Mandar S Paingankar

• Ph.D.
• Professor (Assistant) at Government Science College, Gadchiroli, Maharashtra, India

Lack of robust cell culture systems for Hepatitis E virus (HEV) infection has hampered understanding of HEV biology. We attempted to identify the host cellular factors that interact with HEV 5' and 3' untranslated regions (UTRs) by RNA affinity chromatography followed by mass spectrometry analysis. Hepatitis E virus genotype-1 (HEV-1) and Hepatitis...

Background & objectives: The susceptibility of the mosquito to the invading pathogen is predominantly dictated by the complex interactions between the mosquito midgut and the surface proteins of the invading pathogen. It is well documented that the midgut microbiota plays an important role in determining the susceptibility of the mosquito to the pa...

A virological surveillance was carried out in various places of Surat Metropolitan Region (SMR) to monitor the chikungunya and dengue activity in Aedes aegypti populations. A total of 556 pools constituting 4918 Ae. aegypti mosquitoes were collected and processed in the laboratory for the detection of chikungunya virus (CHIKV) and dengue virus (DEN...

Identification and characterization of virus host interactions is an essential step for the development of novel antiviral strategies. Very few studies have been targeted towards identification of chikungunya virus (CHIKV) interacting host proteins. In current study, virus overlay protein binding assay (VOPBA) and matrix-assisted laser desorption/...

Fish silage is a liquefied product resulting from tissue hydrolysis and the richness of the silage is characterized by its nutritional profile comprising of proteins, amino acids, and fats. For the production of fish silage of high nutritional value, a precise assessment of the degree of hydrolysis, particularly proteolysis becomes a paramount impo...

Fish silage is a liquefied product resulting from tissue hydrolysis and the richness of the silage is characterized by its nutritional profile comprising of proteins, amino acids, and fats. For the production of fish silage of high nutritional value, a precise assessment of the degree of hydrolysis, particularly proteolysis becomes a paramount impo...

Fish silage is a brown liquefied product achieved by the action of enzymes when finely grounded whole/parts of either single or mixed fish types are subjected to acidification. This study made a comparative assessment of biochemical and nutritive properties, especially the amino acid composition in supernatant phase of formic acid silages prepared...

Despite exhibiting multiple morphological adaptations to living in swiftly flowing water (rheophily), Garra ceylonensis is one of the most widely distributed freshwater fish in Sri Lanka. It is thus an ideal organism to reconstruct the evolutionary history of a widespread, yet morphologically specialized, freshwater fish in a tropical-island settin...

Despite exhibiting multiple morphological adaptations to living in swiftly flowing water (rheophily), Garra ceylonensis is one of the most widely distributed freshwater fish in Sri Lanka. It is thus an ideal organism to reconstruct the evolutionary history of a widespread, yet morphologically specialized, freshwater fish in a tropical-island settin...

Arboviruses cause the most devastating diseases in humans and animals worldwide. Several hundred arbovirus are transmitted by mosquitoes, sand flies or ticks and are responsible for more than million deaths annually. Development of a model system is essential to extrapolate the molecular events occurring during infection in the human and mosquito h...

Glassfishes of the family Ambassidae, comprising around 50 species, are distributed in the Indo-West Pacific where they inhabit marine, estuarine, and freshwater ecosystems. We investigated for the first time the molecular phylogenetic and evolutionary relationships of this group using a combined dataset of mitochondrial and nuclear genes, particul...

The microbial communities of mangroves which form important links in elemental cycling and bioremedia-tion have not been elucidated in most parts of the world. Due to urbanization and deforestation man-groves are also under threat. In the present study, high throughput next generation sequencing techno-logy, based on 16S rRNA amplicon analysis usin...

Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) infection can cause severe arthralgia and chronic arthritis in humans. MicroRNAs (miRNA) have demonstrated their potential use as biomarker in variety of human pathologies and infections. This study was conducted to understand the miRNA signature in early CHIKV infection stages. In the current study, we used TaqMan-based q...

The diversity of hillstream loaches in the northern part of the Western Ghats region of India was studied for the first time using two mitochondrial genes, cytochrome oxidase subunit I and cytochrome b. Phylogenetic analysis revealed monophyletic groups corresponding to the genera Indoreonectes, Paracanthocobitis, Nemacheilus, Schistura and Nemachi...

Scorpions of the family Buthidae are widespread species in India. While studies are available on diversity and distribution of Indian buthid scorpions, no information is available on the phylogenetic relationships among the members of the family, within India and Asia in general. In the current study, we provide the first molecular phylogeny of but...

