Plant Science, Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology, Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics, Drug Discovery
9
Scopus Publications
Scopus Publications
Integrated Molecular Strategies for Enhanced Production of Medicinal Plant-Derived Flavonoids Dwaipayan Sinha, Zoofishan Kazi, Rashmi Muherjee, Arindam Ganguly, Swastika Banerjee, Arun Kumar Maurya, Abhra Abir Chowdhury, Aqsa Majgaonkar, Shreyasi Dutta Biotechnology Multiple Omics and Precision Breeding in Medicinal Plants, 2025 The diverse and powerful products of flavonoids, plant-derived polyphenolic compounds, have found medical and industrial applications, with a market value expected to reach $1.5 billion by 2025. Sustainable harvesting practices are essential to reduce biodiversity loss and ensure continuous access to these beneficial compounds. Biotechnological approaches, including genetic engineering and synthetic biology, are superior to traditional methods for flavonoid production by allowing direct manipulation of plant metabolic pathways, which can increase products, improve purity, and create molecules. Extensive expression of transcription factors and reverse genetic engineering hold promise for increasing flavonoid synthesis, as the plant suspension method is a spatial and scalable method for flavonoid extraction. In addition, microbial plant engineering technologies and microbe-based strategies can improve flavonoid production through genetic optimization and synergy. These advanced technologies offer exciting opportunities to unravel the complex biology of flavonoids and augment targeted approaches to enhance plant-derived flavonoids’ yield, quality, and diversity.
Oxidative Responses, Antioxidative System, and Redox Regulation During Water Stress Dwaipayan Sinha, Arpan Dey, Arun Kumar Maurya, Gholamreza Abdi, Supatra Sen, Satarupa Nath, Sherif Babatunde Adeyemi, Zoofishan Kazi, Rimi Roy, Mohammad Sohail, Swastika Banerjee, Aqsa Majgaonkar, Sahana Chowdhury Water Stress in Crop Plants and Its Management, 2025 The profound interdependence of water stress, oxidative stress, and the complex biochemical responses elucidated in this study lays a foundation for future research endeavors to develop resilient crops adaptable to changing climates. As 78a pivotal determinant of weather conditions and seasonal patterns, water plays a crucial role in sustaining biological functions and ecological stability. When water becomes scarce due to environmental changes or anthropogenic activities, it leads to water stress, negatively affecting normal plant growth and development. Plants have evolved a spectrum of morphological, anatomical, physiological, and biochemical mechanisms to counter water stress. The consequences of water stress encompass reduced photosynthesis, oxidative stress, metabolic abnormalities, stomatal closure, and disruptions in the electron transport system. Plants deploy enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidant defense mechanisms to mitigate stress-induced oxidative damage. Innovative approaches have shown promise in reducing damage, such as rhizobacterial inoculation, mycorrhizal fungi, and nitric oxide treatment. Genetic engineering, focusing on enhancing key enzymes, strengthens plant resilience. Exogenous application of compounds like glutathione, proline, and polyamines effectively enhances agricultural yields by bolstering the plant’s ability to cope with water stress. The role of miRNAs in different plant species is highlighted, showcasing their diverse strategies for surviving drought conditions. Utilizing CRISPR/Cas9 technology to control these miRNAs is a promising avenue to improve agricultural output and enhance crop stress resistance. Omics-based research, exploring the transcriptome and genomic processes has identified genes associated with plant resilience and production. This chapter serves as a comprehensive overview of water stressinduced oxidative stress in plants, delving into the deep analysis of mitigation strategies employed to enhance plant resilience.
Land utilization pattern and effects on soil microbiome Abhra Abir Chowdhury, Anmol Kumar Sharma, Chandan Naskar, Sharmistha Ganguly, Pratyusha De, Arun Kumar Maurya, Sanchita Seal, Swastika Banerjee, Veena Kumari, Dwaipayan Sinha Microbiome Engineering the New Dimension of Biotechnology, 2024 The soil's microbial community is critical to nurturing a healthy environment. Microorganisms play an essential role in breaking down organic materials and cycling nutrients. Diversity is a crucial attribute of these microorganisms. A high diversity of soil microorganisms contributes to the soil's ability to provide essential ecosystem services and withstand or elude disruptions from land usage, seasonal modifications, pesticide-fertilizer implementations, etc. A lowered biodiversity leads to reduced ecosystem stability and potential loss of services. Therefore, it is indispensable to maintain a wide assortment of microorganisms in the soil to ensure a continued ecosystem service provision. Land usage is a significant factor affecting soil microorganisms and their activities. Subjected to rapid population growth, humans continuously encroach on land, and settlement and agricultural activities alter the soil's microbial pattern. This alteration disrupts the soil microbes, affecting the entire pedological microbiota. Seasonal shifts in temperature and precipitation can also have an inauspicious effect on the soil profile. Agricultural crop field development meets the demand of the expanding human population on one hand, but also diminishes forest ecosystems and disrupts plant-microbe associations on the other hand. Rapid urbanization and industrialization have created a profound impact on socio-economic aspects, inducing a negative impact on the ecological perspective with special reference to the soil microbiome. This chapter aims to highlight how land utilization affects soil microbiomes and provide an updated overview of possible remedial approaches to address this issue.
