Publications – Melkani Lab

Novel And Efficient Method for Drosophila Heart Fluorescence Staining with Cryosectioning. J Vis Exp. 2025 Mar 28;(217). doi: 10.3791/67827.
Identifying novel links between cardiovascular disease and insomnia by Drosophila modeling of genes from a pleiotropic GWAS locus. Dis Model Mech. 2025 Apr 3:dmm.052139. doi: 10.1242/dmm.052139.
Regulation of lipid dysmetabolism and neuroinflammation linked with Alzheimer’s disease through modulation of Dgat2. bioRxiv [Preprint]. 2025 Mar 11:2025.02.18.638929. doi: 10.1101/2025.02.18.638929.
The Interplay of Genetic Predisposition, Circadian Misalignment, and Metabolic Regulation in Obesity. Curr Obes Rep. 2025 Mar 1;14(1):21. doi: 10.1007/s13679-025-00613-3.
Direct Cryosectioning of Drosophila Heads for Enhanced Brain Fluorescence Staining and Immunostaining. J Vis Exp doi: 10.3791/67791. 2025 Feb 7
A conserved role for ALG10/ALG10B and the N -glycosylation pathway in the sleep-epilepsy axis. medRxiv [Preprint] doi: 10.1101/2024.12.11.24318624. 2024 Dec 13
Apolipoprotein E Induces Lipid Accumulation Through Dgat2 That Is Prevented with Time-Restricted Feeding in Drosophila. Genes (Basel) doi: 10.3390/genes15111376. 2024 Oct 25
Genetic and Pathophysiological Basis of Cardiac and Skeletal Muscle Laminopathies. Genes (Basel) doi: 10.3390/genes15081095. 2024
Automated assessment of cardiac dynamics in aging and dilated cardiomyopathy Drosophila models using machine learning. Communications Biology volume 7, Article number: 702 (2024)
Diurnal expression of Dgat2 induced by time-restricted feeding maintains cardiac health in the Drosophila model of circadian disruption. Aging Cell. doi: 10.1111/acel.14169. 2024
O-GlcNAc transferase regulates collagen deposition and fibrosis resolution in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. Front. Immunol. doi:10.3389/fimmu.2024
Time-restricted feeding regulates lipid metabolism under metabolic challenges. Bioessays. doi: 10.1002/bies.202300157. 2023
Time-restricted feeding promotes muscle function through purine cycle and AMPK signaling in Drosophila obesity models. Nat Commun. 14:949. 2023
Mitochondrial epigenetic modifications and nuclear-mitochondrial communication: A new dimension towards understanding and attenuating the pathogenesis in women with PCOS. Rev Endocr Metab Disord. doi: 10.1007/s11154-023-09789-2. 2023.
Circadian-mediated regulation of cardiometabolic disorders and aging with time-restricted feeding. Obesity. Suppl 1:40-49. 2023
A skeletal muscle-centric view on time-restricted feeding and obesity under various metabolic challenges in humans and animals. Int J Mol Sci. 24:422. 2022
Time-restricted feeding restores muscle function in Drosophila models of obesity and circadian-rhythm disruption. Nat Commun. 10, 2700. 2019
Time-Restricted Eating to Prevent and Manage Chronic Metabolic Diseases. Annual Review of Nutrition. 39:291-315. 2019
Suppression of myopathic lamin mutations by muscle-specific activation of AMPK and modulation of downstream signaling. Human Molecular Genetics. 28:351-371. 2019
Increasing autophagy and blocking Nrf2 suppress laminopathy-induced age-dependent cardiac dysfunction and shortened lifespan. Aging Cell. 17:e12747-e12747. 2018
Prolonged cross-bridge binding triggers muscle dysfunction in a Drosophila model of myosin-based hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. eLife. 7. 2018
TRiC/CCT chaperonins are essential for maintaining myofibril organization, cardiac physiological rhythm, and lifespan. FEBS Letters. 591:3447-3458. 2017
Time-restricted feeding for prevention and treatment of cardiometabolic disorders. J Physiol, 595: 3691-3700. 2017
A Drosophila model of dominant inclusion body myopathy 3 shows diminished myosin kinetics that reduce muscle power and yield myofibrillar defects. Dis Model Mech, 10(6): 761–771. 2017
A Restrictive Cardiomyopathy Mutation in an Invariant Proline at the Myosin Head/Rod Junction Enhances Head Flexibility and Function, Yielding Muscle Defects in Drosophila. Journal of Molecular Biology. 428:2446-2461. 2016
Using Drosophila as an integrated model to study mild repetitive traumatic brain injury. Scientific Reports. 6. 2016
