W E L C O M E
The plant organelles collectively referred to as plastids play a diverse set of physiological functions including photosynthesis, and soluble and membrane-bound proteins, localized in certain subplastidal compartments, are involved in the organelle functions.
We have been studying the function and biogenesis of plastid proteins with techniques of biochemistry, genetics, and cell biology using higher plants and cyanobacteria, and current projects are following:
i) Reducing equivalents are utilized by combination of ferredoxin and ferredoxin-dependent enzymes, enabling plants to assimilate inorganic raw materials. The electron transfer and catalytic mechanisms of these enzymes are studied.
ii) Cytosolically synthesized polypeptides are transported into chloroplasts and converted to functional mature proteins. The mechanisms of protein translocation across membranes and iron-sulfur cluster assembly, and involvements of molecular chaperones in these processes are studies.
iii) Malaria cells contain an organelle called apicoplast, in which redox metabolisms for parasite vitality take place. We are studying maralia Fd and its redox enzymes to explore how redox cascade is operative in apicoplasts.
[ Current Research Programs ]
