Department of Biological Sciences

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Author: search.filters.author.Garg, Shilpi

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    A review of mine tailing treated with microbial induced calcium carbonate precipitation
    (Springer, 2025-03) Mittal, Ravi Kant; Garg, Shilpi
    Ore beneficiation results in the production of finely ground tailings after the extraction of minerals. In recent decades, the production of mine tailings has expanded due to the growing demand for minerals. The tailings comprise heavy metals, hazardous compounds, and chemicals introduced during the process of mineral extraction, which have the potential to contaminate the environment and pose risks to human health. The mechanical stability of tailings bulk is compromised by its small particle size and high water content. Hence, the management and containment of tailings are crucial aspects of mining and milling operations. Microbial-induced calcite precipitation (MICP) has the potential to address challenges associated with the clean-up of mining tailings. Microorganisms involved in calcium carbonate precipitation can bind, immobilize and sequester contaminants in tailings containment systems, thus preventing their dispersion and serving as an effective strategy for controlling their release. The presence of calcium carbonate minerals in tailings enhances stability and strength characteristics hence mitigating landslides and erosion while improving load-bearing capability. This review specifically examines the fundamental aspects of tailings and the process of treating mining tailings drying through microbial-induced calcium carbonate precipitation.
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    Deciphering the molecular targets of Plasmodium and Anopheline interactions for malaria control
    (Wiley, 2025-09) Garg, Shilpi
    Malaria is a severe disease that is transmitted by female Anopheles mosquitoes and caused by the Plasmodium parasite. Despite a decrease in mortality rate, it continues to pose significant challenges such as resistance to antimalarial drugs and insecticides, which necessitates the need for novel malaria control and elimination strategies. To identify new molecular targets for malaria control, there is a need to understand the molecular interaction between mosquitoes and parasites. Plasmodium ookinetes interact with the mosquito midgut proteins during midgut invasion and sporozoites interact with the mosquito salivary gland (SG) proteins. These interactions are crucial for the parasite's invasion of the mosquito midgut and SG, respectively. This review explores the involvement of various Plasmodium genes in male and female gametogenesis and parasite transmission, their interaction with the mosquito genes that facilitate parasite invasion, and how the mosquito immune system defends itself from the invading parasite. Understanding the biology underlying the interaction between mosquitoes and parasites may lead to a better comprehension of the disease and could help design efficient vector control strategies.
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    Plasmodium iron-sulfur [fe-s] Cluster assembly protein dre2 as a plausible target of artemisinin: mechanistic insights derived in a prokaryotic heterologous system
    (Elsevier, 2023-06) Saxena, Vishal; Garg, Shilpi
    Iron-sulfur (Fe-S) cluster containing proteins have been assigned roles in various essential cellular processes, such as regulation of gene expression, electron transfer, sensing of oxygen and balancing free radical chemistry. However, their role as the drug target remains sparse. Recently the screening of protein alkylation targets for artemisinin in Plasmodium falciparum led to identification of Dre2, a protein involved in redox mechanism for the cytoplasmic Fe-S cluster assembly in different organisms. In the present study, to further explore the interaction between artemisinin and Dre2, we have expressed the Dre2 protein of both P. falciparum and P. vivax in E. coli. The opaque brown colour of the IPTG induced recombinant Plasmodium Dre2 bacterial pellet, suggested iron accumulation as confirmed by the ICP-OES analysis. In addition, overexpression of rPvDre2 in E. coli reduced its viability, growth and increased the ROS levels of bacterial cells, which in turn led to an increase in expression of stress response genes of E. coli such as recA, soxS, mazF. Moreover, the overexpression of rDre2 induced cell death could be rescued by treatment with Artemisinin derivatives suggesting their interaction. The interaction between DHA and PfDre2 was later demonstrated by CETSA and microscale thermophoresis. Overall, this study suggests that Dre2 is the probable target of Artemisinin and the antimalarial activity of DHA/Artemether could also be due to yet unidentified molecular mechanism altering the Dre2 activity in addition to inducing DNA and protein damage.
