Robin Doley

Tezpur University · Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology

Breast and lung cancers are the leading causes of cancer-related deaths in the world. Although considerable progress has been made in the field of cancer therapy, quest to discover potent, safe and cost-effective alternatives especially from natural sources is being pursued. Snake venom, which is a treasure trove of various peptides and proteins in...

Bungarus fasciatus also referred to as the Banded krait is a snake which possesses venom and belongs to the Elapidae family. It is widely distributed across the Indian subcontinent and South East Asian countries and is responsible for numerous snakebites in the population. B. fasciatus possesses a neurotoxic venom and envenomation by the snake resu...

Scrub typhus is a vector-borne infectious disease caused by Orientia tsutsugamushi and it is reportedly associated with up to 20 % of hospitalized cases of febrile illnesses. The major challenge of vaccine development is the lack of identified antigens that can induce both heterotypic and homotypic immunity including the production of antibodies, c...

Daboxin P, reported earlier from the venom of Daboia russellii, disturbs the blood coagulation cascade by targeting factor X and factor Xa. The present study exhibits that Daboxin P also inhibits platelet aggregation induced by various agonists. The thrombin-induced platelet aggregation was inhibited maximum whereas inhibition of collagen-induced p...

Abstract: Snake envenoming is caused by many biological species, rather than a single infectious agent, each with a multiplicity of toxins in their venom. Hence, developing effective treatments is challenging, especially in biodiverse and biogeographically complex countries such as India. The present study represents the first genus-wide proteomics...

A portable surface plasmon resonance (SPR) measurement prototype integrated with a multiple protein‐patterned SPR biochip is introduced for label‐free and selective detection of Human Immunoglobulin‐G (H‐IgG). The polyclonal anti Human Immunoglobulin‐G antibodies derived from goat, rabbit and mouse were immobilized through polydimethylsiloxane (PDM...

Bungarus fasciatus is one of the medically important elapid snakes of South and South-eastern Asia and is responsible for several snakebite incidents some of which were fatal. In this study, the venom compositional variation of Bungarus fasciatus from three different geographical locations in eastern and north-east India: two adjacent villages of H...

Green pit vipers are the largest group of venomous vipers in tropical and subtropical Asia, which are responsible for most of the bite cases across this region. Among the green pit vipers of the Indian subcontinent, Trimeresurus erythrurus is the most prevalent; however, limited knowledge is available about its venomics. Proteome decomplexation of...

A 35 year old, male patient, bitten by Naja kaouthia with mild pain was admitted in Demow Government Community Health Centre. After 90 min post bite he developed neurotoxic symptoms. As per standard protocol, the patient was treated with 25 vials of antivenom and two doses of glycopyrrolate and neostigmine. Subsequently, he was seemingly devoid of...

Snake venom is a blend of bioactive proteins, polypeptides, and various other substances with toxic and lethal properties that are known to modulate varied physiological and biological systems. During envenomation, venom toxins primarily target the hemostatic and nervous system for effective immobilization or death of the prey. The central (CNS) an...

The paper and pulp industry (PPI) is one of the largest industries that contribute to the growing economy of the world. While wood remains the primary raw material of the PPIs, the demand for paper has also grown alongside the expanding global population, leading to deforestation and ecological imbalance. Wood-based paper production is associated w...

Scrub typhus is a zoonotic bacterial disease caused by Orientia tsutsugamushi and accounts for up to 20% of common febrile illnesses and hospitalizations. The main obstacle to vaccine development is the lack of identification of relevant immunodominant antigens that stimulate broad-spectrum immune responses, including antibody, CD4 + T cells, and C...

Green pit vipers, a name that can refer to several unrelated species, comprise a large group of venomous snakes found across the humid areas of tropical and sub-tropical Asia, and are responsible for most of the bite cases across this region. In India, green pit vipers belonging to several genera are prevalent in the northern and north-eastern hill...

This work reports an investigation of the discharge characteristics of atmospheric dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma in terms of I-V curves and Lissajous figures and their effect on the surface functionalities of electrospun silk/PVA nanofibers. The results show that the filamentary discharge is predominant at lower electrode gap (3 mm) and...

All approved coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines in current use are safe, effective, and reduce the risk of severe illness. Although data on the immunological presentation of patients with COVID-19 is limited, increasing experimental evidence supports the significant contribution of B and T cells towards the resolution of severe acute resp...

