Anil Grover

                             Professor

 E-mail:  anil.anilgrover@gmail.com;  grover_anil@hotmail.com

 

Specialization: Physiology, Biochemistry, Molecular biology, Biotechnology and Genomics of Plant Abiotic Stress Responses

 

Research Interests

Our work aims at understanding responses shown by rice plants towards abiotic stresses (such as salt stress, water stress, high temperature stress, low temperature stress and flooding stress), with an eventual aim of genetically improving rice against these different stresses using transgenic approach. We are currently working on (i) identification of novel genes responsive to salt stress, high temperature stress and flooding stress, through protein analysis and screening of gene libraries in rice, (ii) construction of vectors for rice transformation using different regulatory sequences and (iii) raising of transgenic rice plants for increased abiotic stress tolerance through Agrobacterium tumefasciens based approach. We have constructed several binary vectors with different promoters and selection markers for their possible use in gene delivery in rice and other crops.

Our group has contributed a great deal in characterizing plant Hsp100 protein. We showed that (a) Hsp 100 is a major stress protein in rice and other plants, (b) rice Hsp100 has immunological kinship to yeast Hsp104, (c) Hsp100 expression is developmentally-controlled, (d) nucleotide sequence of rice hsp100 gene is significantly homologous to hsp100 genes from other plant species, (e) transgenic rice over-expressing hsp100 gene possesses higher level thermotolerance and    (f) nucleotide sequence of rice hsp100 gene promoter has distinct elements governing its thermo-inducibility. We successfully purified rice Hsp90 protein and raised polyclonal antibodies against it. Immunological evidence has been presented to show that rice Hsp90 proteins are synthesized in response to several stress conditions, in diverse plant species. Our group has made transgenic plants that over-express Hsp18 protein.

Using the novel approach of subtractive hybridization of cDNA libraries, our group has isolated 1266 and 1006 clones that are related with response of rice cells to salt stress and flooding stress conditions, respectively. With a viewpoint of improving submergence tolerance in rice, we have introduced pyruvate decarboxylase gene in indica rice cells.  We have also made transgenic rice that over-expresses alcohol dehydrogenase protein.

Our group has wealth of expertise in analysis of stress proteins. Using 1- and 2-dimensional protein gel electrophoresis, we have identified large number of high and low molecular weight proteins which are up- or down-accumulated in rice when seedlings are subjected to salinity, air drying, high and low temperatures and flooding stress conditions.

 

Awards/distinction

*       Fellow, National Academy of Science, India

*       Fellow, National Academy of Agricultural Science, India

*       Member, Guha Research Conference (GRC), India

*       National Bioscience award, Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Government of India

*       B.M. Birla Science Prize in Biology, India

*       Professor Hiralal Chakravarthy award, Indian Science Congress Association

*       Young Scientist Medal, Indian National Science Academy, New Delhi, India

*       National Scholarship award from U.G.C., New Delhi

 

Select Publications

1.        Agarwal S and A Grover. 2005. Isolation and transcription profiling of low O2 stress associated cDNA clones from flooding stress tolerant FR13A rice genotype. Annals of Botany (in press).

2.      Gepstein S, A Grover and E Blumwald. 2005. Producing biopharmaceuticals in the desert: building an abiotic stress tolerance in plants for salt, heat and drought. In Modern Biopharmaceuticals. Edited by J. Knablein and R H Muller, Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co., Weinhaum (in press).

3.       Katiyar-Agarwal S, M Agarwal and A Grover. 2003. Heat tolerant basmati rice engineered by overexpression of hsp101 gene. Plant Molecular Biology 51: 677-686.

4.       Agarwal M, C Sahi, S Katiyar-Agarwal, S Agarwal, T Young, DR Gallie, VM Sharma, K Ganesan and A Grover. 2003. Rice Hsp100 protein complements yeast hsp104 mutation by promoting disaggregation of protein granules and shows differential expression in indica and japonica rice types Plant Molecular Biology 51: 543-553.

5.       Sahi C, M Agarwal, MK Reddy, SK Sopory and A Grover. 2003. Isolation and expression analysis of salt stress associated expressed sequence tags from contrasting rice cultivars using PCR-based subtraction method. Theoretical and Applied Genetics 106: 620-628.

6.       Agarwal M, S Katiyar-Agarwal, C Sahi, DR Gallie and A Grover. 2001. Arabidopsis thaliana Hsp100 protein: kith and kin. Cell Stress and Chaperones 6: 219-224.

7.       Katiyar-Agarwal S, M Agarwal, D Gallie and A Grover. 2001. Search for the cellular functions of plant Hsp100/ Clp family proteins. Critical Reviews in Plant Sciences 20: 277-295.

8.       Singla SL, A Pareek and A Grover. 1998. Distribution patterns of the 104 kDa stress-associated protein of rice reveal its constitutive accumulation in seeds and disappearance from the just-emerged seedlings. Plant Molecular Biology 37: 911-919.

9.       Pareek A, SL Singla and A Grover. 1995. Immunological evidence for accumulation of two novel 104 and 90 kDa HSPs in response to diverse stresses in rice and in response to high temperature stress in diverse plant genera. Plant Molecular Biology 29: 293-301.

10.    Singla SL and A Grover.  1993. Antibodies raised against a yeast heat shock protein cross-react with a heat and abscisic acid- regulated polypeptide in rice. Plant Molecular Biology 22: 1177-1180.