Department of Bioscience & Bioengineering

&ldquo;IIT Jodhpur is committed to impart quality education to facilitate the creation of qualified, competent and responsible human resources to meet the emerging technological challenges of the world. It is working towards creating an equitable learning platform that is positive, accessible and effective in the face of the modern societal and scientific advancements.

Flexibility in curriculum, in all its academic programs, encompassing elements of teaching, research, creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship is the most unique feature of IIT Jodhpur. The Department of Science and Technology (DST), under the National Mission on Cyber Physical Systems, has identified IIT Jodhpur as a Technology &amp; Innovation Hub in the area of Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality. The institute has also been nominated as the coordinator for the Jodhpur City and Knowledge Cluster by the Office of Principal Scientific Adviser, Government of India.

The sprawling 852-acre IIT Jodhpur campus is a majestic tribute to the deep-rooted diverse cultural heritage of the region. The campus is an architectural masterpiece, which is slated to become an international exemplar of sustainability with net-zero energy, and advanced water and waste management strategies.&rdquo;

IIT Jodhpur

Asia harbors substantial cultural and linguistic diversity, but the geographic structure of genetic variation across the continent remains enigmatic. Here we report a large-scale survey of autosomal variation from a broad geographic sample of Asian human populations. Our results show that genetic ancestry is strongly correlated with linguistic affiliations as well as geography. Most populations show relatedness within ethnic/linguistic groups, despite prevalent gene flow among populations. More than 90% of East Asian (EA) haplotypes could be found in either Southeast Asian (SEA) or Central-South Asian (CSA) populations and show clinal structure with haplotype diversity decreasing from south to north. Furthermore, 50% of EA haplotypes were found in SEA only and 5% were found in CSA only, indicating that SEA was a major geographic source of EA populations.

World University root node

Science

Mapping human genetic diversity in Asia

Background: Human mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) variations have been implicated in a broad spectrum of diseases. With over 3000 mtDNA variations reported across databases, establishing pathogenicity of variations in mtDNA is a major challenge. We have designed and developed a comprehensive weighted scoring system (MtSNPscore) for identification of mtDNA variations that can impact pathogenicity and would likely be associated with disease. The criteria for pathogenicity include information available in the literature, predictions made by various in silico tools and frequency of variation in normal and patient datasets. The scoring scheme also assigns scores to patients and normal individuals to estimate the cumulative impact of variations. The method has been implemented in an automated pipeline and has been tested on Indian ataxia dataset (92 individuals), sequenced in this study, and other publicly available mtSNP dataset comprising of 576 mitochondrial genomes of Japanese individuals from six different groups, namely, patients with Parkinson's disease, patients with Alzheimer's disease, young obese males, young non-obese males, and type-2 diabetes patients with or without severe vascular involvement. MtSNPscore, for analysis can extract information from variation data or from mitochondrial DNA sequences. It has a web-interface http://bioinformatics.ccmb.res.in/ cgi-bin/snpscore/Mtsnpscore.pl that provides flexibility to update/ modify the parameters for estimating pathogenicity. Results: Analysis of ataxia and mtSNP data suggests that rare variants comprise the largest part of disease associated variations. MtSNPscore predicted possible role of eight and 79 novel variations in ataxia and mtSNP datasets, respectively, in disease etiology. Analysis of cumulative scores of patient and normal data resulted in Matthews Correlation Coefficient (MCC) of ∼0.5 and accuracy of ∼0.7 suggesting that the method may also predict involvement of mtDNA variation in diseases. Conclusion: We have developed a novel and comprehensive method for evaluation of mitochondrial variation and their involvement in disease. Our method has the most comprehensive set of parameters to assess mtDNA variations and overcomes the undesired bias generated as a result of better-studied diseases and genes. These variations can be prioritized for functional assays to confirm their pathogenic status. © 2009 Bhardwaj et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

