati Premkumar; Satti Vishnupriya; Veena Pande; Jüri Parik; Siiri Rootsi; Phillip Endicott; Mait Metspalu; Marta Mirazon Lahr; George Van Driem; Richard Villems; Toomas Kivisild; Lalji Singh; Kumarasamy Thangaraj
The northern region of the Indian subcontinent is a vast landscape interlaced by diverse ecologies, for example, the Gangetic Plain and the Himalayas. A great number of ethnic groups are found there, displaying a multitude of languages and cultures. The Tharu is one of the largest and most linguistically diverse of such groups, scattered across the Tarai region of Nepal and bordering Indian states. Their origins are uncertain. Hypotheses have been advanced postulating shared ancestry with Austroasiatic, or Tibeto-Burman-speaking populations as well as aboriginal roots in the Tarai. Several Tharu groups speak a variety of Indo-Aryan languages, but have traditionally been described by ethnographers as representing East Asian phenotype. Their ancestry and intra-population diversity has previously been tested only for haploid (mitochondrial DNA and Y-chromosome) markers in a small portion of the population. This study presents the first systematic genetic survey of the Tharu from both Nepal and two Indian states of Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh, using genome-wide SNPs and haploid markers. We show that the Tharu have dual genetic ancestry as up to one-half of their gene pool is of East Asian origin. Within the South Asian proportion of the Tharu genetic ancestry, we see vestiges of their common origin in the north of the South Asian Subcontinent manifested by mitochondrial DNA haplogroup M43. © 2014 Macmillan Publishers Limited All rights reserved.