Inefficacy and associated risks of current antivenom has raised the need for alternative approaches of snakebite management. Aptamers are one such alternative which is being pursued for therapeutic interventions as well as for design of diagnostic kits due to its high specificity. Present study focussed on designing and validating nucleic acid apta...

Curcumin was modified with 2-hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin (HPβCD) to enhance its bioavailability. The modified curcumin was loaded into gelatin-carrageenan microparticles to control the drug release behavior. The different analytical techniques like Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Raman spectroscopy (RS), X-ray diffractometry (XRD),...

Exobasidium vexans, a basidiomycete pathogen, is the causal organism of blister blight disease in tea. The molecular identification of the pathogen remains a challenge due to the limited availability of genomic data in sequence repositories and cryptic speciation within its genus Exobasidium. In this study, the nuclear internal transcribed spacer r...

Medicinal plants have always been used for snakebite treatment by traditional healers but they lack scientific evidence of action. However secondary metabolites of such plants have been explored and found to inhibit the toxic effect of venom proteins. Literature survey from 2003 to 2019 resulted in identification of 251 secondary metabolites with s...

Rotavirus is the most common cause of acute gastroenteritis in infants and children worldwide. The functional correlation of B- and T-cells to long-lasting immunity against rotavirus infection in the literature is limited. In this work, a series of computational immuno-informatics approaches were applied and identified 28 linear B-cells, 26 conform...

Researchers around the world are developing more than 145 vaccines (DNA/mRNA/whole-virus/viral-vector/protein-based/repurposed vaccine) against the SARS-CoV-2 and 21 vaccines are in human trials. However, a limited information is available about which SARS-CoV-2 proteins are recognized by human B- and T-cell immune responses. Using a comprehensive...

Cysteine-Rich Secretory Proteins (CRISP) are widespread in snake venoms and known to target ion channels. More recently, CRISPs have been shown to mediate inflammatory responses. Involvement of potential receptor in CRISP-induced inflammatory reactions, however, remains unknown. A CRISP protein named as Nk-CRISP, was isolated from the venom of Naja...

Background: To investigate the potential of Catharanthus roseus leaf aqueous crude extract (CRACE) as a regulator of adipocyte development and function. Methods: 3T3-L1 adipogenesis model was used to investigate the effect of CRACE on adipogenesis. 3T3-L1 preadipocytes (for adipogenic differentiation) and mature 3T3-L1 adipocytes (for adipocyte...

Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensors present a challenge when high sensitivity and small FWHM (full width at half maximum) are required to be achieved simultaneously. FWHM is defined by the difference between the two extreme values of the independent variable at which the value of the dependent variable is equal to half of its maximum. A smaller...

In the present study, venom composition, toxic effects, and immunological characteristics of Naja kaouthia venom from North East India has been studied. Using RP-HPLC, venom components were separated and proteins in the fractions were identified using ESI-LC MS/MS. Proteins identified belong to 9 different snake venom protein families. Three finger...

Naja kaouthia is one of the most prevalent medically important snakes of North East India and Bangladesh responsible for most of the bite cases. In this study, an attempt was made to decipher venom variation of Naja kaouthia venom from North East India and Bangladesh. Using multidimensional methods including reverse phase HPLC, sodium dodecyl sulfa...

Trancriptomic analysis of the venom gland cDNA library of Bungarus flaviceps revealed Kunitz‐type serine protease inhibitor as one of the major venom protein families with three groups A, B, C. One of the group B isoforms named Flavikunin, which lacked an extra cysteine residue involved in disulfide bond formation in β‐bungarotoxin, was synthesized...

We sampled snakes of the genus Xenochrophis from across Northeast India. The snakes were evaluated for both morphological and molecular parameters. Phylogenetic relationship was reconstructed using mitochondrial genes (Cytb, 12s rRNA, ND4). The genus Xenochrophis was found to be paraphyletic, X. piscator complex and X. punctulatus form a single cla...

The development of a portable and inexpensive surface plasmon resonance (SPR) measurement device with the integrated biosensor for the detection of snake venom protein is presented in this paper. For the construction of the sensing element, amine coupling chemistry is used to bio-functionalize silver coated glass slide with antibodies like immunogl...

Synthetic dyes from industrial effluents pose significant threats on aquatic and human lives due to its toxic nature. We report removal of synthetic dye Methylene blue (MB) by vermicomposting using earthworm species, Eisenia fetida. The dye adsorbed in sugarcane bagasse (SB) was used as the substrate for vermicomposting. Physico-chemical characteri...

