Antimicrobial peptides from frog skin secretions

Biologically active substances found in frog skin secretions offer an enormous range of useful activities from antimicrobial to immunomodulation. Peptides that are present in the secretion hold remarkable pharmaceutical and technological interest since they selectively kill microorganisms and are unlikely to induce resistance in pathogens. AMPs have very high synergism when these peptides are combined with classic antibiotics. Studies on naturally expressing animal antimicrobial peptides are now attaining momentum since they represent a viable and fertile area for drug discovery. In the highly competitive environment of the contemporary pharmaceutical industry, natural products provide a unique important element in functional molecular diversity, which is indispensable for drug discovery. Isolation of new AMPs and their structure-function studies may form the basis for the generation of new peptides or peptide analogues based drugs for the treatment of various diseases including cancer. AMPs in different ranid species share some common properties: (i) the peptides are composed of 10–50 amino acid residues (ii) majority of these peptides are cationic with relatively hydrophobic nature and possess ?-helical conformation (iii) majority of these peptides possess phenylalanine or glycine as the N-terminal amino acid (iv) some of the C-terminus of the peptides contain Rana-box. My lab is currently concentrating on the isolation and characterisation of novel peptides form Western Ghat endemic frog species with a view to develop lead drug molecules

DNA Barcoding and conservation genetics of amphibians of Western Ghats

DNA barcoding is a standardized approach by using a short DNA sequence from a uniform locality of the genome that can be used to help discover, characterize, and distinguish species, and to assign unidentified individuals to species. Currently we are exploring the potential of CO1 mtDNA sequences for differentiating species/cryptic species and its use in wild life forensic application. In addition, our lab also concentrating on the development of molecular tools to study the genetic relationships and diversity among and between different frog populations and species in different parts of Western Ghats