Harikumar R Suma

Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology - Hans Knöll Institute | HKI · Paleobiotechnology

Naturally occurring fluorescence has been observed in multiple species ranging from bacteria to birds. In macroscopic animals such as birds, fluorescence provides a visual communication signal. However, the functional significance of this phenomenon is unknown in most cases. Though photoprotection is attributed to fluorescence under ultraviolet (UV...

Translational readthrough generates proteins with extended C-termini, which often possess distinct properties. Here, we have used various reporter assays to demonstrate translational readthrough of AGO1 mRNA. Analysis of ribosome profiling data and mass spectrometry data provided additional evidence for translational readthrough of AGO1. The endoge...

Endothelial cells respond to mechanical stimuli such as stretch. This property can be exploited with caution to induce angiogenesis which will have immense potential to treat pathological conditions associated with insufficient angiogenesis. The primary aim of this study is to test if low-pressure shock waves can be used to induce angiogenesis. Usi...

Access to essential health care services is a primary need for any individual in a population. But, when a significant number of people of the global population remains below the poverty line, accessing health care services becomes difficult. This can be due to expensive testing protocols and inaccessibility to health care devices. These are some o...

Bacteria are social organisms, which are constantly exposed to predation by nematodes or amoebae. To counteract these predation pressures, bacteria have evolved a variety of potent antipredator strategies. Bacteria of the genus Pseudomonas, for instance, evade amoebal predation by the secretion of amoebicidal natural products. The soil bacterium Ps...

Microorganisms, especially bacteria hardly ever exist as monocultures. In terrestrial habitats such as soil, they are constantly interacting with other organisms. Amoebae exhibit an intricate relationship with their interacting partners, spanning the whole spectrum of symbiosis – from mutualism to antagonism. Even though they are important predator...

Major advances over the past decade in the field of ancient DNA are providing access to past paleogenomic diversity, but the diverse functions and biosynthetic capabilities of this growing paleome remain largely elusive. Here, we investigated the dental calculus of 12 Neanderthals and 52 anatomically modern humans spanning 100 kya to the present an...

A brief outlook of the project: Understanding polymicrobial interactions using artificial microcosms. This poster was prepared as a part of the Insitute (Leibniz-HKI) evaluation held in October, 2021

Tardigrades or their eggs were placed on a glass slide with two drops of saline (0.9%) solution. Wet mounts were prepared by gently placing a coverslip over the saline drop without damaging the tardigrades. Excess fluid was removed using a lint-free tissue paper.

Naturally occurring fluorescence has been observed in multiple species ranging from bacteria to birds. In macroscopic animals such as birds and fishes, fluorescence provides a visual communication signal. However, the functional significance of this phenomenon is not known in most cases. Though photoprotection is attributed to fluorescence under ul...

A couple of years ago, Japanese scientists thawed a frozen moss sample from Antarctica collected 30 years earlier.They observed two minute creatures crawling back to life from three decades of ‘cryo-sleep’ inside the moss sample. These tiny time-travellers were tardigrades, also known as water bears. They have four pairs of legs and their body size...