Title Dr. First Name Aruna Last Name Naorem
Designation Assistant Professor
Department Department of Genetics SDC
Email aruna.naorem@south.du.ac.in
Webpage
Phone.no 01124157336
Employement Info
Employee Type Nature Of Employment
Teaching Permanent
Educational Qualifications
Degree/Certification Name Institution Year of Completion
Ph.D. - Doctorate in Science Indian Institute of Science 2009
PG University of Calicut 2001
UG University of Delhi 1999
Qualifications
Examination Name Conducting Body Date of Passing
NET Joint CSIR-UGC JRF and Eligibility for Lectureship-NET 31-12-2000
Fellowship Details
Name Of Fellowship Awarding Body Fellowship Level
MSc Biotechnology Department of Biotechnology National
Research Supervision Overview
PhD Scholars Supervised PhD Degrees Awarded Theses Submitted
2 4 0
M.Phil Scholars Supervised M.Phil Degrees Awarded M.Phil Theses Submitted
0 1 0
Research Publications
Title of Article Type of Publication Name of Journal ISSN Journal Volume Year Link to Article DOI (Digital Object Identifier)
Modulation of cyclic nucleotide-mediated cellular signaling and gene expression using photoactivated adenylyl cyclase as an optogenetic tool Research Papers in Peer Reviewed Journals Scientific Reports DOI:10.1038/s41598-017-12162-4
Functional characterisation of parvulin-type peptidyl prolyl cis/trans isomerase, PinA in Dictyostelium discoideum Research Papers in Peer Reviewed Journals Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bbrc.2016.11.042
Targeting Fungal Genes by Diced siRNAs: A Rapid Tool to Decipher Gene Function in Aspergillus nidulans Research Papers in Peer Reviewed Journals PLOS One doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0075443
Identification and Characterization of DdRpb4, a subunit of Dictyostelium discoideum RNA polymerase II Research Papers in Peer Reviewed Journals Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications 377 2008 doi:10.1016/j.bbrc.2008.10.124
RNA polymerase II-The Transcription Machine Research Papers in Peer Reviewed Journals Resonance
Basal transcription machinery: role in regulation of stress response in eukaryotes Research Papers in Peer Reviewed Journals Journal of Biosciences
Relative levels of RNA Pol II subunits differentially affect starvation response in budding yeast Research Papers in Peer Reviewed Journals Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications doi:10.1016/j.bbrc.2007.02.120
Domainal organization of the lower eukaryotic homologs of the yeast RNA polymerase II core subunit Rpb7 reflects functional conservation Research Papers in Peer Reviewed Journals Nucleic Acids Research 32 DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkh163
Evidence for parvulin pinA-mediated control of cellular events in D. discoideum by mutational analysis Research Papers in UGC listed Journals Annals of Plant and Soil Research 2024 https://doi.org/10.47815/apsr.2023.10305
Research Projects
Project Title Project Type Year Of Sanction Outcome/Output Duration
Role of bZIP transcription factors in Dictyostelium discoideum NO.- SR/FT/LS-61/2010 Major 2012 Transcription factors are modulators of gene expression that act on all eukaryotic biochemical systems. These factors drive the regulatory programs that define the developmental stages of life and also maintain cells in dynamically changing microenvironments. These factors are amongst the most highly studied class of proteins. Through TFs, we can decipher the complex regulatory program that allows a single genome to specify hundreds of phenotypically distinct cell types. A complete understanding of TFs and the processes that alter their activity is a fundamental goal of modern life science research. This simplicity of D. discoideum and importance of transcription factors led us to investigate bzpG, a gene encoding a putative basic leucine zipper transcription factor. Our work presents the evidence that BzpG may regulate genes in growth and development of D. discoideum. During growth, BzpG may inhibit growth in D. discoideum as bzpG knockdown leads to faster growth than the wild type. Further investigations are required to establish the role of BzpG in regulating the expression of cycD or growth-specific genes or cell adhesion pathway genes. The assumption that these genes may be under the control of BzpG and if they are then, whether the control is directly or indirectly need to be investigated. BzpG may also function as an inhibitor for spore differentiation as cells expressing altered level of bzpG produced defective spores. Additionally, phototaxis experiments revealed that BzpG function may be required for directional movement of slugs towards light. Altogether, overexpression and antisense approaches suggested that the function of BzpG may be necessary during growth and development. The function of probable interacting partner of BzpG as bZIP proteins function as dimers either homodimer or heterodimer may be explored. Future research on binding partners of BzpG, its binding sequence may provide insights into the mechanism by which BzpG regulate the cellular processes in D. discoideum. 10-07-2012 To 09-07-2015 (2 years, 11 months, 29 days)
