1. KAUTIR (Kerala Agricultural University Theses Information and Retrieval)

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    Development of recombinant coat protein for immunodiagnosis of banana bunchy top and bract mosaic diseases
    (Department of Plant Pathology, College of Agriculture, Vellanikkara, 2021) Darsana Dilip, K C; Vimi Louis
    The present investigation was undertaken to develop recombinant coat protein (rCP) of Banana bunchy top virus (BBTV) and Banana bract mosaic virus (BBrMV) for immunodetection of the viruses. The experiments were conducted at the Virology Lab, Banana Research Station, Kannara; Department of Plant Pathology, College of Agriculture, Vellanikkara, Kerala Agricultural University and Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru during the period of 2016-2020. A roving survey in 10 districts of Kerala, divided into population subsets viz., North, Central and Southern zones were conducted for sample collection. After a preliminary DAC-ELISA, 17 and 12 representative samples respectively were selected and carried forward for further evaluations. The CP gene of BBTV was amplified from the total DNA isolated using reported primers by Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) and that of BBrMV by Reverse Transcriptase-PCR (RT-PCR). The CP gene sequences of these isolates were determined and submitted in the NCBI-GenBank Database. The 17 BBTV isolates were designated as MT174314-MT174330 and the 12 BBrMV isolates as MT818176- MT818187. It was inevitable to evaluate the molecular diversity of the viruses prior to devising nucleic- acid based and serological detection methods. The phylogeographic analysis depicted a clear demarcation of BBTV Kerala isolates based on geography whereas no such clustering was observed in the case of BBrMV isolates. Being an RNA virus, the molecular diversity of BBrMV (ranging between 1-12 %) was higher than BBTV. However, the 5’ and 3’ terminal of BBrMV CP gene was hypervariable and found unsuitable to be targeted for nucleic-acid based detection. Hence, forward primer was designed from the NIb region of ssRNA genome of BBrMV and reverse primer from 3’ UTR region upstream and downstream to the CP gene respectively. For nucleic-acid based detection of BBTV, highly conserved non-coding region of DNA-S upstream and downstream to the CP ORF was targeted. The primers were validated by detecting virus from the field samples collected from various parts of the state. The rCPs were chosen as a potential antigen for raising antibodies in order to develop serodiagnostic assays for the early detection of the viruses. The BBTV CP gene was clonedin to three expression vectors viz., pRSET-C, pGEX-4T-2 and pET32a(+) and transformed to expression hosts like BL21 (DE3) pLysS, Rosetta (DE3) pLysS and C41 strains of E. coli after amplification in DH5α. The 20 kDa recombinant BBTV CP (rBBTV CP) cloned in to pRSET-C, and overexpressed in various E. coli hosts had a hexa histidine (6X His) tag at the N terminal. Similarly, a 37 kDa fusion protein (pET/rBBTV CP) was overexpressed from pET/BBTVCP clone had a thioredoxin (Trx) tag (17 kDa) along with the 6X His tag. Whereas, a 45 kDa fusion protein (pGEX/rBBTV CP) with GST tag was overexpressed from pGEX/BBTVCP clone. These affinity tags in the fusion rCP enabled purification from other E. coli proteins. Although pRSET/rBBTV CP was soluble, the 20 kDa protein was highly unstable and partially degraded during purification at 4 °C. Curiously, pGEX/rBBTV CP dissociated from its GST affinity tag and the rCP without the tag degraded. On evaluating the protease cleavage sites in the fusion protein, trypsin cleavage sites were present between the C terminal of GST and N terminal of BBTV CP which might be the reason for cleavage of the ~20 kDa protein from its affinity tag. Thus, it was impossible to purify the protein from the pool of E. coli proteins. Restriction free (RF) cloning of BBTV CP to pGEX-4T-2 was attempted not only to replace these trypsin cleavage sites but also the thrombin cleavage site present in the vector with Tobacco etch virus (TEV) NIa protease site. Thrombin is a specific enzyme used to cleave off the tag from the fusion protein