The ‘microRNAs’ (miRNAs) are small (18-24nt in size) noncoding RNAs which are generated by the RNase-III-type Dicer endonuclease from an endogenous hairpin transcript, ‘the pre-miRNAs’. In plants, the miRNAs lead to ‘Post Transcriptional Gene Silencing’ (PTGS) by either cleavage of target mRNAs or by repressing translation. Black pepper, the ‘black gold of Indian Spices’ originated in the Western Ghats of South India. Very few studies are reported on the validation and characterization of either the mature miRNAs or their precursors in black pepper. Hence, our focus is on the identification and functional validation of miRNAs involved in fine tuning of gene expression. Discovery of new potential miRNA candidates can increase the possibility of their use as biotechnological tools for artificial gene silencing, thereby improving crop yield and quality.

Plant growth is greatly affected by environmental stimuli, in the form of abiotic and biotic stresses. The identification, isolation and cloning of new genes controlling specific stress responses will facilitate the development of a more stable, diversified germplasm with improved resistance to diseases, pests and stress tolerance. Calcium dependent protein kinases (CDPKs) may function as a potential sensor-responder that decodes and translates the elevation of calcium concentration into enhanced protein kinase activity and subsequent downstream signaling events during stress conditions.
So we are concentrating towards the elucidation of role of CDPK genes involved with abiotic stress. So we are concentrating to study CDPK genes involved with abiotic stress.

Plant Type III polyketide synthase (PKS), a key regulatory enzyme in the biosynthesis of phenyl propanoids, is a suitable candidate gene to unravel the secondary metabolite pathway leading to nutaceuticals. Type III PKS has multiple substrates binding affinity and hence the normal biosynthetic pathway may diverge at this point to result in wide range of natural products. In the present study our idea is to clone and characterize type III PKS gene from important medicinal plants and to study its multiple substrate binding capacities towards the production of unnatural compounds.

Salinity is one of the major impeding factor for the plant growth and productivity. Halophytic plants can successfully thrive and reproduce in high salinity environments. Understanding the mechanisms by which these plants respond and adapt to these environments will be a useful addition to the existing strategies for engineering stress tolerance. Mangroves are trees inhabiting the intertidal zones of tropical and subtropical coasts which possess a common characteristic of tolerating high-salinity seawater and the mechanism of salt adaptation has been shown to be tightly linked to the regulation of gene expression. There are many difficulties in the genetic manipulation in mangroves that restrict studies on these species at the molecular level. Hence our attempt is to identify the essential molecular mechanism behind the adaptive strategies that are specifically developed in mangroves. The present study focuses on the gene expression in Rhizophora and related species with respect to salt stress by transcriptomic and proteomic analyses.

MicroRNAs, a group of small non coding RNAs are a class of post transcription regulators playing vital roles in plant development and growth by targeting mRNAs. Plants have to cope with various adverse environments, such as drought, salinity, temperature extremes and pathogen invasions. The discovery of stress responsive miRNA levels together with the identification of stress-associated genes as miRNA targets provide clues about the role of miRNAs in stress responses. Black pepper (Piper nigrum L.) known as ‘King of Spices’ is one of the important export- earning spice crops of Kerala. The cultivation of black pepper has been under threat due to severe infestation of foot-rot disease coupled with abiotic stresses. The present study focus on the isolation and characterisation of miRNAs expression in response to different stress conditions. Profiling of miRNAs expression in response to different stress conditions in black pepper will lead to the improvement of the crop by ellucidating the mechanisms of stress biology and help in developing novel strategies to improve plant yield, quality and stress tolerance in black pepper.

Plants contain a variety of secondary metabolites that play an important role in plant physiology and in herbal medicine. Among the secondary metabolites, the phenyl propanoids comprise flavonoids, stilbenes, tannins, lignans and lignins. The magnificent diversity of phenyl propanoids, in principle is the result of efficient modification and amplification of a very limited set of core structure derived from shikimate pathway. The plasticity of these compounds from the pathway is achieved by a set of enzymes organized into superfamilies like oxygenases, ligases, oxidoreductases and polyketide synthase (PKS). Of which polyketide synthase super family posses a significant role in the biosynthesis of secondary metabolites. The objective of the study relies on understanding the molecular biology of the complex biosynthetic pathways; elucidation and identification of enzyme complexes mainly type III polyketide synthase from medicinal plants. Functional analysis of the corresponding gene in heterologous systems through cloning and PCR strategies will lead to new opportunities in improving plant resistance, increasing the levels of nutraceuticals and utilizing transgenic plants for production of pharmaceuticals.

Polyketide synthases, also known as PKSs, are a family of enzyme complexes that produce a large class of secondary metabolites known as polyketides which possess pharmacologically important properties including antibiotic, antifungal, antitumor and immunosuppressive activities. PKS are of different types: type I, II, and III. Among this type III polyketide synthases are large multienzyme protein complexes responsible for the synthesis of polyketides such as chalcone and stilbene. The work focuses on data mining, computational analysis, structural interpretation and development of database on type III PKSs which will be an efficient platform that support insilico analysis of the Type III PKS.

The world of plants, and indeed all-natural sources, represents a virtually unexploited reservoir of novel drugs against new diseases, awaiting imaginative and progressive organizations. Coupled with continuing threat to biodiversity through the destruction of terrestrial and marine ecosystems and proven record of natural products in drug discovery, there is a compelling disagreement for expanding the exploration of nature as source of novel active agents. Keeping in view the importance of valuable products from mangrove region, the present study will be undertaken with the main aim-search for bioactive compounds from mangrove plants, especially on low molecular weight substances with antimicrobial activity and surface-active properties.