Single-cell technology for crop breeding Dwaipayan Sinha, Swastika Banerjee, Indrani Paul, Supti Das Guide to Plant Single Cell Technology Functional Genomics and Crop Improvement, 2024
Blumea lacera (Burm.f.) DC: A review on ethnobotany, phytochemistry, ancient medicinal and pharmacological uses Dwaipayan Sinha, Swastika Banerjee, Aqsa Majgaonkar, Pomila, Soumi Datta, Soma Chanda, Moumita Chatterjee, Ratul Bhattacharya, Arun Kumar Maurya Plant Science Today, 2024 Blumea lacera (Burm.f.) DC., a member of the Asteraceae family, is an annual herbaceous plant with a rich array of phytochemicals that hold immense therapeutic promise. Commonly known as Karanda jangli muli (in Hindi) and kukkuradru (in Sanskrit), this herb is cultivated for its applications in food, essential oil extraction and various ethnomedical purposes. It thrives in diverse regions, including the Indian plains, the northwest Himalayas, China, Tropical Africa, the Malay Islands, Australia, Ceylon and Malaya. B. lacera boasts a multitude of valuable phytochemical components, including alpha-amyrin, ß-sitosterol, acetates, hentriacontane, stigmasterol, lupeol and lupeol acetate. These phytochemicals exhibit a wide range of pharmacological properties such as antipyretic, anti-inflammatory, anthelmintic, diuretic, antidiarrheal, antimicrobial, cytotoxic, astringent, hepatoprotective, sedative, anxiolytic, anti-viral, analgesic, hypothermic, anti-bacterial, anti-atherothrombotic, anti-leukemic and tranquilizing effects. Additionally, the phytochemicals derived from B. lacera align with various Ayurvedic attributes, encompassing dravya (substance), rasa (taste), guna (qualities), veerya (potency), vipaka (post-digestion outcome), karma (pharmacological actions) and prabha (therapeutics). Despite the plant's extensive bioactive chemical profile and therapeutic significance, scientific studies on B. lacera remain surprisingly scarce. In light of its numerous applications, this review aims to elucidate the diversity of phytochemicals, ethnomedicinal uses and therapeutic potentials of B. lacera.
Terpenes and terpenoids: Potent antiviral agents against SARS-CoV-2 Dwaipayan Sinha, Moumita Chatterjee, Srijonee Choudhury, Sanchita Seal, Tapas Das, Shilpi Sharma, Swastika Banerjee, Shahana Chowdhury Bioactive Compounds Against Sars Cov 2, 2023 Coronaviridae is a family of a multitude of enveloped, positively sensed ssRNA viruses that infect the respiratory system of different animals like humans, bats, and others. The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a one-of-a-kind coronavirus that is the root cause of the extremely contagious coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. To date, millions of cases and fatalities have placed a strain on healthcare systems worldwide. In COVID-19, the mortality rate for elderly individuals with pre-existing chronic conditions is significant. There are no effective therapeutic methods for COVID-19 prevention or therapy at the moment. Consequently, finding effective treatments is crucial. Terpenes are isoprene-based, naturally occurring compounds with a high degree of chemical diversity and a variety of medicinal benefits. This class of natural compounds has tremendously aided in the development of new medicines. Terpenoids and terpenoid derivatives are traditional medications derived from medicinal plants and have a variety of therapeutic uses. The natural oils of plants are the primary source of their existence. They currently make up a wide range of natural compounds that could be employed as a foundation for developing powerful pharmacotherapeutic drugs or as a source for novel pharmaceuticals. There is no deadline for the global COVID-19 vaccination campaign, which has already started and is anticipated to advance gradually. Some people choose not to get vaccinated for personal or medical reasons. In addition, some population groups, notably the younger ones, would be the last to get their shots. A method that is safe and reasonably easy to abate infection in those people is to deliver a natural antiviral treatment with few aftereffects as a prophylactic treatment, alone or in combination with immunizations. This chapter's goal is to provide a thorough summary of terpenes' antiviral activity, focusing on SARS-CoV-2. It also aims to emphasize the virus-fighting mechanism of terpenes.
