2. Highlights:
Structural and dynamics investigations have been carried out on functionally
important folded and intrinsically disordered protein systems. Metabolomic
studies have been carried out to understand the accumulation and mobilization
of starch and lipid in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. Site-specific fluorescence
dynamics in a RNA ‘thermometer’ studied to reveal the role of ribosome binding
in its temperature-sensitive switch function.
3. Text
Structural and dynamics investigations on functionally important folded and
intrinsically disordered protein systems: Recently many proteins have been
identified to function without having a definite structure and they have been
classified as intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs). We have identified a βγcrystallin domain in the genome of a marine bacterium called Hahella chejuensis
on the basis of known sequence signatures. This protein, called Hahellin, was
characterized by NMR spectroscopy as an IDP, which upon Ca2+-binding was
shown to undergo a large conformational transformation and acquires a typical
βγ-crystallin fold. We have earlier characterized this IDP by a combined use of
NMR and Replica Exchange Molecular Dynamics simulation and found it to be
in a highly dynamic, inter-converting population having molten globular state
with the C-terminal Greek key motif relatively more flexible as compared to its
N-terminal counter-part. As a sequel, we attempted to monitor the holo form of
Hahellin by Replica Exchange Molecular Dynamics simulation and found it to be
ordered and stable as characterized earlier by NMR.
Accumulation and mobilization of starch and lipid in Chlamydomonas
reinhardtii: We had shown earlier that C. reinhardtii cells assimilate labeled
acetate efficiently and lead to the production of TAG via the inorganic carbon
pathway involving CO2aq and bicarbonate production which requires metabolic
functioning of both chloroplast and mitochondria compartments of the cell. As a
sequel, in we demonstrated that during nitrogen starvation, acetate flux leads to
starch production that was independent of light, but TAG accumulation was
critically light dependent. We further went on to show that following nitrogen
replenishment the cellular carbon reserves, namely starch and TAG, get
mobilized efficiently under exogenous carbon deplete conditions. Exogenously
added acetate slows down the mobilization of internal carbon reserve
significantly. Counter intuitively, we observed that labeled TAG, but not starch,
was efficiently mobilized to CO2aq and bicarbonate in the cells during nitrogen
replenishment. This is perhaps one of the first studies on both the formation and
mobilization of carbon reserves in C. reinhardtii as a function of nitrogen status in
the cells.
NMR and fluorescence dynamics in a RNA ‘thermometer’: NMR and sitespecific fluorescence dynamics were used as an effective tools in unraveling
molecular mechanisms of RNA structures and dynamics. The study strongly
underscores the need to investigate RNA switches (thermometers/riboswitches
etc) in their native interaction milieu rather than as free RNA molecules.
4. Figure / Photograph Captions (Please indicate position of the figure in
Text)
5. Staff List
Ph.D. Students:
 Ms. Susmitha (2008...) JRF/SRF of ICMR working for her Ph.D (BHU,
Varanasi). She is presently involved in a project entitled, "Studies on
dimerization of a calcium binding protein crystallin from Methanosarcina
acetivorans, an archaea; Rational splicing of two monomers of the protein to
form a dimer".
 Mr. Himanshu Singh (2011...) A graduate student from Department of
Chemical Sciences working for his Ph.D. He is presently involved in a project
entitled, "Structural Characterization of S55A Mutant of UVI31+ from
'Chlamydomonas reinhardtii' and also studying NMR in Plant metabolism.
 Ms. Deepshika Agarwal (2012...) A graduate student from Department of
Chemical Sciences working for her Ph.D. She is presently involved in a
project entitled, “Post-Translational Modification in Proteins: In-Vivo and InVitro Studies”.
Post-doctoral Fellows:


Dr. Sunita Patel is involved in MD simulations of intrinsically disordered
proteins.
Dr. Manish Shukla is involved in studying in-cell metabolic changes of C.
reinhardtii during mixotrophic and heterotrophic conditions.
6. National and International Involvement (Professional and Academic)
Memberships of editorial, academic and national committees, Office
bearership of professional societies, etc.