Although genomic DNA of Drosophila melanogaster has been shown to contain little cytosine methylation, the distribution of this genome-wide methylation patterns in different life stages remains to be elucidated. We have developed an immunochemical method using cDNA microarray to assess methylation. In the present work, this methylation microarray m...

Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is a positive-sense RNA virus and member of the genus Orthohepevirus in the family Hepeviridae. Although HEV RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (HEV-RdRp) plays an important role in HEV life cycle, its template specificities are not completely understood. We expressed HEV-RdRp protein with His-tag in bacterial system and analysed...

Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is a causative agent of acute hepatitis and a major public health problem in India. There are 4 mammalian HEV genotypes worldwide. In India genotype 1 (HEV-1) is restricted to humans whereas genotype 4 (HEV-4) circulates in pigs. Studies from our laboratory have shown that HEV-4 (swine) virus can establish experimental infec...

p>Length-weight (LWR) and length-length (LLR) relationships of seven loach species (Teleostei: Cypriniformes): Botia striata, Lepidocephalichthys thermalis, Paracanthocobitis mooreh, Indoreonectes evezardi, Nemacheilus anguilla, Nemachilichthys rueppelli and Schistura denisoni were studied from five localities within the Krishna River system of the...

Background & objectives: Although having immense clinical relevance, yet only a few studies have been targeted to understand the chikungunya virus (CHIKV) susceptibility and growth in Aedes aegypti populations from India. This study was undertaken to investigate CHIKV susceptibility and growth kinetics in Ae. aegypti along with genetic heterogeneit...

Background & objectives: Culex quinquefasciatus is one of the principal vectors of West Nile virus (WNV). The mosquito also acts as a bridge vector as it feeds on both birds and humans. In the background of the recent reports of WNV activity in Kerala and Assam with fatalities, a study was initiated to determine the growth kinetics and transmission...

We investigated the distribution of Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) fungal infections in amphibians of the Western Ghats mountain range in India, based on data from 497 samples. Eight individuals were positive, with genomic equivalents ranging from 2 to 785 zoospores. A single widespread Bd strain identical to the haplotype endemic to Asia was...

The definitive diagnosis ability of IgM ELISA, nested RT-PCR and real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR) was evaluated for Chikungunya diagnosis using 180 clinical samples. Real-time qPCR showed a higher sensitivity (88.3%) for Chikungunya diagnosis in the early stages of infection, while IgM ELISA proved sensitive for the late stages of illness (81.8%)....

Pethia longicauda, a new cyprinid fish, is described from Hiranyakeshi River, Krishna drainage, Maharashtra, India. It can be distinguished from congeners based on a combination of characters including: a long caudal peduncle, incomplete lateral line, absence of barbels, upper lip thick and fleshy, distinct lateral fold on snout, 22–24 scales in la...

A new species of barb Pethia lutea is described from the Kundalika River in the northern part of the Western Ghats. The new species can be distinguished from its congeners in India based on a combination of characters including a distinct humped nape, absence of barbels, complete lateral line, lips thick, lateral fold on snout, 19–22 lateral line s...

http://www.zoosprint.org/ZoosPrintNewsLetter/MIN_January_2014.pdf

Pethia setnai is an endemic and threatened freshwater fish of the Western Ghats of India. It has a restricted distribution in the west flowing rivers in the states of Maharashtra, Goa and Karnataka. We clarify the phylogenetic position of Pethia setnai, provide osteological details of topotypic material, and morphometric data of specimens from Ma...

White Spot Syndrome Virus (WSSV) is a major pathogen in shrimp aquaculture, and its rampant spread has resulted in great economic loss. Identification of host cellular proteins interacting with WSSV will help in unravelling the repertoire of host proteins involved in WSSV infection. In this study, we have employed one-dimensional and two-dimension...

The Western Ghats of India harbors a rich diversity of amphibians with more than 77% species endemic to this region. At least 42% of the endemic species are threatened due to several anthropogenic stressors. However, information on amphibian diseases and their impacts on amphibian populations in this region are scarce. We report the occurrence of B...

Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) has reemerged as a life threatening pathogen and caused large epidemics in several countries. So far, no licensed vaccine or effective antivirals are available and the treatment remains symptomatic. In this context, development of effective and safe prophylactics and therapeutics assumes priority. We evaluated the efficacy...