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    Midgut immune profiling and functional characterization of Aedes aegypti ABC transporter gene(s) using systemic and local bacterial challenges
    (Springer, 2025-01) Garg, Shilpi; Saxena, Vishal
    The mosquito midgut is crucial for digestion and immune interactions. It produces several immune factors that protect the organ from invading pathogens and can limit their propagation. Studies on mosquito midgut transcriptome following pathogen exposure have revealed the presence of non-canonical immune genes, such as ABC transporters, whose function in insect immunity remains unexplored. Therefore, this study focuses on identifying and characterising the immune role of ABC transporters in the midgut of Aedes aegypti, a primary arboviral vector.
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    Plasmodium Iron-Sulfur [Fe-S] cluster assembly protein Dre2 as a plausible target of Artemisinin: Mechanistic insights derived in a prokaryotic heterologous system
    (Elsevier, 2023-06) Garg, Shilpi; Saxena, Vishal
    Iron-sulfur (Fe-S) cluster containing proteins have been assigned roles in various essential cellular processes, such as regulation of gene expression, electron transfer, sensing of oxygen and balancing free radical chemistry. However, their role as the drug target remains sparse. Recently the screening of protein alkylation targets for artemisinin in Plasmodium falciparum led to identification of Dre2, a protein involved in redox mechanism for the cytoplasmic Fe-S cluster assembly in different organisms. In the present study, to further explore the interaction between artemisinin and Dre2, we have expressed the Dre2 protein of both P. falciparum and P. vivax in E. coli. The opaque brown colour of the IPTG induced recombinant Plasmodium Dre2 bacterial pellet, suggested iron accumulation as confirmed by the ICP-OES analysis. In addition, overexpression of rPvDre2 in E. coli reduced its viability, growth and increased the ROS levels of bacterial cells, which in turn led to an increase in expression of stress response genes of E. coli such as recA, soxS, mazF. Moreover, the overexpression of rDre2 induced cell death could be rescued by treatment with Artemisinin derivatives suggesting their interaction. The interaction between DHA and PfDre2 was later demonstrated by CETSA and microscale thermophoresis. Overall, this study suggests that Dre2 is the probable target of Artemisinin and the antimalarial activity of DHA/Artemether could also be due to yet unidentified molecular mechanism altering the Dre2 activity in addition to inducing DNA and protein damage.
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    Dataset of natural antisense transcripts in P. vivax clinical isolates derived using custom designed strand-specific microarray
    (Elsiever, 2014-12) Garg, Shilpi; Saxena, Vishal; Das, Ashis
    Natural antisense transcripts (NATs) have been detected in many organisms and shown to regulate gene expression. Similarly, NATs have also been observed in malaria parasites with most studies focused on Plasmodium falciparum. There were no reports on the presence of NATs in Plasmodium vivax, which has also been shown to cause severe malaria like P. falciparum, until a recent study published by us. To identify in vivo prevalence of antisense transcripts in P. vivax clinical isolates, we performed whole genome expression profiling using a custom designed strand-specific microarray that contains probes for both sense and antisense strands. Here we describe the experimental methods and analysis of the microarray data available in Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) under GSE45165. Our data provides a resource for exploring the presence of antisense transcripts in P. vivax isolated from patients showing varying clinical symptoms. Related information about the description and interpretation of the data can be found in a recent publication by Boopathi and colleagues in Infection, Genetics and Evolution 2013.
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    Plastids in Plasmodium – Significance In Malaria Treatment
    (LAMBERT Academic Publishing, 2011) Garg, Shilpi
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    World Malaria Day – a Good Time to Remember COVID-19 Isn’t the Only Crisis
    (The Wire, 2020) Garg, Shilpi
    An Anopheles stephensi mosquito obtains a blood meal from a human host through its pointed proboscis in this undated handout photo obtained by Reuters, November 2015. Photo: Reuters/Jim Gathany/CDC
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    Piercing Power Is More Than the Human Power
    (IJCRT, 2020) Garg, Shilpi