DT

Dr. Rupal S Tomar

Washington University in St Louis

ORCID iD 0000-0002-4075-6895
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About

I am an expert in studying the plant responses to abiotic stress, such as high temperature, drought, salinity, pollutants and with an emphasis on photosynthesis and biochemistry of plant and algae. I have gained knowledge and skills in plant physiology while pursuing my doctoral studies and later post-doctoral fellowship to work on algal culture and photosynthesis. In my Ph.D I investigated Inhibiting effects of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), Fluoranthene (FLT) on primary processes of photosynthesis in wheat (Triticum aestivum) plant. The main aim of the work was to evaluate the effects of FLT on various physiological and biochemical parameters especially on photosystem II (PSII) photochemistry. I have mainly exploited the technique of Chl a fluorescence using PEA (plant efficiency analyser) and PAM (Pulse Amplitude modulator) to get information about the nature of damage taking place at PSII and PSI. I have further reported changes in heterogeneity of PSII under PAHs stress. This is the first report to explain the effects caused by PAHs on the heterogeneity of PSII in wheat plants. With FLT treatment the fraction of QB-non-reducing centers increased and that of QB-reducing centers decreased. In case of antenna heterogeneity, FLT concentration caused a change in the relative amounts of α, β and γ centers. The toxicity of PAH to a terrestrial plant is strongly enhanced after photo-modification of intact compound in natural sunlight. In my study, wheat plants when exposed to intact and photo-modified FLT(P.FLT), exhibit higher toxicity of the photo-modified form of FLT at physiological and photochemical level. However almost similar increase in POD and SOD activity and decrease in CAT and GR activity was observed in FLT and P.FLT treated plants. . I also examined effects of FLT and photo-modified FLT on energy conversion in photosystem I (PSI) and photosystem II (PSII) in wheat plants using Dual PAM-100 measuring system. my studies show that PSI was more tolerant then PSII, and it became a target site of FLT only at higher concentrations. The enhancement of the contribution of CEF to the quantum yield of PSI was the probable reason for the lesser sensitivity of PSI to FLT.
During my Post- doctoral work (CSIR-RA), I was working on biodegradation of PAHs by microalgae (Chlorella and Scenedesmus species). The idea behind this project was that microalgae are photosynthetic organisms and are highly adaptive to grow heterotrophically and mixotrophically. So they are able to use organic compounds as carbon source. I observed that Chlorella cells metabolized organic compound more rapidly than to Scenedesmus through dioxygenase pathway. When the chlorella cells were grown in media with Fluoranthene, it induced meta-pathways and increased expression of catechol 2,3-dioxygenase enzyme. Our study suggested for the first time that dioxygenase is the key enzyme involved in the metabolism of Fluoranthene by Chlorella (Ecotoxicology 2021). I also worked on different type of nano particle to improve bioremediation of Phenanthrene and Pyrene. So, I have expertise in plant stress physiology as well as algal photosynthesis and growth metabolism.
Presently I am working on Molecular mechanism of photoprotection, underlying the structural and crosslink properties of various subunits of photosystem II in cyanobacteria and higher plants.

Employment

  • Washington University in St Louis Research Associates
    2021 - Present

Education

Education history is unavailable.

Projects & Funding

Projects & funding information is unavailable.

Publications (26)