Understanding the function of Peptidyl prolyl cis trans isomerase (PPIase) in Dictyostelium discoideum Ref: SB/EMEQ-203/2013 Major 2013 Towards understanding mechanisms underlying cell differentiation, the project undertook identification and characterisation of Ess1 homolog in D. discoideum and found that PinA is required for growth and development of D. discoideum. Bioinformatic analysis found two putative candidate proteins, PinA and Pin4, as Ess1 homolog from D. discoideum database. Complementation analysis found that PinA is a true homolog of Ess1 as it can substitute the function of Ess1 by allowing the growth of ESS1 mutant (ess1H154R) strain at non-permissive temperature also proving that the functional conservation of this protein family in yeast and D. discoideum. Cellular localisation using GFP-tagged PinA showed that PinA is localized in nucleus in D. discoideum during growth. This finding is in agreement with the other known FHA-domain containing proteins. Interestingly, a significant amount of PinA is also seen in cytoplasm thus it is highly likely that PinA functions in both the compartments. mRNA and protein analysis showed that PinA is expressed in growing/vegetative cells, aggregating to fruiting body indicating the importance of its function throughout growth and development. X-gal staining on developmental structures formed by pinA promoter-lacZ reporter gave similar expression profile obtained by mRNA and protein analyses. Furthermore, it was revealed that pinA is differentially expressed in different cell-types present in developmental structures. In short, PinA was found to be enriched in the prestalk/stalk cells than in prespore/spore cells. To confirm the spatial localisation of PinA by promoter-lacZ reporter studies, in situ hybridization experiments using Digoxygenin-labeled DNA probe on developmental structures such as slugs gave similar results showing the presence of pinA transcripts was more in prestalk regions than in prespore region in slugs confirming the differential expression of pinA in developmental structures. To explore the function of PinA, gene deletion cell lines (pinAKO or pinA⁻) were generated by homologous recombination using Blasticidin S resistance as a marker. pinA⁻ cells were analysed compared to wild type parent and exhibited phenotypes indicating that the function of PinA may be important for growth, aggregation, cell differentiation and cell patterning. In future, identifying the pathways through which PinA regulate these processes during development needs to be explored. Further studies may also focus on finding factors which may bind to pinA promoter and also probable substrate of PinA will help in understanding the involvement of phosphorylation-dependent prolyl isomerization in D. discoideum, in particular, cell differentiation and cell patterning during development. 26-07-2013 To 25-07-2017 (3 years, 11 months, 29 days)
Elucidate the function of Wee family kinases in Dictyostelium discoideum Ref: EMR/2016/002994 Major 2017 Dictyostelium discoideum is a unicellular haploid amoeba feeding on soil microorganism. In response to nutritional starvation, amoebae aggregate to form multicellular fruiting body termed as development. This development proceeds with minimum interference from cell division process. This organism thus offers a good model to study the function of cell cycle proteins in developmental processes. Cell differentiation is one of the processes in D. discoideum development and cells in developing structures are broadly of two different cell types; presumptive stalk (or prestalk) cells which terminally differentiate into stalk cells, support the sorus containing spores formed from presumptive spore (or prespore) cells in a fruiting body. Also, the possible role of D. discoideum Wee1 homologue in transcription may give insights into the mechanism underlying differential gene expression during growth and cell differentiation during development. Three weeA, weeB, weeC genes encoding WeeA (998 amino acids, WeeB (778 amino acids) and WeeC (352 amino acids) respectively are predicted in D. discoideum genome as the putative homologs of S. pombe Wee1, a well characterised cell cycle inhibitor. All the three genes were found to be expressed at variable levels in D. discoideum growth and development. During cell cycle, mRNA expression of weeA and weeC were seen to be in significantly high and at constant level whereas expression of weeB is low in the phases of cell cycle. Similar pattern was seen for all three genes during development. weeA expression seems to be varied in development. Interestingly, weeA mRNA showed spatial expression pattern by