Palak Chaturvedi

University of Vienna | UniWien · Department of Ecogenomics and Systems Biology

Global food security is a major concern in the ongoing climate-changing scenario; therefore, developing resilient crop cultivars and hybrids is of high priority in this 21st Century to feed an ever-growing population with sufficient and nutritious food. In addition to major crops - rice, wheat, and maize -, it is important to explore orphan/native...

Drought is one of the major constraints limiting chickpea productivity. To unravel complex mechanisms regulating drought response in chickpea, we generated transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics datasets from root tissues of four contrasting drought-responsive chickpea genotypes: ICC 4958, JG 11, and JG 11+ (drought-tolerant), and ICC 1882 (...

Heat stress drastically affects anther tissues resulting in poor plant fertility, necessitating an urgent need to determine the key proteome regulation associated with mature anther in response to heat stress. We identified several genotype - specific protein alterations in rice anthers of Moroberekan (Japonica, heat sensitive), IR64 (Indica, moder...

Chloroplast development is initiated by light-signals triggering the expression of nuclear encoded chloroplast genes in a first phase, followed by massive structural changes in the transition from proplastids to mature chloroplasts in the second phase. While the molecular players involved in the first phase are currently emerging, regulatory compon...

Nitrification and denitrification are soil biological processes responsible for large nitrogen losses from agricultural soils and generation of the greenhouse gas (GHG) N2O. Increased use of nitrogen fertilizer and the resulting decline in nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) are a major concern in agroecosystems. This nitrogen cycle in the rhizosphere is...

Roots secrete a vast array of low molecular weight compounds into the soil broadly referred to as root exudates. It is a key mechanism by which plants and soil microbes interact in the rhizosphere. The effect of drought stress on the exudation process and composition is rarely studied, especially in cereal crops. This study focuses on comparative m...

Legumes are the most important crop plants in agriculture, contributing 27% of the world's primary food production. However, productivity and production of Legumes is reduced due to increasing environmental stress. Hence, there is a pressing need to understand the molecular mechanism involved in stress response and legumes adaptation. Proteomics pr...

Grain filling and proper grain development are essential biological processes in the plant's life cycle, eventually contributing to the final seed yield and quality in all cereal crops. How the different wheat grain components contribute to the overall development of the seed is very scarcely found in the literature. We performed a proteomics and m...

Rooted in place, plants are faced with the challenge of responding to unfavourable conditions on‐site. One such condition, heat stress, contributes massively to crop losses globally. With heatwaves predicted to increase, it is of vital importance to generate crops tolerant to not only one, but several other abiotic stresses (e.g. drought stress, sa...

Drought is one of the main causes of mortality in holm oak (Quercus ilex) seedlings used in reforestation programs. Although this species shows high adaptability to the extreme climate conditions prevailing in Southern Spain, its intrinsic genetic variability may play a role in the differential response of some populations and individuals. The aim...

The geomagnetic field (GMF) has been present since the beginning of plant evolution. Recently, some researchers have focused their efforts on employing magnetic fields (MFs) higher than GMF to improve the seed germination, growth, and harvest of agriculturally important crop plants, as the use of MFs is an inexpensive and environment-friendly techn...

Presently, pearl millet and wheat are belonging to highly important cereal crops. Pearl millet, however, is an under-utilized crop, despite its superior resilience to drought and heat stress in contrast to wheat. To investigate this in more detail, we performed comparative physiological screening and large scale proteomics of drought stress respons...

The adaptive radiation of Bromeliaceae (pineapple family) is one of the most diverse among Neotropical flowering plants. Diversification in this group was facilitated by shifts in several adaptive traits or “key innovations” including the transition from C3 to CAM photosynthesis associated with xeric (heat/drought) adaptation. We used phylogenomic...

Pigeonpea [Cajanus cajan (L.) Millsp.] is a pulse crop cultivated in the semi‐arid regions of Asia and Africa. It is a rich source of protein and capable of alleviating malnutrition, improving soil health and the livelihoods of small‐holder farmers. Hybrid breeding has provided remarkable improvements for pigeonpea productivity, but owing to a tedi...

Temperature elevations constitute a major threat to plant performance. In recent years, much was learned about the general molecular mode of heat stress reaction of plants. The current research focuses on the integration of the knowledge into more global networks, including the reactions of cellular compartments. For instance, chloroplast function...

Genotyping‐by sequencing has enabled approaches for genomic selection to improve yield, stress resistance and nutritional value. More and more resource studies are emerging providing 1000 and more genotypes and millions of SNP´s of one species and covering a hitherto inaccessible intraspecific genetic variation. The larger the databases are growing...