The aim of this study was to investigate probiotic attributes of Saccharomyces cerevisiae ARDMC1 isolated from traditional rice beer starter cake and its hypocholesterolemic effects on Wistar rats fed a high-cholesterol diet. The indigenous isolate ARDMC1 showed potential probiotic characteristics such as tolerance to simulated gastrointestinal str...

Saliva of hematophagous animals, such as ticks, is an excellent source of anticoagulant proteins and polypeptides. Here we describe the identification and characterization of two thrombin inhibitors named as haemathrin 1 and 2 from the salivary gland of tick Haemaphysalis bispinosa using genomic approach. Haemathrins are cysteine-less peptide antic...

The plant root extract mediated green synthesis method produces monodispersed spherical shape silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) with a size range of 15–30 nm as analyzed by atomic force and transmission electron microscopy. The material showed potent antibacterial and antifungal properties. Synthesized AgNPs display a characteristic surface plasmon reso...

In the present study a major protein has been purified from the venom of Indian Daboia russelii russelii using gel filtration, ion exchange and Rp-HPLC techniques. The purified protein, named daboxin P accounts for ~24% of the total protein of the crude venom and has a molecular mass of 13.597 kDa. It exhibits strong anticoagulant and phospholipase...

Table A. Peptide fragments of daboxin P obtained from tandem mass spectrometry. MH+ stands for mass/charge (m/z) of the peptide (protonated molecular ions), Z represents the number of charges a peptide carries after ionization, Score implies the sum of all peptide cross correlation (Xcorr) values. Figure A. The Phylogenetic relationship of daboxin...

Reduction of myelin in peripheral nerve causes critical demyelinating diseases such as chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy, Guillain-Barre syndrome, etc. Clinical monitoring of these diseases requires rapid and non-invasive quantification of demyelination. Here we have developed formulation of nerve conduction velocity (NCV) in terms...

Snake venom three finger toxins (3FTxs) are a non-enzymatic family of venom proteins abundantly found in elapids. We have purified a 7579.5 ± 0.591 Da 3FTx named as Nk-3FTx from the venom of Naja kaouthia of North East India origin. The primary structure was determined by a combination of N-terminal sequencing and electrospray ionization liquid chr...

Adsorption is an efficient way to remove synthetic dyes from industrial effluent. Here, we show mechanism of adsorptive removal of cationic dye methylene blue (MB) from its aqueous solution using dried biomass of Rhizopus oryzae as a biosorbent. The optimum pH and temperature for adsorption was found to be 7.0 and 28 °C, respectively. Scanning elec...

Abstract Snake venoms are cocktails of protein toxins that play important roles in capture and digestion of prey. Significant qualitative and quantitative variation in snake venom composition has been observed among and within species. Understanding these variations in protein components is instrumental in interpreting clinical symptoms during huma...

The present work highlights transmission electron microscopy (TEM) imaging study of the faceted Ag nanoparticle-led bactericidal activity in gram negative Escherichia coli. The faceted nanostructures were derived from a low temperature reaction precursor with silver nitrate (AgNO3) and tri-sodium citrate (Na3C6H5O7) as the main reactants and sodium...

Indian Russell's viper venoms of four different geographical locations were found to vary in composition, coagulopathy and phospholipase A 2 (PLA 2) activity. Venom from Kerala showed highest procoagulant activity followed by Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Karnataka whereas PLA 2 activity was highest in venom from West Bengal. The commercial polyvalen...

This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0) License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0) Abstract: In this study we documented the medicinal plants traditionally used for the treatment of snakebite patients in Morigaon district of...

This study describes biochemical and biological properties of Naja kaouthia (Indian monocled cobra) venom of North-East India. The LD50 of the crude venom was found to be 0.148mg/kg and neurotoxicitic symptoms like paralysis of lower limbs and heavy difficulty in breathing at sub-lethal dose in mice was observed. The venom exhibited PLA2, indirect...

To investigate and identify the ticks prevalent in the North East part of India, scanning electron microscope (SEM) and DNA sequence of nuclear second internal transcribed spacer (ITS2) and mitochondrial 16S ribosomal DNA (rDNA) were used. Based on the morphological and molecular analysis, the ticks infesting cattle of North East India were found t...