Fulltext

BMC Bioinformatics

MtSNPscore: A combined evidence approach for assessing cumulative impact of mitochondrial variations in disease

Repeat expansion has been implicated in 10 out of 17 candidate genes identified for autosomal dominant cerebellar ataxias (ADCAs) - commonly referred as spinocerebellar ataxias (SCAs). Though genetically distinct, the SCAs share a large number of features that confound their clinical classification. In addition, there is a difference in the prevalence and phenotypic expression of ataxias between different ethnic groups. We have created a new SCA-locus-specific variation database (LSVD) that aims to catalog and integrate information on SCAs associated with trinucleotide repeat expansion (SCA1, SCA 2, SCA 3, SCA 6, SCA 7, SCA 8, SCA 12, SCA 17, Friedreich's ataxia [FRDA], and dentatorubral-pallidoluysian atrophy [DRPLA]) from all over the world. The database has been developed using the Leiden Open (source) Variation Database (LOVD) software (Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, the Netherlands). The database houses detailed information on clinical features, such as age and symptom at onset, mode of inheritance, and genotype information, pertaining to the SCA patients from more than 400 families across India. All the compiled genotype data conforms to the HGVS Nomenclature guidelines. This would be a very useful starting point for understanding the molecular correlates of phenotypes in ataxia - a multilocus disease in which related molecular mechanisms converge to overlapping phenotypes. The database is accessible online at http://miracle.igib.res.in/ataxia. © 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Human Mutation

SCA-LSVD: A repeat-oriented locus-specific variation database for genotype to phenotype correlations in spinocerebellar ataxias

Alanine racemase catalyzes the interconversion of L-alanine and D-alanine and plays a crucial role in spore germination and cell wall biosynthesis. In this study, alanine racemase produced by Bacillus anthracis was expressed and purified as a monomer in Escherichia coli and the importance of lysine 41 in the cofactor binding octapeptide and tyrosine 270 in catalysis was evaluated. The native enzyme exhibited an apparent Km of 3 mM for L-alanine, and a Vmax of 295 μmoles/min/mg, with the optimum activity occurring at 37°C and a pH of 8-9. The activity observed in the absence of exogenous pyridoxal 5′-phosphate suggested that the cofactor is bound to the enzyme. Additionally, the UV-visible absorption spectra indicated that the activity was pH independece, of VV-visible absorption spectra suggests that the bound PLP exists as a protonated Schiff's base. Furthermore, the loss of activity observed in the apoenzyme suggested that bound PLP is required for catalysis. Finally, the enzyme followed non-competitive and mixed inhibition kinetics for hydroxylamine and propionate with a Ki of 160 μM and 30 mM, respectively.

BMB Reports

Biochemical characterization of Alanine racemase- a spore protein produced by Bacillus anthracis

We study the nucleation, spreading, and control of irreversible diffusive damage in a 2D fixed-radius random network. The control is achieved via strategic self-destruction. Our studies suggest that rapidly activated aggressive and encompassing self-destruction may provide optimum long-term survival of the network. When the damaged area is sufficiently small, strategic self-destruction may be too dependent on local geometry and the details of the dynamics and hence non-trivial to estimate. Our results reveal broad insights into how it may be possible to combat and control the spreading of problematic effects across fixed-radius random networks. Copyright © EPLA, 2009.

Damage isolation via strategic self-destruction: A case study in 2D random networks

The study of the dynamics of one-dimensional chains with both harmonic and nonlinear interactions, as in the Fermi-Pasta-Ulam and related problems, has played a central role in efforts to identify the broad consequences of nonlinearity in these systems. Nevertheless, little is known about the dynamical behavior of purely nonlinear chains where there is a complete absence of the harmonic term, and hence sound propagation is not admissible, i.e., under conditions of "acoustic vacuum." Here we study the dynamics of highly localized excitations, or breathers, which are known to be initiated by the quasistatic stretching of the bonds between adjacent particles. We show via detailed particle-dynamics-based studies that many low-energy pulses also form in the vicinity of the perturbation, and the breathers that form are "fragile" in the sense that they can be easily delocalized by scattering events in the system. We show that the localized excitations eventually disperse, allowing the system to attain an equilibrium-like state that is realizable in acoustic vacuum. We conclude with a discussion of how the dynamics is affected by the presence of acoustic oscillations. © 2009 The American Physical Society.