preferentially localizing in prestalk/stalk cells but undetected in prespore/spore cells of culminants. Gene deletion studies of one of the gene weeA revealed that WeeA may be important for growth as loss of WeeA (weeA⁻) showed slow growth. weeA⁻ showed developmental phenotypes compared to wild type control. Briefly, weeA knockout strain exhibited slow growth on bacteria. This phenotype may also be due to defective phagocytosis. Loss of WeeA exhibited breakup and delayed phenotype during aggregation suggesting its probable function in early development. WeeA may also be important for prestalk/stalk differentiation as weeA⁻ cells formed slugs which migrated for long time shedding cells on agar surface resulting in a small fruiting body. An interesting finding is that weeA⁻ cells exhibited rapid development in later stages with delayed development phenotype in early developmental stages. Function of WeeA seems to be important for maintaining spore and stalk ratio as heterogeneous sized fruiting bodies were formed by weeA null cells compared to wild type fruiting bodies. Expression of cell-type specific promoters, D19 and ecmB was found to be defective in weeA- cells. Wee1 homologues though mostly known to function mainly in cell cycle may also be important in D. discoideum growth and development processes. 28-03-2017 To 27-03-2020 (2 years, 11 months, 28 days)
Role of prolyl isomerisation in developmental processes: A study using Dictyostelium discoideum as a model organism Major 2023 Ongoing since 03-02-2023 (2 years, 3 months, 2 days)
Professional Development Programmes
Programme Title Sponsoring Institution Organizing Institution Role Type of Programme
Life Sciences, Biological Sciences, Bioinformatics University Grants Commission CPDHE University of Delhi Attendee Refresher Program
OR-86 University Grants Commission CPDHE University of Delhi Attendee Orientation Programme
Refresher Course in Life Sciences and Biotechnology University Grants Commission UGC-Human Resource Development Centre, Jawaharlal Nehru University Attendee Refresher Program
Advanced Research Methodology Tools and Techniques University of Delhi Teaching Learning Centre, Ramanujan College Attendee Refresher Program
Talk Poster Presented
Name of the Activity Role Date of Activity
Delivered a talk Speaker 17-07-2023
Attended as a panelist for the session titled "Industry-Academia Collaboration for Women-led Innovation and Economic Growth in Northeast India" on March 29, 2023 at Miranda House, University of Delhi Panelist 29-03-2023
Delivered a lecture on “Dictyostelium discoideum - a promising model organism” at Department of Genetics, Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak, Haryana on Nov 16, 2022. Speaker 16-11-2022
Attended and chaired one session at 4th BioGroup-India Meeting at IISER Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, during August 19-20, 2022. Participant 19-08-2022
Presented a poster at The Xth Young Investigator Meeting held at Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, INDIA during March 5-8, 2018. Participant 05-03-2018
Delivered a talk at Young Scientist Meet held at Department of Biotechnology, University of Calicut, Kerala, INDIA during Feb 22-23, 2018. Speaker 22-02-2018
Attended IISc Alumni Global Conference held at Bangalore, INDIA during June 26-28, 2015 Participant 26-06-2015
Attended and delivered a talk at Annual International Dictyostelium Conference held at Potsdam, GERMANY during August 3-7, 2014. Speaker 07-08-2014
Delivered a lecture on Dictyostelium discoideum: a promising model organism at Ramjas College, University of Delhi, on March 9, 2015. Speaker 09-03-2015
Delivered a lecture on “Understanding the cell differentiation in Dictyostelium discoideum” at National Science Day during February 27-28, 2015 at University of Delhi South Campus. Speaker 27-02-2015
Delivered Lecture on Dictyostelium discoideum at Refresher Course in Life Sciences from January 13th-- February 7th, 2014 at the Academic Staff College, JNU on January 16, 2014. Speaker 07-02-2014
One of the organizers at 7th Annual Convention of ABAP & International Conference on Plant Biotechnology, Molecular medicine and Human Health held at New Delhi, INDIA during October 18-20, 2013. Participant 18-10-2013
Delivered a lecture in “Refresher Course in Life Sciences” – organized by CPDHE (UGC-ASC) University of Delhi from Feb. 25 to Mar. 16, 2013 (3 weeks) Speaker 04-03-2013
As a Resource person, a lecture and demonstration of Dictyostelium discoideum-Life cycle and as a model organism on February 13-14, 2013 Speaker 13-02-2013
Presented a poster at The 3rd Young Investigator Meeting Held at Bhubaneswar, INDIA between February 12-16, 2011 Participant 12-02-2011
* This site is designed and developed by Samarth eGov and the content is provided by the individual. For further details, please contact the individual / university.
© Samarth eGov Suite - 2025