Chloroplasts evolved an additional layer of translational regulation based on non-AUG start codons for proteins with different turnover rates.

Chloroplasts have evolved from photosynthetic cyanobacteria-like progenitors through endosymbiosis. The chloroplasts of present-day land plants have their own transcription and translation systems that show several similarities with prokaryotic organisms. A remarkable feature of the chloroplast translation system is the use of non-AUG start codons in the protein synthesis of certain genes that are evolutionarily conserved from Algae to angiosperms.

Development of efficient synthetic promoters derived from pararetrovirus suitable for translational research.

In this study, useful hybrid promoters were developed for efficient ectopic gene expression in monocot and dicot plants, and they hold strong prominence in both transgenic research and biotech industries. This study deals with developing novel synthetic promoters derived from Rice Tungro Bacilliform Virus (RTBV) and Mirabilis Mosaic Virus (MMV). Despite numerous availability, there is a severe scarcity of promoters universally suitable for monocot and dicot plants.

Fast recovery of transgenic submergence tolerant rice cultivars of North-East India by early co-cultivation of with pre-cultured callus.

Agro-climatic conditions of North-East India are very complex and rice cultivars present in the region have been adapted to grow under harsh environmental conditions. Germplasm present in the region is considered to possess several important and unique traits that are of importance in rice improvement programs. Genetic engineering is a powerful tool to introduce new traits into crop plants.

Comparison of transplastomic Chlamydomonas reinhardtii and Nicotiana tabacum expression system for the production of a bacterial endoglucanase.

The bulk production of recombinant enzymes by either prokaryotic or eukaryotic organisms might contribute to replace environmentally non-friendly chemistry-based industrial processes with enzyme-based biocatalysis, provided the cost of enzyme production is low. In this context, it is worth noting that the production of recombinant proteins by photosynthetic organisms offer both eukaryotic (nuclear) and prokaryotic (chloroplast) alternatives, along with the advantage of an autotrophic nutrition. Compared to nuclear transformation, chloroplast transformation generally allows a higher level of accumulation of the recombinant protein of interest.

Use of Nicotiana tabacum transplastomic plants engineered to express a His-tagged CP47 for the isolation of functional photosystem II core complexes.

This work focuses on the development of a molecular tool for purification of Photosystem II (PSII) from Nicotiana tabacum (L.). To this end, the chloroplast psbB gene encoding the CP47 PSII subunit was replaced with an engineered version of the same gene containing a C-terminal His-tag.

Genome-wide transcriptomic and proteomic analyses of bollworm-infested developing cotton bolls revealed the genes and pathways involved in the insect pest defence mechanism.

Cotton bollworm, Helicoverpa armigera, is a major insect pest that feeds on cotton bolls causing extensive damage leading to crop and productivity loss. In spite of such a major impact, cotton plant response to bollworm infection is yet to be witnessed. In this context, we have studied the genome-wide response of cotton bolls infested with bollworm using transcriptomic and proteomic approaches.

Delineating the glycoproteome of elongating cotton fiber cells.

The data presented here delineates the glycoproteome component in the elongating cotton fiber cells attained using complementary proteomic approaches followed by protein and N-linked glycosylation site identification (Kumar et al., 2013) [1]. Utilizing species specific protein sequence databases in proteomic approaches often leads to additional information that may not be obtained using cross-species databases.

Production by Tobacco Transplastomic Plants of Recombinant Fungal and Bacterial Cell-Wall Degrading Enzymes to Be Used for Cellulosic Biomass Saccharification.

Biofuels from renewable plant biomass are gaining momentum due to climate change related to atmospheric CO2 increase. However, the production cost of enzymes required for cellulosic biomass saccharification is a major limiting step in this process. Low-cost production of large amounts of recombinant enzymes by transgenic plants was proposed as an alternative to the conventional microbial based fermentation.

Revisiting rubisco as a protein substrate for insect midgut proteases.

Gene fragments encoding the large subunit (LS) of Rubisco (RBCL) were cloned from various species of host plants of phytophagous Lepidoptera and expressed as recombinant proteins in Escherichia coli. Recombinant RBCLs were compared among each other along with casein and native Rubisco as proteinaceous substrates for measuring total midgut protease activities of fourth instar larvae of Helicoverpa armigera feeding on casein, Pieris brassicae feeding on cauliflower, and Antheraea assamensis feeding on Litsea monopetala and Persea bombycina. Cognate rRBCL (from the pertinent host plant species) substrates performed similar to noncognate rRBCL reflecting the conserved nature of encoding genes and the versatile use of these recombinant proteins.

Chloroplast molecular farming: efficient production of a thermostable xylanase by Nicotiana tabacum plants and long-term conservation of the recombinant enzyme.

The high cost of recombinant enzymes for the production of biofuel from ligno-cellulosic biomass is a crucial factor affecting the economic sustainability of the process. The use of plants as biofactories for the production of the suitable recombinant enzymes might be an alternative to microbial fermentation. In the case of enzyme accumulation in chloroplasts, it is fundamental to focus on the issue of full photosynthetic efficiency of transplastomic plants in the field where they might be exposed to abiotic stress such as high light intensity and high temperature.