Integrated Genomic Selection for Accelerating Breeding Programs of Climate-Smart Cereals Dwaipayan Sinha, Arun Kumar Maurya, Gholamreza Abdi, Muhammad Majeed, Rachna Agarwal, Rashmi Mukherjee, Sharmistha Ganguly, Robina Aziz, Manika Bhatia, Aqsa Majgaonkar, Sanchita Seal, Moumita Das, Swastika Banerjee, Shahana Chowdhury, Sherif Babatunde Adeyemi, Jen-Tsung Chen Genes, 2023 Rapidly rising population and climate changes are two critical issues that require immediate action to achieve sustainable development goals. The rising population is posing increased demand for food, thereby pushing for an acceleration in agricultural production. Furthermore, increased anthropogenic activities have resulted in environmental pollution such as water pollution and soil degradation as well as alterations in the composition and concentration of environmental gases. These changes are affecting not only biodiversity loss but also affecting the physio-biochemical processes of crop plants, resulting in a stress-induced decline in crop yield. To overcome such problems and ensure the supply of food material, consistent efforts are being made to develop strategies and techniques to increase crop yield and to enhance tolerance toward climate-induced stress. Plant breeding evolved after domestication and initially remained dependent on phenotype-based selection for crop improvement. But it has grown through cytological and biochemical methods, and the newer contemporary methods are based on DNA-marker-based strategies that help in the selection of agronomically useful traits. These are now supported by high-end molecular biology tools like PCR, high-throughput genotyping and phenotyping, data from crop morpho-physiology, statistical tools, bioinformatics, and machine learning. After establishing its worth in animal breeding, genomic selection (GS), an improved variant of marker-assisted selection (MAS), has made its way into crop-breeding programs as a powerful selection tool. To develop novel breeding programs as well as innovative marker-based models for genetic evaluation, GS makes use of molecular genetic markers. GS can amend complex traits like yield as well as shorten the breeding period, making it advantageous over pedigree breeding and marker-assisted selection (MAS). It reduces the time and resources that are required for plant breeding while allowing for an increased genetic gain of complex attributes. It has been taken to new heights by integrating innovative and advanced technologies such as speed breeding, machine learning, and environmental/weather data to further harness the GS potential, an approach known as integrated genomic selection (IGS). This review highlights the IGS strategies, procedures, integrated approaches, and associated emerging issues, with a special emphasis on cereal crops. In this domain, efforts have been taken to highlight the potential of this cutting-edge innovation to develop climate-smart crops that can endure abiotic stresses with the motive of keeping production and quality at par with the global food demand.
Phytoremediation of Arsenic: An Overview Dwaipayan Sinha, Pramod Kumar Tandon, Swastika Banerjee, Chitrita Chatterjee, Murad Muhammad, Shahana Chowdhury, Moumita Chatterjee Phytoremediation Potential of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants A Bioeconomical Approach, 2023 Arsenic (As) is a heavy metal (HM) of global concern as it badly prevails in a number of countries causing significantly devastating health hazards. As is present either naturally on Earth's crust or enters into the soil ecosystem chiefly by the application of pesticides which drain out and mix with the groundwater system causing As pollution of water and subsequent accumulation of As by the food crops. Arsenate As(V) and arsenite As(III) are the two forms of As present in the soil. Arsenate, the analog of phosphate can enter the plants through the phosphate transporter causing disruption in the natural processes of plants and its hyperaccumulation in food crops. People get affected by direct consumption of As from food or water sources which triggers multiple diseases and even death. By different strategies of phytoremediation, the harmful HMs can be removed from the environment cost-effectively and in a sustainable way. Various medicinal and aromatic plant species can aid in this process. The advantage of using medicinal plants in the phytoremediation process is that they are generally not consumed and thus the possibility of contaminants entering the food system is minimized. Plants have evolved several systems to cope with As toxicity by using different types of proteins, hormones, and signaling molecules. By studying the mechanism of phytoremediation, genetically improved variety of plants can be produced which will be more efficient in amelioration of the toxic metalloid from the soil and it can ensure the reduction in the uptake of As by the food crops assisting in food safety. This chapter is an attempt to overview phytoremediation of As giving special emphasis on the use of medicinal plants and elaborating overall mechanistic aspects involved in the process.
Buchanania lanzan spreng: A veritable storehouse of phytomedicines Asian Journal of Pharmaceutical and Clinical Research, 2015
