Research Groups
Synthetic Biology and Biofuel
Research Interests and Description
Staff Research Scientist: Shashi Kumar Rhode, PhD
Group Leader: Syed Shams Yazdani
Research Interests
Metabolic engineering of isoprenoid pathways. Algal bio-diesel. Genes stacking and site-specific recombination. Nuclear/chloroplast genome engineering. Transcription factors engineering, organelle genome sequencing. DNA barcodes.
Description of Research
The current focus is to produce antimalarial drug artemisinins and develop algal biofuel technology. The combination of therapies containing artemisinin derivatives (ACTs) have proven safe and effective for treatment of malaria, and have been recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Malaria Community as a necessary option for the treatment of malaria. Unfortunately, at present, ACT therapies are expensive and not available to malaria endemic countries due to shortage of artemisinin (only a small quantity of the drug is produced after intensive labor involved in the extraction process from the Artemisia annua herb). Alternatively, with the exploration of recent advances in chloroplast biotechnology, we are interested in producing artemisinin using the plastid engineering of BY-2 cells to provide a consistent, reliable and low-cost, supplementary source of a high quality drug for ACTs therapies and efficient antimalarial treatment in the most impoverished areas of India.
We are interested in producing third generation transportation fuel from genetically modified microalgae that can efficiently convert solar energy into chemical energy. The traditional biofuels are driving up food prices and compounding environmental issues, therefore, photosynthetic green algae-based biofuel holds great potential to sustain future energy demand. We are interested in genetically modifying the natural metabolism of photosynthetic green algae (Chlorella sp., an axenic culture isolated from the Indian Ocean) for algal biofuel production by overexpressing enzymes involved in lipid biosynthesis pathway and inhibiting the CO2 competing pathway. Huge innovative efforts in research and development are needed to achieve these goals and successfully implement the biofuel production technology at the commercial level. We are working as a team invloving Shams Yazdani and Raj Bhatnagar from ICGEB and Prof. Arvind Lali and his Group from ICT Mumbai to accomplish these goals.
Recent Publications
Kumar, S., Baidoo, E., Hahn, F.M., Kahlon, T., Wood, D., McMahan, M.C., Cornish, K., Keasling, J., Daniell, H., Whalen, M.C. 2011. Remodeling the isoprenoid pathway in tobacco by expressing the cytoplasmic mevalonate pathway in chloroplasts. Metab Eng In press
Singh, D., Singh, P.K., Sirohi, P., Kumar, S. 2011. Exome sequencing and advances in crop improvements. Genome Biol In press
Kumar S., Kahlon, T., Chaudhary, S. 2011. DNA barcodes for unmasking the adulteration in olive oil. Food Chem 127, 1335–1341
Kumar, S., McMahan, M.C., Cornish, K., Whalen, M.C. 2009. Comparative analysis of the complete sequence of the plastid genome of Parthenium argentatum and identification of DNA barcodes to differentiate Parthenium species and lines. BMC Plant Biol 9, 131 PubMed link
Kumar, S., Chaudhary, S., Whalen, M. 2008. DNA Barcoding for Genetic Identification of Plant Genera. In: Chauhan, A.K., Varma, A, and Verma, N. (eds.) Microbes for Human life, Molecular Biotechnology, I.K. Int Publishing House Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi, India pp. 305-318
Daniell, H., Kumar, S., Dufourmantel, N. 2005. Breakthrough in chloroplast genetic engineering of agronomically important crops. Trends Biotechnol 23, 238-245 PubMed link