Huntington’s Disease-Induced Cardiac Disorders Affect Multiple Cellular Pathways. Reactive Oxygen Species, 2(5), 325–338. 2016
The Relay/Converter Interface Influences Hydrolysis of ATP by Skeletal Muscle Myosin II. Journal of Biological Chemistry. 291:1763-1773. 2016
A Failure to Communicate. Journal of Biological Chemistry. 290:29270-29280. 2015
Time-restricted feeding attenuates age-related cardiac decline in Drosophila. Science. 347:1265-1269. 2015
Mapping Interactions between Myosin Relay and Converter Domains That Power Muscle Function. Journal of Biological Chemistry. 289:12779-12790. 2014
Drosophila as a potential model to ameliorate mutant Huntington-mediated cardiac amyloidosis. Rare Diseases. 2:e968003-e968003. 2014
The UNC-45 Myosin Chaperone. International Review of Cell and Molecular Biology. 103-144. 2014
Huntington’s Disease Induced Cardiac Amyloidosis Is Reversed by Modulating Protein Folding and Oxidative Stress Pathways in the Drosophila Heart. PLoS Genetics. 9:e1004024-e1004024. 2013
Expression of the inclusion body myopathy 3 mutation in Drosophila depresses myosin function and stability and recapitulates muscle inclusions and weakness. Molecular Biology of the Cell. 23:11, 2057-2065. 2012
Interaction of oxidized chaperonin GroEL with an unfolded protein at low temperatures. Biosci Rep 1. 32 (3): 299–303. 2012
Alternative Relay and Converter Domains Tune Native Muscle Myosin Isoform Function in Drosophila. Journal of Molecular Biology. 416:543-557. 2012
Transgenic expression and purification of myosin isoforms using the Drosophila melanogaster indirect flight muscle system. Methods. 56:25-32. 2012
Two Drosophila Myosin Transducer Mutants with Distinct Cardiomyopathies Have Divergent ADP and Actin Affinities. Journal of Biological Chemistry. 286:28435-28443. 2011
Drosophila UNC-45 accumulates in embryonic blastoderm and in muscles, and is essential for muscle myosin stability. Journal of Cell Science. 124:699-705. 2011
The UNC-45 Chaperone Is Critical for Establishing Myosin-Based Myofibrillar Organization and Cardiac Contractility in the Drosophila Heart Model. PLoS ONE. 6:e22579-e22579. 2011
Drosophila UNC-45 prevents heat-induced aggregation of skeletal muscle myosin and facilitates refolding of citrate synthase. Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications. 396:317-322. 2010
Mutating the Converter–Relay Interface of Drosophila Myosin Perturbs ATPase Activity, Actin Motility, Myofibril Stability and Flight Ability. Journal of Molecular Biology. 398:625-632. 2010
Alternative Exon 9-Encoded Relay Domains Affect More than One Communication Pathway in the Drosophila Myosin Head. Journal of Molecular Biology. 389:707-721. 2009
Divalent cations stabilize GroEL under conditions of oxidative stress. Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications. 368:625-630. 2008
Protection of GroEL by its methionine residues against oxidation by hydrogen peroxide. Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications. 347:534-539. 2006
αB-Crystallin Maintains Skeletal Muscle Myosin Enzymatic Activity and Prevents its Aggregation under Heat-shock Stress. Journal of Molecular Biology. 358:635-645. 2006
On the chaperonin activity of GroEL at heat-shock temperature. Int. J. Biochem. Cell Biol., 37(7), 1375–1385. 2005
Hydrogen peroxide induces the dissociation of GroEL into monomers that can facilitate the reactivation of oxidatively inactivated rhodanese. Int. J. Biochem. Cell Biol., 36(3), 505–518. 2003
Oxidized GroEL can function as a chaperonin. Frontiers in Bioscience. 9:724-724. 2004
GroEL interacts transiently with oxidatively inactivated rhodanese facilitating its reactivation. Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications. 294:893-899. 2002
Synthesis, conformation and vibrational dynamics of the peptide -Ser-Cys-Lys-Leu-Asp-Phe-, a fragment of apolipoprotein B. Indian J Biochem Biophys. 39(6):410-8. 2002
Recurrent strokes–an interesting pedigree. Journal of the Association of Physicians of India. 49:765-766. 2001
Lipoprotein(a) and coronary heart disease in Indian population. Journal of the Association of Physicians of India. 47:1157-1160. 1999
Oxidative stress and metabolic control in non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus. Indian J Biochem Biophys. 34(6):512-7. 1997