Glycoproteome of elongating cotton fiber cells.

Cotton ovule epidermal cell differentiation into long fibers primarily depends on wall-oriented processes such as loosening, elongation, remodeling, and maturation. Such processes are governed by cell wall bound structural proteins and interacting carbohydrate active enzymes. Glycosylation plays a major role in the structural, functional, and localization aspects of the cell wall and extracellular destined proteins.

Functional genomics of fuzzless-lintless mutant of Gossypium hirsutum L. cv. MCU5 reveal key genes and pathways involved in cotton fibre initiation and elongation.

Background: Fuzzless-lintless cotton mutants are considered to be the ideal material to understand the molecular mechanisms involved in fibre cell development. Although there are few reports on transcriptome and proteome analyses in cotton at fibre initiation and elongation stages, there is no comprehensive comparative transcriptome analysis of fibre-bearing and fuzzless-lintless cotton ovules covering fibre initiation to secondary cell wall (SCW) synthesis stages. In the present study, a comparative transcriptome analysis was carried out using G.

Light intensity-dependent modulation of chlorophyll b biosynthesis and photosynthesis by overexpression of chlorophyllide a oxygenase in tobacco.

Chlorophyll b is synthesized by the oxidation of a methyl group on the B ring of a tetrapyrrole molecule to a formyl group by chlorophyllide a oxygenase (CAO). The full-length CAO from Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) was overexpressed in tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) that grows well at light intensities much higher than those tolerated by Arabidopsis. This resulted in an increased synthesis of glutamate semialdehyde, 5-aminolevulinic acid, magnesium-porphyrins, and chlorophylls.

Emerging role of N- and C-terminal interactions in stabilizing (β/α)8 fold with special emphasis on Family 10 xylanases.

Xylanases belong to an important class of industrial enzymes. Various xylanases have been purified and characterized from a plethora of organisms including bacteria, marine algae, plants, protozoans, insects, snails and crustaceans. Depending on the source, the enzymatic activity of xylanases varies considerably under various physico-chemical conditions such as temperature, pH, high salt and in the presence of proteases.

Genome-wide transcriptomic analysis of cotton under drought stress reveal significant down-regulation of genes and pathways involved in fibre elongation and up-regulation of defense responsive genes.

Cotton is an important source of natural fibre used in the textile industry and the productivity of the crop is adversely affected by drought stress. High throughput transcriptomic analyses were used to identify genes involved in fibre development. However, not much information is available on cotton genome response in developing fibres under drought stress.

Genome-wide transcriptome and proteome analyses of tobacco psaA and psbA deletion mutants.

Photosynthesis in higher land plants is a complex process involving several proteins encoded by both nuclear and chloroplast genomes that require a highly coordinated gene expression. Significant changes in plastid differentiation and biochemical processes are associated with the deletion of chloroplast genes. In this study we report the genome-wide responses caused by the deletion of tobacco psaA and psbA genes coding core components of photosystem I (PSI) and photosystem II (PSII), respectively, generated through a chloroplast genetic engineering approach.

Advances in plant molecular farming.

Plant molecular farming (PMF) is a new branch of plant biotechnology, where plants are engineered to produce recombinant pharmaceutical and industrial proteins in large quantities. As an emerging subdivision of the biopharmaceutical industry, PMF is still trying to gain comparable social acceptance as the already established production systems that produce these high valued proteins in microbial, yeast, or mammalian expression systems. This article reviews the various cost-effective technologies and strategies, which are being developed to improve yield and quality of the plant-derived pharmaceuticals, thereby making plant-based production system suitable alternatives to the existing systems.

The critical role of N- and C-terminal contact in protein stability and folding of a family 10 xylanase under extreme conditions.

Background: Stabilization strategies adopted by proteins under extreme conditions are very complex and involve various kinds of interactions. Recent studies have shown that a large proportion of proteins have their N- and C-terminal elements in close contact and suggested they play a role in protein folding and stability. However, the biological significance of this contact remains elusive.

The critical role of partially exposed N-terminal valine residue in stabilizing GH10 xylanase from Bacillus sp.NG-27 under poly-extreme conditions.

Background: Understanding the mechanisms that govern protein stability under poly-extreme conditions continues to be a major challenge. Xylanase (BSX) from Bacillus sp. NG-27, which has a TIM-barrel structure, shows optimum activity at high temperature and alkaline pH, and is resistant to denaturation by SDS and degradation by proteinase K.

Bacteriophage T7 RNA polymerase-directed, inducible and tissue-specific over-expression of foreign genes in transgenic plants.

A widely applicable bacteriophage T7 RNA polymerase-directed, tissue-specific and inducible over-expression of foreign genes in transgenic plants was developed. This was achieved through the simultaneous transformation of a modified T7 RNA polymerase to specifically transcribe the foreign gene placed under the control of T7 expression signals. The T7 RNA polymerase recognized the chimeric uidA gene integrated randomly into tobacco and rice genomes.