Xylan O-acetylation is critical for stable interaction with cellulose and other polymers in the cell wall. Its alteration improves cellulose as well as xylan digestibility. Xylan acetyl pool is regulated by Golgi and membrane localized esterase but they are not well characterized in plants. In this study, we have identified and characterized first plasma membrane […]

Stromal Interaction Molecule1 (STIM1) is an endoplasmic reticulum calcium (Ca2+) sensor. Several disease states and enhanced biological phenomena are associated with increased STIM1 levels and activity. However, molecular mechanisms driving STIM1 expression remain largely unappreciated. Here using melanocytes as a model system, we demonstrate that Microphthalmia-associated transcription factor (MITF) is a critical regulator of STIM1 […]

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) belong to the class of small noncoding RNAs that regulate gene expression at the post-transcriptional level. Approximately 50% of miRNA loci in Drosophila melanogaster reside in close proximity in the genome to form clusters that are transcribed together. Since, these clusters are transcribed as a single primary transcript, fine-tuning of the downstream effector […]

Biofortification of food crops has been utilized as a cost-effective and feasible strategy to increase the nutritional value of food and improve the health of populations that have limited access to diverse diets and other micronutrient interventions. Wheat is one of the most widely grown staple crop in which conventional breeding approaches have been utilized […]

Exosomes are a class of extracellular vesicles that play a role in intercellular signaling under diverse contexts. Here we describe a protocol that has been optimized for the isolation and characterization of exosomes from a Drosophila melanogaster cell line using size exclusion chromatography (SEC). The specific focus of this protocol was to examine the starvation-induced […]