Page 60 - Annual report 2021-22

Annual Report 2021-22 |

absence of MALAT1 in HeLa cells. These experiments revealed that the proteins showed localization
to nuclear speckles in the presence of MALAT1 but in MALAT1 knock-out cells their signals were not
detected in the nuclear speckles. Thus, MALAT1 rG4s act as an anchor for these proteins to shuttle
them to nuclear speckles. All the three rG4s of MALAT1 were necessary for NCL's localization to
speckles but FL plasmid with three intact rG4s of the lncRNA could rescue NCL in the nuclear speckles.
Therefore, it was confirmed that NCL is a bonafide partner of the MALAT1 rG4s and its subcellular 43
localization was dependent on the three rG4s of the lncRNA.

In one study, Streptococcus pyogenes (Sp), Staphylococcus aureus (Sa), and Campylobacter jejuni (Cj)
Cas9 were candidate orthologs depending on their respective sizes and different PAM specificity. The
solution state structure and thermal stability of Cas9 was captured using circular dichroism
experiments and the melting temperatures were found to be 43°C, 45°C and 48°C respectively for Sp,
Sa and CjCas9 proteins. Temperature dependent binding studies reveal that the RNA interaction with
Cas9 is enthalpy driven whereas RNA guided Cas9 RNP complex targeting DNA is an entropically driven
process. Souvik Maiti also provides mentorship to collaborators in NIIT, Dimapur, elucidation of detail
energy profile i.e thermodynamic and kinetic (wherever applicable) aspects of indole alkaloid-DNA
interactions.

“Every act of perception, is to some degree an act of creation, and

every act of memory is to some degree an act of imagination.”
― Oliver Sacks