
@article {105475,
	title = {Diversity of Sodium Transporter HKT1;5 in Genus Oryza},
	journal = {RICE SCIENCE},
	volume = {29},
	year = {2022},
	month = {01/2022},
	pages = {31-46},
	abstract = {<p>Asian cultivated rice shows allelic variation in sodium transporter, OsHKT1;5, correlating with shoot sodium exclusion (salinity tolerance). These changes map to intra/extracellularly-oriented loops that occur between four transmembrane-P loop-transmembrane (MPM) motifs in OsHKT1;5. HKT1;5 sequences from more recently evolved Oryza species (O. sativa/O. officinalis complex species) contain two expansions that involve two intracellularly oriented loops/helical regions between MPM domains, potentially governing transport characteristics, while more ancestral HKT1;5 sequences have shorter intracellular loops. We compared homology models for homoeologous OcHKT1;5-K and OcHKT1;5-L from halophytic O. coarctata to identify complementary amino acid residues in OcHKT1;5-L that potentially enhance affinity for Na+. Using haplotyping, we showed that Asian cultivated rice accessions only have a fraction of HKT1;5 diversity available in progenitor wild rice species (O. nivara and O. rufipogon). Progenitor HKT1;5 haplotypes can thus be used as novel potential donors for enhancing cultivated rice salinity tolerance. Within Asian rice accessions, 10 non-synonymous HKT1;5 haplotypic groups occur. More HKT1;5 haplotypic diversities occur in cultivated indica gene pool compared to japonica. Predominant Haplotypes 2 and 10 occur in mutually exclusive japonica and indica groups, corresponding to haplotypes in O. sativa salt-sensitive and salt-tolerant landraces, respectively. This distinct haplotype partitioning may have originated in separate ancestral gene pools of indica and japonica, or from different haplotypes selected during domestication. Predominance of specific HKT1;5 haplotypes within the 3 000 rice dataset may relate to eco-physiological fitness in specific geo-climatic and/or edaphic contexts.</p>
},
	doi = {10.1016/j.rsci.2021.12.003},
	author = {Pulipati, Shalini and Somasundaram, Suji and Rana, Nitika and Kumaresan, Kavitha and Shafi, Mohamed and Civan, Peter and Sellamuthu, Gothandapani and Jaganathan, Deepa and Ramaravi, Prasanna Venkatesan and Punitha, S. and Raju, Kalaimani and Mantri, Shrikant S. and Sowdhamini, R. and Parida, Ajay and Venkataraman, Gayatri}
}
@article {105164,
	title = {Immune profile and responses of a novel Dengue DNA vaccine encoding EDIII-NS1 consensus design based on Indo-African sequences.},
	journal = {Mol Ther},
	year = {2022},
	month = {2022 Jan 06},
	abstract = {<p>The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic highlights the need to tackle viral variants, expand the number of antigens and assess diverse delivery systems for vaccines against emerging viruses. In the present study, a DNA vaccine candidate was generated by combining in tandem envelope protein domain III (EDIII) of dengue virus serotypes 1-4 and a DENV-2 NS1 protein coding region. Each domain was designed as a serotype-specific consensus coding sequence derived from different genotypes based on whole genome sequencing of clinical isolates in India and complemented with data from Africa. This sequence was further optimized for protein expression. In silico structural analysis of the EDIII consensus sequence revealed that epitopes are structurally conserved and immunogenic. Vaccination of mice with this construct induced pan-serotype neutralizing antibodies and antigen-specific T cell responses. Assaying of intracellular IFN-γ staining, immunoglobulin IgG2(a/c)/IgG1 ratios and immune gene profiling suggest a strong Th1-dominant immune response. Finally, passive transfer of immune sera protected AG129 mice challenged with a virulent, non-mouse adapted DENV-2 strain. Our findings collectively suggest an alternative strategy for dengue vaccine design; offering a novel vaccine candidate with a possible broad spectrum protection and successful clinical translation either as a stand-alone or in a mix and match strategy.</p>
},
	issn = {1525-0024},
	doi = {10.1016/j.ymthe.2022.01.013},
	author = {Sankaradoss, Arun and Jagtap, Suraj and Nazir, Junaid and Moula, Shefta-E and Modak, Ayan and Fialho, Joshuah and Iyer, Meenakshi and Shastri, Jayanthi S and Dias, Mary and Gadepalli, Ravisekhar and Aggarwal, Alisha and Vedpathak, Manoj and Agrawal, Sachee and Pandit, Awadhesh and Nisheetha, Amul and Kumar, Anuj and Bordoloi, Mahasweta and Shafi, Mohamed and Shelar, Bhagyashree and Balachandra, Swathi S and Damodar, Tina and Masika, Moses Muia and Mwaura, Patrick and Anzala, Omu and Muthumani, Kar and Sowdhamini, Ramanathan and Medigeshi, Guruprasad R and Roy, Rahul and Pattabiraman, Chitra and Krishna, Sudhir and Sreekumar, Easwaran}
}