after purification. However, its specificity is not universal. Furthermore, the commercially available enzyme is costly. TEV protease on other hand was produced in the laboratory and was highly specific. However, the cleavage using TEV protease was unsuccessful apparently because of a steric hindrance contributed by the two extremely ordered regions flanking the TEV cleavage site present in the disordered region of the fusion protein. pET/rBBTV CP was highly soluble like ΔpGEX/rBBTVCP. Likewise, BBrMV CP gene was cloned into pRSET-C and pGEX-4T-2 to obtain pRSET/rBBrMV CP and pGEX/rBBrMV CP of size 34 kDa and 60 kDa respectively. The 34 kDa pRSET/rBBrMV CP was insoluble. Overexpression and purification of the protein was standardized in various conditions to increase solubility. On the contrary, pGEX/rBBrMV CP was highly soluble and was purified by GSH Sepharose affinity column chromatography. 360 μg/ml of untagged protein was obtained from 1 l culture. However, like any other potyviral CP, the exposed N and C terminal of BBrMV CP was also prone to proteolytic cleavage. It partially degraded when incubated with thrombin atroom temperature for GST tag cleavage. All these bands were detected by potyviral CP specific antibody in Western blot. Further on storage complete degradation of the protein was observed. Further standardisation of the protocol is necessary to either stabilise monomeric CP or develop BBrMV VLPs in vitro for immunising animal in order to raise the antiserum. The immunogenicity of the antigens (rBBTV CP and rBBrMV CP) was confirmed by Western blot using BBTV CP specific and potyvirus CP specific antibody procured from NRC, Banana and IISc, Bangalore respectively. The rCPs were also characterized by fluorescence spectroscopy, sucrose gradient ultra centrifugation and electron microscopy. The fluorescent spectra of tagged and tag less rBBrMV CP deviated from 330 nm which is typical for a partially disordered protein. However, the spectra of pET/rBBTV CP and ΔpGEX/rBBTV CP were different. The former depicted the spectra of a mostly globular protein. There were two λmax for the fluorescence spectra of ΔpGEX/rBBTV CP. The epitope prediction of BBTV CP with Trx tag gave interesting insights. A single linear epitope of 80 residues were detected in pET/rBBTV CP comprising of C terminal of the affinity tag and the N terminal of BBTV CP. This was expected to increase the immunogenicity of the antigen and administered for production of antiserum. The titre value of polyclonal antiserum produced against the 37 kDa pET/rBBTV CP was evaluated by DAC-ELISA and was found to be 1:128000. Titre value for serological assays of field samples was standardized as 1:10000 to be more inclusive for detecting virus even at early stages of infection. A total of 247 tissue culture samples and 10 field samples were screened for the presence of the virus using the antiserum and was compared with the procured antiserum. Seemingly, the latter non-specifically reacted with plant proteins which gave a higher absorbance value in negative control and correspondingly high absorbance in the infected samples. The polyclonal antiserum raised against rBBTV CP was used to standardize serological detection assays like IC-PCR, DIBA and TAS-ELISA apart from DAC-ELISA. DIBA and TAS-ELISA were the most sensitive assays which could detect up to 1:80 dilution of the antigen. In conclusion, due to the higher nucleotide variability of the CP gene, serological detection is preferred over nucleic acid based assays. However, the quality of antigen used for raising the antibody plays a major role in serodiagnostics. Hence, high quality rCPs of both BBTV and BBrMV were developed in the laboratory in various vector/host systems. ThepET/rBBTV CP overexpressed in C41 strain of E.coli (1.1 mg/ ml obtained from 1 L culture) was used for immunisation of the animal. A highly sensitive antiserum specific to BBTV with a titre ten fold higher than that of the commercially available antiserum was obtained. Using this antiserum raised against rBBTV CP, various serodiagnostic assays were standardised in the laboratory. Among these, TAS-ELISA was the most sensitive, detecting antigen even at higher dilution.