Physical Review E - Statistical, Nonlinear, and Soft Matter Physics

Dynamics of metastable breathers in nonlinear chains in acoustic vacuum

Rapid absorption of impulses using light-weight, small, reusable systems is a challenging problem. An axially aligned set of progressively shrinking elastic spheres, a "tapered chain," has been shown to be a versatile and scalable shock absorber in earlier simulational, theoretical, and experimental works by several authors. We have recently shown (see R. L. Doney and S. Sen, Phys. Rev. Lett. 97, 155502 (2006)) that the shock absorption ability of a tapered chain can be dramatically enhanced by placing small interstitial grains between the regular grains in the tapered chain systems. Here we focus on a detailed study of the problem introduced in the above mentioned letter, present extensive dynamical simulations using parameters for a titanium-aluminum-vanadium alloy Ti6Al4 V, derive attendant hard-sphere analyses based formulae to describe energy dispersion, and finally discuss some preliminary experimental results using systems with chrome spheres and small Nitinol interstitial grains to present the underlying nonlinear dynamics of this so-called decorated tapered granular alignment. We are specifically interested in small systems, comprised of several grains. This is because in real applications, mass and volume occupied must inevitably be minimized. Our conclusion is that the decorated tapered chain offers enhanced energy dispersion by locking in much of the input energy in the grains of the tapered chain rather than in the small interstitial grains. Thus, the present study offers insights into how the shock absorption capabilities of these systems can be pushed even further by improving energy absorption capabilities of the larger grains in the tapered chains. We envision that these scalable, decorated tapered chains may be used as shock absorbing components in body armor, armored vehicles, building applications and in perhaps even in applications in rehabilitation science. © 2009 American Institute of Physics.

Journal of Applied Physics

Energy partitioning and impulse dispersion in the decorated, tapered, strongly nonlinear granular alignment: A system with many potential applications

Objective: Polymorphisms in DNA repair genes may be associated with altered DNA repair capacity, thereby influencing an individual's susceptibility to smoking-related cancers such as bladder cancer. Therefore, we sought to examine the correlation between single nucleotide polymorphisms in DNA repair genes and bladder cancer. Methodology: We undertook a case-control study of 212 urothelial bladder cancer (UBC) cases and 250 controls to investigate the association between OGG1 (C1245G rs1052133), XRCC3 (C18067T, rs861539) and XRCC7 (G6721T, rs7003908) polymorphisms and bladder cancer susceptibility by PCR-RFLP and the ARMS method. We also investigated gene-environment interactions. Results: The OGG1 GG genotype was associated with an elevated risk of urothelial bladder cancer (UBC) (OR, 2.10; p, 0.028). XRCC7 + 6721 GG was also associated with increased susceptibility to UBC (OR, 4.45; p, 0.001). In a recessive model, the OGG1 GG genotype showed an increased risk of TaG2,3 + T1G1-3 tumors. Additionally, the OGG1 GG genotype in non-smokers represented a 2.46-fold greater risk (OR, 2.46; p, 0.035) in bladder cancer patients. Subsequent analysis demonstrated more pronounced association of XRCC7 with smokers (OR, 4.39; p, 0.001). XRCC7 also showed increased association with TaG2,3 + T1G1-3 tumors and muscle invasive tumors (OR, 3.16; p, 0.001 and OR, 4.24; p, 0.001, respectively). Multiple Cox regression analysis in non-muscle invasive bladder tumor (NMIBT) patients demonstrated an association of the OGG1 GG polymorphism with a high risk of recurrence in patients on cystoscopic surveillance (HR, 4.04; p, 0.013). Subsequently, shorter recurrence-free survival (log rank p, 0.024; CC/GG, 42/24) was observed. Conclusion: Our data suggest association of a variant (GG) genotype of OGG1 with increased UBC susceptibility and a high risk of tumor recurrence in NMIBT patients on cystoscopic surveillance. XRCC7 G allele carriers (TG + GG) are also at an elevated risk for susceptibility to UBC as evidenced by a high odds ratio throughout the analysis. © 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Mutation Research/Genetic Toxicology and Environmental Mutagenesis 680 (1-2 {\ldots}

