UNIVERSITY OF MUMBAI & DEPARTMENT OF ATOMIC ENERGY
CENTRE FOR EXCELLENCE IN BASIC SCIENCES
 
Research Life Sciences Jacinta S. D’Souza
 
 

Jacinta S. D’Souza
E-mail: jacintad@gmail.com or jacinta@cbs.ac.in
Phone : 022-26524978

M.Sc in Molecular Biology from TIFR
PhD in Molecular Biology from TIFR
Ex-Scientific Officer (until Jan’09) from TIFR

Since June 2008, I have started research on the topic entitled, “Towards understanding the stress-induced interactome in the green chlorophyte Chlamydomonas reinhardtii”. Currently, two PhD students have been working on this topic. The work involves the use of techniques in Molecular Biology, Biophysical Sciences, Macromolecular Interactions and Algal Sciences.

The flagellar interactome in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii
Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, a unicellular green alga, is attracting increasing attention as an evolutionary cousin of yeast and features that make it a popular and powerful model system for dissecting biological processes are its ability to grow rapidly in axenic cultures, a well-defined cell cycle, a single set of chromosomes, genetically and molecularly easily tractable and a plethora of mutants with aberrations in structural, metabolic and regulatory genes, therefore offering a complete toolset for genetic manipulation. Though not as well known as the E. coli, C. elegans, yeast, fruitflies and mice, C. reinhardtii are getting popular in laboratory science for varied purposes. The flagellum, an organelle present on the cell (two in number) is considered as a cell’s antenna (more aptly called as the watchtower of a cell). Besides helping the cell to move, it is believed to operate as a sensory device by interacting with the environment through signaling and gene-expression networks. The biologically relevant area being studied at the Life Sciences division of CBS using C. reinhardtii, include the understanding of the architecture of the flagellum, the biophysical basis of its movement and characterizing the sensory molecules involved in stress transduction; all these using an ‘interactome-based approach’. Derivatives of these studies relevant to nano- and bio-technological purposes include the production of a synthetic nanomachine, scientifically tractable hypotheses (evolutionary) for the loss of motility by some cells thereby using Chlamydomonas flagella to render their motility, and importantly, the implications in ciliopathies and remedies sought for the ciliary disorders.

PhD students currently enrolled:

  1. Dolly Khona
  2. Venkatramanan Rao
  3. Mustafa Motiwalla

Undergraduate students who had worked or are working on this project:

  1. Poonam Kumari and Amritansh Vats (UM-DAE-CBS undergraduate students, duration June-July, 2008) for the summer project entitled, “Mapping the axoneme of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii”
  2. Shounak Dongre (from D. Y. Patil University; duration Jan-June 2009) towards partial fulfillment of MTech in Biotechnology for the thesis entitled, “Understanding the role of BolA-like protein in the stress induced physiology of green chlorophyte Chlamydomonas reinhardtii.
  3. Ruhi B. Sarafdar (from D. Y. Patil University; duration Jan-June 2009) towards partial fulfillment of the degree in MTech (Biotechnology), for the thesis entitled, “Towards studying the role of flagellar Associated Protein, 174 (FAP174) in the green algae Chlamydomonas reinhardtii”.
  4. Simran Kaur Khlasa (from G. N. Khalsa College, duration May-July 2009) towards partial fulfillment of the degree in M.Sc (Biotechnology), for the thesis entitled, “Towards understanding the role of Flagellar Associated Protein (FAP255) in green chlorophyte Chlamydomonas reinhardttii”.
  5. P. C. Shreekrishna Varma (UM-DAE-CBS undergraduate student) working on an ongoing project entitled, “On the dynamics of motility in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii vis-à-vis flagellar length”.

Scientific collaborations:

  1. With Prof. Pinfen Yang from Marquette University, USA on the interaction of FAP174 with RSP3 protein.
  2. For the work entitled, “Molecular dissection of the components in the flagella of the green chlorophyte Chlamydomonas reinhardtii”, I have collaboration with Prof. Deepak Mathur, Senior Professor at TIFR.
  3. On the project entitled, ‘Aliphatic alicyclic hydrocarbon-degrading micro-organisms from mangrove sediments’, I have collaboration with Dr. Varsha Kelkar-Mane, HOD, University of Mumbai.
  4. With Prof. Siby Abraham (HOD, Mathematics & Statistics, Khalsa College), Jyotsna Dongardive (HOD, Computer Section, Mumbai University) on an in silico project entitled, “Arriving at a correlation between the flagellar number and cell size: a phylogenetic analysis”.
  5. With Prof. Evans Coutinho, Prof. Bombay College of Pharmacy, Kalina on the topic entitled, ‘Expression of 15N-labelled recombinant glucose dependent insulinotropic polypeptide for probing biomolecular interaction of the gut peptide’.

Selected Publications and GenBank Submissions:

  1. J. S. D’Souza, M. Gudipati, J. A. Dharmadhikari, A. K. Dharmadhikari, *A. Kashyap, *M. Aiyer, U. Rao, D. Mathur and B. J. Rao, Flagella-generated forces reveal gear-type motor in single cells of the green alga, Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. (2009) BBRC 380: 266–270 (*Equal contribution).
  2. Rao V. G., Khona D. K. and D'Souza J. S. (03-NOV-2008) Cloning of fap144 (CBS-1), a flagellar gene from Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. (Accession no. FJ377311).
  3. Khona D. K., Rao V. G. and D'Souza J. S. (31-MAR-2009) Cloning of fap255 (CBS-2), a flagellar gene from Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. (Accession no. FJ808743).
  4. Ruhi Sarafdar, Rao V. G., Khona D. K. and D'Souza J. S. (06-JUN-2009) Cloning of fap174 (CBS-3), a flagellar gene from Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. (Accession no. FJ986299).
  5. Motiwalla, M. J., D'Souza, J. S. and Kelkar-Mane, V. (22-JUN-2009) Isolation of a new strain of Bacillus pumilus (CBS- i1) from mangrove soil. (Accession no. GQ220330).

Presentations at Conferences:

• Characterization of a novel, aliphatic alicyclic hydrocarbon-degrading strain of Bacillus pumilus from mangrove sediments and its application as a potential alkaline hydrolase producer’. Mustafa Motiwala, Jacinta S. D’Souza and Varsha Kelkar-Mane, at the Young Explorers in Indian Biology Conference under the Homi Bhabha Centenary Celebrations from 14-16 September 2009. (Best poster award).

• J. S. D’Souza, J. A. Dharmadhikari, A. K. Dharmadhikari, S. Minardi, A. Couairon, B. J. Rao, and D. Mathur, at the 18th International Laser Physics Workshop (LPHYS’09) July 13-17, 2009 Barcelona Spain, Oral presentation by Dr. A. K. Dharmadhikari.

• ‘Expression of 15N-labelled recombinant Glucose-dependent Insulinotropic polypeptide for probing biomolecular interaction of the gut peptide’. Rakesh C. Chandarana, Jacinta S. D’Souza, Basuthkar J. Rao, Anil Saran, Evans C. Coutinho, presented a poster by R. Chandarana at PharmSci@India10 Symposium, First AAPS-NUS-BCP Regional Conference, February 25th, 2010. (Special mention of appreciation for the poster).
Uma Ladiwala
E-Mail : brainwave@cbs.ac.in
Phone : 022-26524986		    
 
 
 
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