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    Identification and characterisation of virus responsive miRNAs in banana musa (AAB) Nendran
    (Department of Plant Pathology, College of Agriculture, Vellayani, 2019) Athira Subramanian; Soni, K B
    The study entitled “Identification and characterization of virus responsive miRNAs in banana Musa (AAB) ‘Nendran’” was carried out during 2017-2019, in the Department of Plant Biotechnology, College of Agriculture, Vellayani. The objective of the study was to identify the miRNAs associated with Banana Bract Mosaic Virus (BBrMV) infection in banana var. Nendran from the expression profile of selected miRNAs. Five miRNAs were selected from the 52 computationally predicted miRNAs in a previous study conducted in the Department of Plant Biotechnology. Selection was based on the function of their target genes i.e. their role in biotic stress conditions. The miRNAs selected were miR-3900-5p (targets: Plant viral response family protein and Putative disease resistance protein genes), miR-2172-5p (target: Putative ethylene responsive transcription factor1gene), miR-6928-5p (target: Flavin adenine dinucleotide dependent oxidoreductase gene), miR-5417 (target: Stress endoplasmic reticulum protein 2 gene) and miR-971-5p (targets: Argonaute protein and Transport inhibitor response-1 like protein genes). For studying the expression of miRNAs, three month old in vitro raised banana var. Nendran plants were infected with BBrMV through viruliferous aphids (Pentalonia nigronervosa) by acquisition feeding method. Fifteen to twenty aphids reared in healthy banana suckers were transferred to the BBrMV infected sucker for 2 hour acquisition feeding, after starving for 30 min. These aphids were released on to the leaf axils of the tissue culture plants for a period of 24 h. After this time period the aphids were killed using an insecticide. Infection was confirmed by PCR using replicase specific primers and the results showed the presence of BBrMV specific amplicons from 24h onwards in all the samples. For studying the expression of these miRNAs, leaf samples were collected from the infected plants 24 h, 48 h, 1 wk and 2 wk after infection. RNA was isolated using CTAB method, reverse transcribed to cDNA and PCR was done. PCR analysis confirmed the presence of all the five computationally predicted miRNAs in banana. The expression profiles of the miRNAs and their target genes were studied by RT-qPCR. The results showed upregulation of miR-3900-5p, miR-2172-5p, miR-6928-5p and miR-971-5p (1.2, 2.0, 1.27, 2.0 fold respectively) 24h after BBrMV infection. Among them miR-3900-5p, miR-2172-5p and miR-971-5p maintained higher expression upto one week compared to uninfected control. miR-6928-5p showed a 1.72 fold increase in expression 48 h after infection. Expression of miR-5417 was down regulated by BBrMV infection at 24 h of infection. The two targets of miR-3900-5p (Plant viral response family protein and Putative disease resistance protein genes) showed contrasting trends in their expression after BBrMV infection. While Putative disease resistance protein showed a drastic increase (13 fold) 24 h after infection, Plant viral response family protein expression showed a continuous reduction throughout the period of observation. miR-2172- 5p and its target Putative Ethylene-responsive transcription factor 1gene (3.39 fold) were found upregulated during the infection. While miR-6928-5p showed maximum expression at 48 h, its target FAD (Flavin adenine dinucleotide) dependent oxidoreductase gene showed maximum expression at 24 h after infection and maintained a higher level upto 48 h. Among the two targets of miR-971-5p, Transport inhibitor response-1like protein gene showed a quick response to virus infection with a 6.15 fold expression at 24 h, while Argonaute protein gene showed a lower expression upto 48h and a drastic increase upto 2 fold as the infection progressed. The study suggested that miR3900-5p, miR2172-5p, miR6928-5p and miR971-5p were associated with BBrMV infection in banana var. Nendran. Their targets viz., putative disease resistance protein gene, putative ethylene responsive transcription factor 1gene, FAD dependent oxidoreductase gene and transport inhibitor response-1 like protein gene showed significant increase immediately after the infection. Suppression of the targets viz., Plant viral response family protein and Argonaute protein genes during BBrMV infection suggested the possible role of miR-3900-5p and miR-971-5p in regulating the infection process.