The adaptive radiation of Bromeliaceae (pineapple family) is one of the most diverse among Neotropical flowering plants. Diversification in this group was facilitated by several key innovations including the transition from C3 to CAM photosynthesis. We used a phylogenomic approach complemented by differential gene expression (RNA-seq) and targeted...

Heat stress is a major cause for yield loss in many crops, including vegetable crops. Even short waves of high temperature, becoming more frequent during recent years, can be detrimental. Pollen development is most heat-sensitive, being the main cause for reduced productivity under heat-stress across a wide range of crops. The molecular mechanisms...

Background: Pollen development is central for plant reproduction and is assisted by changes of the transcriptome and proteome. At the same time, pollen development and viability is largely sensitive to stress, particularly to elevated temperatures. The transcriptomic and proteomic changes during pollen development and of different stages in respons...

Nat. Biotechnol. 35, 969–976 (2017); published online 18 September 2017; corrected after print 28 February 2018 In the version of this article initially published, in the HTML, the wrong Creative Commons Attribution license (cc-by-nc rather than cc-by) was inserted. The error has been corrected in the HTML version of the article.

Metabolomics is an essential technology for functional genomics and systems biology. It plays a key role in functional annotation of genes and understanding towards cellular and molecular, biotic and abiotic stress responses. Different analytical techniques are used to extend the coverage of a full metabolome. The commonly used techniques are NMR,...

The multiple extremes resistant bacterium Deinococcus radiodurans is able to withstand harsh conditions of simulated outer space environment. The Tanpopo orbital mission performs a long-term space exposure of D. radiodurans aiming to investigate the possibility of interplanetary transfer of life. The revealing of molecular machinery responsible for...

Raw metabolomic data. (XLSX)

Scanning electron micrographs showing multilayers of dehydrated cells of D. radiodurans deposited on aluminum plates and used in experimental set up of Tanpopo mission. A, control cells of D. radiodurans dried in aluminum plates in accordance to Kawaguchi et al., 2016. B, dried cells of D. radiodurans after exposure to UVC/vacuum conditions. Shown...

Individual and average relative survival rates for four control and irradiated replicates. (XLSX)

Raw proteomic data. (XLSX)

Pearl millet [Cenchrus americanus (L.) Morrone] is a staple food for more than 90 million farmers in arid and semi-arid regions of sub-Saharan Africa, India and South Asia. We report the ~1.79 Gb draft whole genome sequence of reference genotype Tift 23D2B1-P1-P5, which contains an estimated 38,579 genes. We highlight the substantial enrichment for...

This protocol describes a procedure how primary metabolites and proteins can be extracted from Deinococcus radiodurans simultaneously. Polar metabolites are purified and derivatized for GC-MS (TOF) analysis. Proteins are tryptically digested in-gel and peptides are prepared for bottom-up proteomics by LC-MS (orbitrap).

The metabolome of an organism represents the readout of its biochemistry comprising numerous and tightly regulated metabolic pathways. Experimental analysis of the metabolome and its interpretation in a biochemically and physiologically meaningful context is focused by the research field of metabolomics which has become an integral part of many sys...

Sustainable crop production is the major challenge in the current global climate change scenario. Drought stress is one of the most critical abiotic factors which negatively impact crop productivity. In recent years, knowledge about molecular regulation has been generated to understand drought stress responses. For example, information obtained by...

Comparison between drought stress EST markers (Choudhary et al., 2015) and drought stress proteomic markers (Ghatak et al., 2016).

Comparative proteomic analysis between wheat and pearl millet.

Phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylases (PEPCs) isoforms in Pearl Millet (Ghatak et al., 2016).

We established and elaborated on a method to enrich the membrane proteome of mature pollen from economically relevant crop using the example of Solanum lycopersicum (tomato). To isolate the pollen protein fraction enriched in membrane proteins, a high salt concentration (750 mM of sodium chloride) was used. The membrane protein-enriched fraction wa...

Biological significance: Solanaceae is one of the major economically important families of higher plants and has played a central role in human nutrition since the dawn of human civilization. Therefore, researchers have always been interested in understanding the complex behavior of Solanaceae members to identify key players associated with major...

In angiosperms, pollen or pollen grain (male gametophyte) is a highly reduced two- or three-cell structure which plays a decisive role in plant reproduction. Male gametophyte development takes place in anther locules where diploid sporophytic cells undergo meiotic division followed by two consecutive mitotic processes. A desiccatedand metabolically...