Elected member, International Advisory Board of the International
Conference on Magnetic Resonance in Biological Systems to be held in
Kyoto, August 21-26, 2016 (2014-2016).
 Elected Chairperson, International Council on Magnetic Resonance in
Biological Systems (ICMRBS), (2012-2014).
 Member, Expert Committee for review of the Department of Biotechnology,
IIT Roorkee (2014-).
 Ex-officio, Executive Council, Indian Biophysical Society (2013-2015).
 Elected President, Indian Biophysical Society, (2011-2013).
 Member, IUPAB National Committee of INSA (2012-16).
 Advisor, Royal Society of Chemistry, West India Section (2012-present).
 Council Member, International Council on Magnetic Resonance in
Biological Systems (ICMRBS), 2005-2014.
 General Secretary, Executive Committee, ICMRBS, (2010-2012).
 Member, Project Management Committee of the 600 MHz NMR Facility,
Indian Institute of Chemical Biology, Kolkata (2006-present).
 Member and Secretary of the International Union for Pure and Applied
Biophysics (IUPAB), “Task Force on NMR of Biological Systems” (1998present).
 Executive Council Member, Elected Hon. Chairman, Royal Society of
Chemistry, West India Section, (2010-2012).
 Member, Editorial Advisory Board, of the Journal Current Bioinformatics,
launched by Bentham Science Publishers, The Netherlands and U.S.A.
(2005-present); Member, Editorial Board, of “The Open Magnetic Resonance
Journal”, launched by Bentham Science Publishers, The Netherlands and
U.S.A., (2007- Present).
 Member, Project Management Committee of the 600 MHz NMR Facility,
Indian Institute of Chemical Biology, Kolkata (2006-present).
 Fellow of Royal Society in Chemistry (FRSC) (2004-present).
 Convenor, Indian Science Congress Association, Mumbai Chapter, Mumbai
(2010-Present).
 Member, J.N. Tata Endowment Selection Committee, Mumbai (2005Present)
 Member, Management Advisory Committee for the “National Facility for
High Field NMR”, TIFR.
 Member, National Magnetic Resonance Society, India.
 Member, Chemical Research Society of India (CRSI), India
 Member, Indian Chemical Society, India
7. Visits
8. Awards and Distinctions

Elected as a Fellow of The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) for
the advancement of science in developing countries.

Elected member, International Advisory Board of the International
Conference on Magnetic Resonance in Biological Systems to be held in
Kyoto, August 21-26, 2016 (2014-2016).

Elected as Treasurer and Steering Committee Member, Asian Biophysics
Association.
9. Invited Talks in Conferences and Meetings (Speaker, Title,
Occasion, Place, Date)
10. Conference Organised by the School / Deptt. / Group (Title, Place,
Date, Short Description)
11. Non DAE Research Projects (Investigators, Title, Funding Agency,
Duration)
12. Publications (only those published during the period of report)
a) In Journals [Authors, Title, Journal, Volume No., Page, Year]

Lallan Mishra, Ruchi Gaur, A L Susmitha and K V R Chary, Water soluble CalciumSodium based coordination polymer: SelectiveRelease of Calcium at Specific Binding
Sites on Protein, RSC Adv., 2014 (in press).

Sunita Patel, Atul Srivastava, Venkatraman Ramanujam and Kandala V R Chary,
Conformational Propensities and Dynamics of a βγ-crystallin, an Intrinsically Disordered
Protein, PCCP, 2014, 1-36.

Himanshu Singh, Deepshika Varma, Basuthkar J Rao, Kandala V R Chary, 1H, 13C and
15N NMR assignments of Mg2+ bound form of UV inducible transcript protein (UVI31+)
from Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. Biomol NMR Assignments, 2014,8(1), 71-4.