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    Development of a nano biosensor for detection of bract mosaic virus in banana (Musa spp.)
    (Centre for Plant Biotechnology and Molecular Biology, College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara, 2016) Saurav Saha; Abida, P S
    Banana bract mosaic virus (BBrMV) is a recently described virus of banana which contributed to yield reduction by 5 to 36 per cent and is a barrier to international exchange of germplasm. There is a no effective measure to control this virus, only by routine virus indexing of planting material can protect the spreading of this virus. Currently ELISA and real time PCR is effectively used for diagnosis but the protocol is time consuming and expensive. In the recent years biosensor based on the novel metallic nanoparticle gain much importance for industrial applications and efficient detection of viruses. The study entitled ―Development of a nano biosensor for detection of Banana bract mosaic virus in banana (Musa spp.)‖ was carried out in the Centre for Plant Biotechnology and Molecular Biology, College of Horticulture and Centre for Electronics and Materials(C-MET), Thrissur during the academic year 2014-2016. The objective of this study to develop an antibody based nanobiosensor for quick detection of Banana bract mosaic virus. Goldnanorods (GNRs) were fabricated through seed-mediated procedure and UV-Vis spectra of GNRs solution indicated characteristic longitudinal and transverse band at 710 nm and 520 nm respectively. The transmission image of electron microscope revealed that solution contain rod shaped gold nanoparticles with length and diameter (42±3) nm (14±1.9) nm respectively. The aspect ratio of GNRs was measured through ImageJ software and found that aspect ratio of GNRs was 3.03. The effect of silver nitrate solution on the growth of GNRs was studied and found that with increasing silver ion concentration in a growth solution longitudinal peak shift was observed from 710-740 nm and also aspect ratio of GNRs also increased from 3.03 to 3.75. In order to detection of analyte (BBrMV) surface of a GNRs activated with complete replacement with alkalithiol molecule for covalent attachment of an antibody. UV-Vis spectra of activated GNRs indicated that due to formation of SAM (Self assembly monolayer)position of a peak shifted from 710- 716 and also due to binding of an antibody to SAM layer again peak position was changed from 716-727nm. SDS-PAGE and Nanodrop spectrophotometer analysis were carried out for the BBrMV antigen to check the quality and quantity of protein (antigen). The results had shown 38KDa band coat protein specific band of virus in a gel and concentration of antigen was 3mg/ml. Bio-recognition induced gold nanorods aggregation here takes as an analytical tool for detection of a BBrMV. In this case due to addition of antigen to antibody labeled GNRs solution. Colour of the solution changed red to black and notable peak shift of (7- 25) nm was observed both in transverse and longitudinal peak of GNRs in UV-Vis Spectra. Antigen concentration up to 0.25 mg/ml and above shows stability in the Peak shift and colour change in infected sample compared to control sample. In healthy sample no colour changes were observed and with only minimum peak shift was there. The positive result was also obtained in a micro titre plate where ELISA reader clearly differentiated healthy and infected samples with different concentrations of antigen. In case of longitudinal peak shift, the kinetics curve of an infected sample remained relatively flat and after 15min the shift remained stable until the end of the observation and the absorbance of GNRs continuously decreased up to 80th min and after that no changes were observed in the kinetics curves of an absorbance. For determining the accuracy and sensitiveness of a nanobiosensor, results of the different serological techniques (ELISA, DIBA) were compared with the result of the fabricated solution based nanobiosensor and found that nanobiosensor could detect the viral protein at a very low concentration (2-0.02) mg/ml, whereas in the case of other techniques the detection was possible up to 0.12 mg/ml of antigen concentration. The developed gold nano rods based nanobiosensor was evaluated for detection of a BBrMV in five varieties of banana and it was found that cv. Nendran was more affected by BBrMV compared to other varieties of banana due to the high concentration of viral load in the infected samples. The solution based gold nano rod based biosensor is sensitive, cost effective and easy for virus indexing of tissue culture plants and planting materials compared to other methods currently in use. Further investigations and refinement could lead to the fabrication and development of nanobiosensor on a commercial scale.