Do DNA repair genes OGG1, XRCC3 and XRCC7 have an impact on susceptibility to bladder cancer in the North Indian population?

Background: Chronic intraprostatic inflammation is suspected to play a major role in the pathogenesis of prostate cancer (PCa). Polymorphisms in interleukin-10 (IL-10), a key anti-inflammatory cytokine gene can influence immune response and immune evasion of tumor cells. Its role as an anti-metastatic molecule is also well documented. Methods: Gene promoter polymorphisms in IL-10 (-1082 G> and -819 C>T) was analyzed in 159 PCa patients and 259 healthy controls to investigate their potential association with susceptibility for PCa. Results: Our results indicated that the heterozygous (GA) and homozygous mutant (AA) genotypes of IL-10 -1082 to be more prevalent among PCa patients in comparison to controls (GA: OR - 2.8, p = 0.011; AA: OR - 2.3, p = 0.037). More patients (92.5%) than controls (82.7%) were positive for the A allele (GA + AA: OR - 2.6, p = 0.015). We observed lower frequency of T(-819)-G(-1082) haplotype in patients without bone metastasis (4.4%, OR - 0.30, p = 0.019) in comparison to PCa patients with bone metastasis (12.6%). Conclusion: Our results support the emerging hypothesis that genetically determined immune activity may play a role in the pathophysiology of PCa. Our findings of high producer of IL-10 -1082 variants suggest initiation of PCa. Future studies in large cohort of different ethnicity PCa groups are warranted to establish definite associations with other cytokine gene polymorphisms. © Springer-Verlag 2008.

World journal of urology

IL-10− 1082 G&gt; A: a risk for prostate cancer but may be protective against progression of prostate cancer in North Indian cohort

Objectives: To explore the association between xerodema pigmentosum group D (XPD) Asp312Asn and Lys751Gln and apurinic apyrimidic endonuclease 1 (APE1) Asp148Glu gene polymorphism and risk of bladder cancer (BC) susceptibility. Methods: This hospital-based case-control study included 206 patients with newly diagnosed bladder transitional cell carcinoma and 250 cancer-free controls who had been frequency matched by age, sex, and ethnicity. Polymorphisms in XPD Asp312Asn and Lys751Gln and APE1 Asp148Glu gene using polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism and amplification refractory mutation system were genotyped. Results: The XPD Asp312Asn AA genotype was associated with an elevated risk of BC (odds ratio [OR] 3.30, P = .001.) The AA genotype was significantly associated with nonmuscle-invasive BC (OR 4.62, corrected P = .003). Both the heterozygous GA and the homozygous AA was associated with a greater risk of low-grade (grade 1) BC (OR 2.51, corrected P = .006 and OR 5.21, corrected P = .003, respectively). The APE1 GG genotype showed a decreased risk of BC (OR 0.27, P = .027.) Haplotype AC (codon 312A-codon 751C) of XPD demonstrated an association with a greater susceptibility to BC (OR 2.16, correct P = .0008). Conclusions: Reduced DNA repair capacity due to XPD Asp312Asn AA genotype might be a risk factor for BC. The AA genotype predisposed to a greater risk at the initial stage and grade of BC. The APE1 148GG genotype conferred a protective association with BC susceptibility. © 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.