The phenomenon of temperature effects on plasmid conformation has been well elucidated. However, the impact of change in plasmid conformation caused by temperature shift (during the heat shock mode) on transformation outcomes has not been reported till now. Here, we analyse transformation efficacy at 37°C of plasmid pBSKS ligated at three different...

Snake venoms are recognized here as a grossly under-explored resource in pharmacological prospecting. Discoveries in snake systematics demonstrate that former taxonomic bias in research has led to the neglect of thousands of species of potential medical use. Recent discoveries reveal an unexpectedly vast degree of variation in venom composition amo...

Snake venoms are complex mixtures of pharmacologically active peptides and proteins. These protein toxins belong to a small number of superfamilies of proteins. Three-finger toxins belong to a superfamily of non-enzymatic proteins found in all families of snakes. They have a common structure of three beta-stranded loops extending from a central cor...

% of venom proteins families observed in venom gland transcriptome. Comparison of different toxin families observed in transcriptome of elapid and viperid venom gland.

Premature truncated kunitz type SPI from B. flaviceps. Comparison of protein and nucleotide of truncated kunitz type SPI from B. flaviceps with EU246693 from Ophiophagus hannah. Exons are highlighted with different colors, Exon I is highlighted with red color, Exon II with Blue and Exon III is in grey color. 87 Nucleotides are deleted from the exon...

Comparison of BF95 from B. flaviceps with Laticauda semifasciata PLA2(AB062439). Exons are highlighted with different colors, Exon I is highlighted in green color; Exon II in magenta; Exon III in dark blue and Exon IV in grey. In BF95, part of the exon II (99 bp) is missing as shown in the figure with dashes.

CRISPs and C-type lectins. A) Transcripts encoding CRISPs (BF53), found in this venom gland cDNA library. B) C-type lectins (BF53) found in this venom gland cDNA library. One of the C-type lectin found in this venom gland cDNA library was truncated in the 5' end (BF764). The amino acid residues of C-type lectin involved in binding to the Ca2+ are h...

Three-finger toxins from Naja species showing point mutations. The segments undergoing exchanges are given different color coding. The residues showing point mutations are shown in white and red type whereas those that are conserved are in black. The gaps are represented by "-". This demonstrates accelerated point mutations occur in various segment...

ASSET in 3FTxs of B. flaviceps. Alignment of 3FTx of B. flaviceps showing Accelerated Segment Switch in Exon to alter Targeting (ASSET). The segments which are similar are shown in same color where as segments which are dissimilar are shown in different color. The clone name and the number of clones are also shown in the figure.

Phylogenetic relationship of B chain and Kunitz SPI of different Bungarus species. Kunitz type SPI and B chain of β-bungarotoxin of Bungarus sp was obtained from the database and phylogenetic tree was constructed to understand the relationship between kunitz SPI and B chain of β-bungarotoxin.

The Red-headed krait (Bungarus flaviceps, Squamata: Serpentes: Elapidae) is a medically important venomous snake that inhabits South-East Asia. Although the venoms of most species of the snake genus Bungarus have been well characterized, a detailed compositional analysis of B. flaviceps is currently lacking. Here, we have sequenced 845 expressed se...

Cerberus rynchops (dog-faced water snake) belongs to Homalopsidae of Colubroidea (rear-fanged snakes). So far, venom compositions of snakes of the Homalopsidae family are not known. To determine the venom composition of C. rynchops, we have used both transcriptomics and proteomics approaches. The venom gland transcriptome revealed 104 ESTs and the...

Venom production facilities keep established colonies of captive snakes to obtain venom for research and antiserum production. Due to strict regulations of importation, some of these colonies are formed with only a small number of initial animals and consist of closely related individuals (sometimes siblings). To understand the effect of long-term...

Snake venom contains mixture of bioactive proteins and polypeptides. Most of these proteins and polypeptides exist as monomers, but some of them form complexes in the venom. These complexes exhibit much higher levels of pharmacological activity compared to individual components and play an important role in pathophysiological effects during envenom...

Snake venom toxins evolve more rapidly than other proteins through accelerated changes in the protein coding regions. Previously we have shown that accelerated segment switch in exons to alter targeting (ASSET) might play an important role in its functional evolution of viperid three-finger toxins. In this phenomenon, short sequences in exons are r...

Segment S2 (Figure 1) of three-finger toxins Q8UUK0 and P01443. Figure shows deletion and addition of nucleotides (red color) in the segment.