National Institute of Plant Genome Research
 
    Dr. Gitanjali Yadav
    Staff Scientist II
    Ph.D. National Institute of Immunology (NII)
    Tel: 91-11-26741612,14,17 Ext. - 103
    Direct - 26735103
    Fax: 91-11-26741658
    E-mail: gy@nipgr.res.in
 Research Interest
The current focus of my group is on analyses of plant stress response mechanisms using a knowledge based computational approach, and our major interest is in the area of terpene diversity and the molecular basis of volatile compound emission in Arabidopsis. We are trying to understand the various roles played by enzymes in the isoprenoid mediated response pathways by studying their active-site architecture, domain constitution and interactions. We are also using a complex network approach to explore the topology of Arabidopsis metabolic, physical and genetic interaction networks, in order to identify potential transcription factors responsible for modulating these pathways. In collaboration with experimental and field biologists, I also work in the area of microbial natural product biosynthesis, computational ecology and modeling of the myriad plant-animal interactions in ecosystems.
 Career
Staff Scientist - II, NIPGR (April 2006 onwards)
Visiting Scientist - Keck Graduate Institute of Applied Sciences, California (November 2006 to Feb 2007)
Research Associate, NII (July 2005-March 2006)
 Awards & Honors
Associate of the Indian Academy of Sciences (2010-2014).
Prof. Hira Lal Chakravarty memorial award in Plant Sciences (2010) - by the ISCA (Indian Science Association).
Senior IYBA Award, DBT, India - 2009.
Young Scientist Platinum Jubilee Award (2009) from the National Academy of Sciences India (NASI).
Innovative Young Biotechnologist Award (IYBA), DBT, India - 2005.
 Current research project:
As PI: DBT, Govt. of India sponsored project on Isoprenoid Biosynthesis. (June 2006 - June 2009).
The Molecular basis of Plant volatile compound emission: The astonishing chemical diversity of biologically active substances in plants reflects a staggering diversity in function as well. Secondary metabolites are known to be the end points of sophisticated survival mechanisms that plants have developed as a response to various kinds of stresses. Isoprenoids, often released as volatiles from plants, constitute the most diverse group of natural products and play an essential part in plant defense systems, both directly and indirectly. The molecular basis of variability in volatile terpene composition has remained obscure despite attempts to isolate and classify terpenes at species or plant clade levels. We are investigating the key molecular aspects of terpene biosynthetic diversity, through a detailed bioinformatics analysis of the Terpene synthase enzymes and their interactions. The goal is to develop a predictive computational protocol for understanding terpene biosynthetic diversity, its regulation and the molecular basis of scent emission, using sequence and structural data, computational systems biology, background biological knowledge and novel inference techniques.
 Selected Publications
Anand S, Prasad MV, Yadav G, Kumar N, Shehara J et al.(2010) SBSPKS: structure based sequence analysis of polyketide synthases. Nucl. Acids. Res. 2010 May 5. [Epub ahead of print]
Shridhar S, Chattopadhyay D and Yadav G* (2009) PLecDom: A program for identification and analysis of plant Lectin Domains. Nucl. Acids. Res. Jul 1;37: W452-8. Epub 2009 May 27.
Yadav G, Gokhale RS and Mohanty D (2009) Towards prediction of metabolic products of Polyketide Synthases: An In Silico analysis. PLoS. Comp. Biol. Apr; Vol 5(4): e1000351.
Yadav G*, Prasad RLA, Jha BK, Rai V, Bhakuni VK and Datta K (2008). Evidence for inhibitory interaction of hyaluronan binding protein 1 (HABP1/p32/gC1qR) with S. pneumoniae hyaluronidase. J. Biol. Chem 284(6): 3897-3905 (*corresponding authors)
Kaur H, Shukla RK, Yadav G, Chattopadhyay D and Majee M (2008) Two divergent genes encoding L-myo-inositol 1 -phosphate synthase1 (CaMIPS1) and 2 (CaMIPS2) are differentially expressed in chickpea. Plant, Cell and Environment 31: 1701-1716.
Chopra T, Banerjee S, Gupta S, Yadav G, Anand S, et al. (2008) Novel Intermolecular Iterative Mechanism for Biosynthesis of Mycoketide Catalyzed by a Bimodular Polyketide Synthase. PLoS Biology 6(7): e163 doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0060163.
Ansari MZ, Yadav G, Gokhale RS and Mohanty D (2004) NRPS-PKS A knowledge based resource for analysis of non-ribosomal peptide synthetases and polyketide synthases. Nucl. Acids Res. 32: W401-W415.
Yadav G, Gokhale RS and Mohanty D (2003) Computational approach for prediction of domain organization and substrate specificity of modular polyketide synthases. J. Mol. Biol. 328: 335-63.
Yadav G, Gokhale RS and Mohanty D (2003) SEARCHPKS: A Program for detection and analysis of polyketide synthase domains. Nucl. Acids Res. 31: 3654-3658.
Saxena P, Yadav G, Mohanty D and Gokhale RS (2003) A new family of type III polyketide synthases in Mycobacterium tuberculosis. J. Biol. Chem. 278: 44780-90.
Yadav G, Gokhale RS and Mohanty D (2004) Protein Science, 13 (1): 185, PS-04; 18th Synposium of the Protein Society, San Diego, California, August 14-18, 2004.
Yadav G, Gokhale RS and Mohanty D (2003) Abstract P9-01, 10th FAOBMB Congress Bangalore (India), Abstracts from International Conference.
Yadav G and Mohanty D (2001) Abstracts of the International Symposium on Crystallography and Bioinformatics in Structural Biology. S9-3