Key message: Pollen development and stress. In angiosperms, pollen or pollen grain (male gametophyte) is a highly reduced two- or three-cell structure which plays a decisive role in plant reproduction. Male gametophyte development takes place in anther locules where diploid sporophytic cells undergo meiotic division followed by two consecutive mit...

Theobroma cacao and its popular product, chocolate, are attracting attention due to potential health benefits including anti-oxidative effects by polyphenols, anti-depressant effects by high serotonin levels, inhibition of platelet aggregation and preventing obesity-dependent insulin resistance. The development of cacao seeds during fruit ripening...

Biological significance: Drought stress is the most limiting factor for plant growth and crop production worldwide. At the same time drought susceptible cereal crops are among the largest producers worldwide. In contrast, Pearl millet is a drought and salt tolerant cereal crop especially used in arid and semi-arid regions by small farmers. The mul...

Biological significance: Besides the highly frequent usage in the propagation of economically important plants, callus is the most suitable acceptor material for genetic transformation and extensively used in basic molecular research. However, callus formation and regeneration are still a challenge in lotus, an aquatic plant with high nutritional,...

Recently, we have developed a quantitative shotgun proteomics strategy called MAPA (mass accuracy precursor alignment). The MAPA algorithm uses high mass accuracy to bin mass-tocharge- ratios (m/z) of precursor ions from LC-MS analyses, determine their intensities and to extract a quantitative sample versus m/z-ratio data alignment matrix from a mu...

Recently, we have developed a quantitative shotgun proteomics strategy called MAPA (mass accuracy precursor alignment). The MAPA algorithm uses high mass accuracy to bin mass-to-charge ratios (m/z) of precursor ions from LC-MS analyses, determine their intensities and to extract a quantitative sample versus m/z-ratio data alignment matrix from a mu...

Background The unprecedented role of sncRNAs in the regulation of pollen biogenesis on both transcriptional and epigenetic levels has been experimentally proven. However, little is known about their global regulation, especially under stress conditions. We used tomato pollen in order to identify pollen stage-specific sncRNAs and their target mRNAs...

Environment plays important role in determining the biochemical properties of plants. It also affects metabolite production which leads to change in morpho-physiological properties of plants. Cyathodium tuberosum Kash (Bryophyte) was evaluated for its antioxidant potential, total phenolics, chlorophyll, anthocyanin, carotenoid content, lipid peroxi...

Antioxidant potential, total phenolic and total flavonoid content of Saraca asoca (Roxb.) De.Wilde leaf and bark was determined. Phenolic characterization of the extracts was carried out by Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS). Bark and leaves were suspended in four different solvent systems viz: methanol, ethanol, distilled water and et...

Indian grape wines are analyzed for total phenolic content and antioxidant activity along with other parameters, such as pH, alcohol content, and reducing sugars. Concentration of polyphenols, like tannic acid, catechol, vanillin, caeffic acid, ferullic acid, and resveratrol, was quantified using reverse phase-high performance liquid chromatography...

Objective: In the present study bark and leaves of Mitragynaparvifolia(Roxb.) Korthwere evaluated for total phenolic content, total flavonoid content,antioxidant potential, lipid peroxidation and antiproliferative effect on HeLa cell lines. Methods: Dried bark and leaves were suspended in five different solvent systemsviz; distilled water, methanol...

Chemical composition, antioxidant potential and corresponding lipid preoxidation of Indian commercial beers were evaluated. The presence of polyphenolic compounds such as tannic acid, gallic acid, catechol, vanillin, caffeic acid, quercetin, p-coumaric acid and rutin was quantified using LCMS while the organic acids including tartaric, malic, aceti...

Global warming is a major threat for agriculture and food safety and in many cases the negative effects are already apparent. The current challenge of basic and applied plant science is to decipher the molecular mechanisms of heat stress response and thermotolerance in detail and use this information to identify genotypes that will withstand unfavo...

Tomato is a globally important crop grown and consumed worldwide. Its reproductive activity is highly sensitive to environmental fluctuations, e.g. temperature and drought. Here, pollen development is one of the most decisive processes. The present study aims for the identification of cell-specific proteins during pollen developmental stages of tom...

Woodfordia fruticosa Kurz is a member of family Lythraceae, commonly used in the treatment of diseases like leucorrhoea, dysentery, leprosy and menorrhagia. The plant material such as leaves, bark and flowers were collected from three different (200, 402 and 600 m) altitudes of Khandala (M.S. India) and the extracts were prepared in solvents like m...