Dear Chlamy-ites
I have been working on the green alga *Chlamydomonas reinhardtii* since the
year 2002 October. I am a Scientific officer associated with Prof. B. J.
Rao's laboratory. We have been working mainly on two aspects of Chlamy:
1) Unravelling the mechanism of apoptosis in this alga, and 2) Studying the
flagella-driven rotational dynamics of cells trapped in an optical tweezer.
The following is a list of our publications:
M. Gudipati, *J. S. D'Souza*, J. A. Dharmadhikari, A. K. Dharmadhikari, B.
J. Rao and D. Mathur. *(2005)* Optically-controllable, micron-sized motor
based on live cells. Optics Express *13*: 1555-1560.
Jayashree A. Dharmadhikari, *Jacinta S. D'Souza*, Mohanram Gudipati, Aditya
K. Dharmadhikari, Basuthkar J. Rao and Deepak Mathur, *(2006) *Sensitive,
real-time monitoring of UV-induced stress in a single, live plant cell using
an optical trap. Sensors and Actuators, Chemical, *115*: 439-443*.*
Swati Moharikar, *Jacinta D'Souza*, Atul B. Kulkarni, and B. J. Rao, UV-C
induced apoptotic-like cell death process in the unicellular
chlorophyte *Chlamydomonas
reinhardtii* *(2006)* Journal of Phycology, *42*: 423-433.
Swati Moharikar, *Jacinta D'Souza* and B. J. Rao. A homolog of the defender
against apoptotic death gene (DAD1) is down regulated prior to the onset of
apoptosis-like cell death in UV-exposed *Chlamydomonas reinhardtii* cells.*
**(2007)* Journal of BioScience 32: 261-270.
Currently, we are pursuing with the cloning, over-expression,
characterization, heterologous complementation and RNAi of the prospective
candidate molecules involved in the apoptosis pathway of Chlamy. However, we
are facing immense technical problems in this project. I wanted to know the
following:
1) Is it very difficult to clone and over-express GC-rich sequences of
Chlamy?
2) Does one need a special bacterial strain that is possibly compatible with
Chlamy sequences?
3) We are unable to get any RNAi vectors - can somebody help us?
I have received some interesting replies to some earlier querries from Prof.
Elizabeth Harris to whom I am immensely thankful. The above querries still
remain and I was asked to put these forth on this e-mail id. Thanking you in
advance and eagerly awaiting a reply.
With sincere regards,
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Jacintha S. D'Souza Saldanha, PhD
Department of Biological Sciences,
Tata Institute of Fundamental Research
1 Homi Bhabha Road,
Colaba, Mumbai-400005
INDIA
