Browsing Division of Biological Sciences by thesis submitted date"2021"
Now showing items 1-20 of 48
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Activin and TGF-β signaling: Differential role of a Serine/Threonine phosphate in the regulation of SMAD2 activity
Activins are the most prominent members of the Activin/Inhibin branch of the TGF-β superfamily. Similar to TGF-β, they play an essential role in regulating multiple physiological processes such as development, reproductive ... -
Ageing associated altered host response to bacterial infection
Chapters in which I have elucidated and elaborately described how senescence alters the cellular response to infection, here I demonstrate how senescence in multiple tissues simultaneously contribute to pathogen spread and ... -
Biochemical, Genetic and Molecular characterization of TCP3 and TCP4 transcription factors in Arabidopsis thaliana
The TEOSINTE BRANCHED1, CYCLOIDEA, PROLIFERATING CELL FACTORs (TCP) family of proteins consists of plant-specific, non-canonical basic helix-loop-helix transcription factors that perform diverse developmental processes. ... -
Characterization of the transsulfuration enzyme Cystathionine beta-synthase as a novel regulatory node in the sulfur metabolism of Mycobacterium tuberculosis
Methionine and cysteine metabolisms are important for the survival and pathogenesis of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb). The transsulfuration pathway converts methionine to cysteine and represents an important link between ... -
Collective escape dynamics of fission-fusion groups in the wild
Collective movement is a fundamental process affecting the survival and reproductive success of group-living animals. Many of the hypothesized benefits of grouping such as predation evasion and foraging efficiency may ... -
Computational mechanisms underlying eye-head coordination
Gaze or eye-head coordination is an ethologically and physiologically important process that directs the visual system to objects of interest. Due to its relative simplicity, it is an ideal system to study multi-effector ... -
Deciphering the role of outer membrane porins in the pathogenesis of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium
Porins are highly conserved barrel-shaped proteins bound to the bacterial outer membrane and involved in the selective transport of charged molecules across the membrane. They consist of parallel and anti-parallel β sheets ... -
Development of quantitative RNA sequencing methods to understand RNA variant diversity.
The advent of next-generation sequencing (NGS) has accelerated biological research by providing the opportunity to connect genome level sequence information to function. One key application of NGS has been analysis of gene ... -
Diversity and distribution of mixed-species foraging groups in the Lakshadweep Islands, India
Species interactions are known to shape biological communities. While antagonistic interactions like competition and predation are well known, cooperative interactions have received comparatively less attention. Mixed-species ... -
Effects of Steroid Hormones on Insulin Sensitivity and Lipogenesis: An Insight into the Involvement of the Wnt Signaling Pathway
The shift in maternal energy metabolism characteristic of pregnancy is thought to be driven by various hormonal changes, especially of ovarian and placental steroids. In this context, the effect of estradiol (E2), progesterone ... -
Functional characterization of a new enzymatic activity of the ‘miRNase’-XRN-2 from Caenorhabditis elegans.
Ribonucleic acid (RNA) molecules play a central role in every pivotal process in the cell, and ribonucleases (RNases) are critical for their biogenesis, processing, and degradation. Therefore, RNases are indispensable for ... -
Functional Characterization of a SAND–Domain–containing Factor OsULTRAPETALA1 – a Direct Downstream Target of OsMADS1
Studies on meristem identity regulators in Rice (Oryza sativa), a model plant for cereal crops have revealed how meristem identity and transitions are controlled, bearing implications for crop yield improvement. We were ... -
Ground-dwelling arthropods across human land use: Interpreting the spatial and temporal dimensions of beta diversity
This study investigates beta diversity and its partitions to quantify the influence of different processes that drive spatial and temporal variation in ground-dwelling arthropod assemblages. First, ant assemblages across ... -
Identification, characterization, structure, and assembly of type III toxin-antitoxin systems from Escherichia coli
Bacteria adopt several defense strategies to enable their survival against the environmental threats they encounter from time to time. Toxin-antitoxin (TA) systems are being understood as a key bacterial defense mechanism ... -
Integrative modeling of NS3 helicase function with molecular kinetics, molecular simulations and machine learning
The viral NS3 helicase is a crucial enzyme involved in the RNA replication of positive strand ssRNA viruses of the Flaviviridae family. The NS3 is an active motor that binds RNA and couples ATP hydrolysis to the mechanical ... -
Manipulating Bacterial and Host Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS)- based mechanisms to potentiate killing of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb)
Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) is evolutionarily equipped to resist exogenous reactive oxygen species but shows vulnerability to an increase in endogenous ROS (eROS). Since eROS is an unavoidable consequence of aerobic ... -
Mechanism of the Development of Genetic Resistance to Antibiotics Mediated by three Reactive Oxygen Species in Mycobacterium smegmatis
Bacteria use different means to survive in the continued presence of antibiotics. We find that upon prolonged exposure to antibiotics, mycobacteria put up a triphasic response comprised of a logarithmic reduction of the ... -
Mechanistic insights into protein stabilization and protein-protein interactions
Most amino acid substitutions in a protein either lead to partial loss of function or are near neutral. Several studies have shown the existence of second-site mutations that can rescue the defects caused by diverse loss ... -
Molecular and biochemical studies on components of transcription regulation, tropane alkaloid biosynthesis and signal transduction in the medicinal plant Datura metel L.
Tropane alkaloids (TA) are among the oldest medicines known to humankind as they possess hallucinogenic and poisonous properties. Datura metel, an herbaceous plant, belongs to the family Solanaceae whose members are well ... -
Mutational sensitivity of CcdB mutants in their native operonic context
Determining the precise effects of thousands of point mutants on protein structure, stability, and activity is a challenging task. Chapter 1 introduces how next-generation sequencing technologies exploit phenotypic screens ...