Biomedical subjects

Deept Kumar

Publications and source records attributed to Deept Kumar.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2005

Transcriptional response of Saccharomyces cerevisiae to desiccation and rehydration.

A transcriptional analysis of the response of Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain BY4743 to controlled air-drying (desiccation) and subsequent rehydration under minimal glucose conditions was performed. Expression of genes involved in fatty acid oxidation and the glyoxylate cycle was observed to increase during drying and remained in this state during the rehydration phase. When the BY4743 expression profile for the dried sample was compared to that of a commercially prepared dry active yeast, strikingly similar expression changes were observed. The fact that these two samples, dried by different means, possessed very similar transcriptional profiles supports the hypothesis that the response to desiccation is a coordinated event independent of the particular conditions involved in water removal. Similarities between "stationary-phase-essential genes" and those upregulated during desiccation were also noted, suggesting commonalities in different routes to reduced metabolic states. Trends in extracellular and intracellular glucose and trehalose levels suggested that the cells were in a "holding pattern" during the rehydration phase, a concept that was reinforced by cell cycle analyses. Application of a "redescription mining" algorithm suggested that sulfur metabolism is important for cell survival during desiccation and rehydration.

Cell Survival↗

PubMed2003

Single-layer model to predict the source/sink behavior of diffusion-controlled building materials.

Building materials may act as both sources of and sinks forvolatile organic compounds (VOCs) in indoor air. A strategy to characterize the rate of absorption and desorption of VOCs by diffusion-controlled building materials is validated. A previously developed model that predicts mass transfer between a flat slab of material and the well-mixed air within a chamber or room is extended. The generalized model allows a nonuniform initial material-phase concentration and a transient influent gas-phase concentration to be simultaneously considered. An analytical solution to the more general model is developed. Experimental data are obtained by placing samples of vinyl flooring inside a small stainless steel chamber and exposing them to absorption/desorption cycles of n-dodecane and phenol. Measured values for the material-air partition coefficient and the material-phase diffusion coefficient were obtained previously in a series of completely independent experiments. The a priori model predictions are in close agreement with the observed experimental data.

Absorption↗

PubMed2003

Photosynthetic acclimation is reflected in specific patterns of gene expression in drought-stressed loblolly pine.

Because the product of a single gene can influence many aspects of plant growth and development, it is necessary to understand how gene products act in concert and upon each other to effect adaptive changes to stressful conditions. We conducted experiments to improve our understanding of the responses of loblolly pine (Pinus taeda) to drought stress. Water was withheld from rooted plantlets of to a measured water potential of -1 MPa for mild stress and -1.5 MPa for severe stress. Net photosynthesis was measured for each level of stress. RNA was isolated from needles and used in hybridizations against a microarray consisting of 2173 cDNA clones from five pine expressed sequence tag libraries. Gene expression was estimated using a two-stage mixed linear model. Subsequently, data mining via inductive logic programming identified rules (relationships) among gene expression, treatments, and functional categories. Changes in RNA transcript profiles of loblolly pine due to drought stress were correlated with physiological data reflecting photosynthetic acclimation to mild stress or photosynthetic failure during severe stress. Analysis of transcript profiles indicated that there are distinct patterns of expression related to the two levels of stress. Genes encoding heat shock proteins, late embryogenic-abundant proteins, enzymes from the aromatic acid and flavonoid biosynthetic pathways, and from carbon metabolism showed distinctive responses associated with acclimation. Five genes shown to have different transcript levels in response to either mild or severe stress were chosen for further analysis using real-time polymerase chain reaction. The real-time polymerase chain reaction results were in good agreement with those obtained on microarrays.

Acclimatization↗