Understanding the population dynamics of mosquito populations through life table analysis and insecticide susceptibility is important to assess the likely impact of vector control strategies as well as to aid the design of novel interventions. Variation in the life tables and other biological data was compared for two populations of Culex quinquefa...

Horabagrus brachysoma, thought to be endemic to the southern parts of the Western Ghats of India, is recorded for the northern parts of the Western Ghats, extending the species distribution range by 180 km. We have confirmed the identity of the species and the fact that the species is indigenous to this area and not an artifact of recent introducti...

Mosquito midgut plays a crucial role in its vector susceptibility and pathogen interaction. Identification of the sustainable microflora of the midgut environment can therefore help in evaluating its contribution in mosquito-pathogen interaction and in turn vector competence. To understand the bacterial diversity in the midgut of Aedes aegypti mosq...

P40 binding proteins from brush border membrane of Ae. aegypti. (DOC)

Western blotting analysis for P40. Cell lysate of S. odorifera was subjected to two dimensional gel electrophoresis and transferred to nitrocellulose membranes. P40 was visualized after incubation with a mouse polyclonal antibody to P40, and a secondary antibody (peroxidase-conjugated goat anti-mouse IgG). Reaction was developed by H2O2 and DABT. (...

Mosquito midgut microflora studies. (DOC)

Dengue-2 virus binding proteins from S. odorifera cell lysate. (DOC)

Functional site comparison of prohibitin with other immunity proteins of Aedes aegypti. (DOC)

Freshwater fish fauna of the Krishna River at Wai, and the Dhom reservoir upstream of Wai, was studied. Fifty one species belonging to 14 families and 33 genera were recorded; 13 endemic to the Western Ghats and two to the Krishna River system. Moderate to rare populations were found for six globally threatened species: Gonoproktopterus curmuca, La...

The freshwater fish fauna of the Indrayani River, a northern tributary of the Krishna River system in the Western Ghats of India was studied. A total of 57 species of freshwater fish belonging to 18 families and 39 genera were recorded. However, based on the previous literature it is possible that the Indrayani River harbours around 67 species. Out...

Osteobrama bhimensis (Singh & Yazdani) was described from the Ujani wetland on Bhima River in Maharashtra, India, about 100 km downstream of the type locality of O. vigorsii (Sykes). Based on examination of the type material of O. bhimensis and comparison with O. vigorsii collected from different localities in the Krishna and Godavari River systems...

Glyptothorax poonaensis Hora is an endemic sisorid catfish of the Western Ghats of India known only from its type locality in Mula-Mutha River, a tributary of Bhima River, at Pune. This fish has not been recorded from its type locality for more than 70 years and it was thought to be extinct. Here we report a recently discovered population of G. poo...

We studied the freshwater fish fauna of Koyna River for a period of two years from May 2007 to April 2009. We recorded 58 species belonging to 16 families and 35 genera. Eleven out of the 22 fish species endemic to the Western Ghats are restricted to the Krishna River system. Eight endemic fish species are known to be threatened because of various...

For the design of effective antiviral strategies, understanding the fundamental steps of the virus life cycle, including virus-host interactions, is essential. We performed a virus overlay protein binding assay followed by proteomics for identification of proteins from membrane fractions of A7 (Aedes aegypti) cells, C6/36 (Aedes albopictus) cells a...

Four populations of Culex tritaeniorhynchus (Giles) (Diptera: Culicidae), collected from Bellary, Cuddalore, Pune, and the Microbial Containment Complex laboratory culture in India were analyzed for morphological and allozyme variation. Multivariate analysis based on eight morphological characteristics and three morphometric indices was used to inv...

The biological resources of the Western Ghats are under threat due to deforestation and other anthropogenic activities. As monitoring and mapping the biodiversity is the first step in the systematic conservation planning, our study takes the initial step of documenting avifaunal diversity and distribution along the seasonal gradient and across five...

Our study takes the first step of documenting butterfly diversity and distribution along the seasonal gradient and across five landscape elements. We censused butterfly community in Tamhini, northern Western Ghats, across six seasons and five landscape elements using line transect method for two years. A total of 69 butterfly species belonging to 5...

Allethrin is a major mosquito repellent agent. To degrade allethrin present in used mats and the environment, a bacterium capable of utilizing allethrin was isolated. This isolate, an Acidomonas sp., grew in minimal medium with 16 mM: allethrin as sole source of carbon and degraded >70% of it in 72 h, with negligible residual metabolites in the med...