SM

Shravan Kumar Mishra

Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Mohali, Max-Planck-Institut für Biochemie, Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main, Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, University of Mumbai

ORCID iD 0000-0003-3899-0495
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About

I was born in Jagdishpur-Sureri village of Jaunpur district in Uttar Pradesh (UP), India. In the village I got a school education. I moved to SK Somaiya college in Mumbai for intermediate education. Afterwards, I completed my Bachelor of Science (BSc) studies in Microbiology and Biochemistry from KJ Somaiya College affiliated with Mumbai University, India. I got a Master of Science (MSc) in Biotechnology at the MS University of Baroda, India, where I did a research project with Bharat B. Chattoo. I got further research training in the laboratory of K.S. Krishnan at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) in Mumbai.

I joined the laboratory of Lutz Nover at the Goethe University of Frankfurt, Germany, and got PhD degree in early 2004. Here we identified the master regulator of thermotolerance in tomato plants, the heat stress transcription factor HsfA1. This discovery provided a simplified scheme of heat stress response in an unusually complex Hsf network in plants. The RNAi-mediated knockdown (of HsfA1) in plants was maintained in cell protoplasts, which could be utilised successfully to target other genes in cells.

For post-doctoral research, I joined the laboratory of Stefan Jentsch at the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry in Martinsried/Munich, Germany. Here I worked in the field of ubiquitin biology and studied the ubiquitin-like protein Hub1. Using genetic and biochemical screens in the budding yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, we identified a Hub1 substrate, a pre-mRNA splicing factor Snu66, and characterised the Hub1 binding domain HIND. We collaborated with Tad Holak’s group at the MPI to solve structures of Hub1 in complex with HIND. We discovered that Hub1 promotes splice-site usage and alternative splicing. This work elucidated a new and conserved mechanism of alternative splicing. I got training from EMBO and started the fission yeast, Schizosaccharomyces pombe, system in the Jentsch laboratory.

In early 2012, I joined the department of biological sciences at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Mohali, India, as a teacher and research group leader. Here my group studies function and regulation of proteins related to ubiquitin in pre-mRNA splicing using yeasts S. cerevisiae and S. pombe. We have recently discovered that intron-specific pre-mRNA splicing is promoted by a ubiquitin-fold containing Sde2 in S. pombe. In this process, excision of selected introns requires activation of Sde2 through cleavage by deubiquitinating enzyme (DUB) paralogs, Ubp5 and Ubp15. The dual activity of these DUBs for ubiquitin and the ubiquitin-fold of Sde2, despite their amino acid sequences being less than 20% similar, suggests that the two processes—processing of the archetypal ubiquitin for conjugation to proteins and cleavage of a distant ubiquitin fold for activation of an intron-specific pre-mRNA splicing regulator—might be connected in the cell. Importance of this phenomenon is exemplified by the fact that defects in intron-specific pre-mRNA splicing result in abnormalities in heterochromatin silencing and genomic stability.

Employment

  • Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Mohali Associate Professor
    2018 - Present
  • Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Mohali Assistant Professor
    2012 - 2018
  • Max-Planck-Institut für Biochemie Post doctoral researcher
    2003 - 2012

Education

  • Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main PhD
    1999 - 2003
  • Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda Master of Science
    1997 - 1999
  • University of Mumbai Bachelor of Science
    1994 - 1997

Projects & Funding

Projects & funding information is unavailable.

Publications (24)