Dr. Rakesh Bhatnagar

Professor
Jawaharlal Nehru University, India


Highest Degree
PostDoc Fellow in Biotechnology from The United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, USA

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Biography

Dr. Rakesh Bhatnagar is currently working as Professor at School of Biotechnology Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He has completed his PhD from Department of Biochemistry, National Sugar Institute, Kanpur, India and Postdoctoral Fellow in Biotechnology from The United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, USA. Previously he was appointed as Scientist at Institute of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Freiburg University, Freiburg, Germany, Pool Officer in Department of Biochemistry V. P. Chest Institute, University of Delhi, Assistant Professor of Biochemistry Post Graduate Institute of Medicine Education & Research, Chandigarh, Visiting Assistant Professor at Lab of Connective Tissue, Biochemistry, CHU, Caen, France, Visiting Associate at NHLBI, NIH, Bethesda, MD, USA, Senior NRC Associate at USAMRIID, Fredrick MD, USA, Associate Professor, Chairman, Director, and Dean at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, and Faculty in U.S.-India Joint Research Training Program Seattle Biomedical Research Institute Seattle WA, USA. He is fellow of Indian National Science Academy, New Delhi, India, J.C. Bose National Fellow, New Delhi, India, National Academy of Sciences, Allahabad, India, Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore, India. Dr. Rakesh received honors includes Council of Medical Research (ICMR) award for outstanding research work, 7th among the top ten eminent researchers publishing commendable research papers on anthrax, and All India Biotech Association Award. He has lead 37 research projects and completed more than 29 research projects funded by various agencies. He has published 139 research articles in journals and conferences and 19 national international patents contributed as author/co-author.

Area of Interest:

Biomedical Sciences
Mycobacteriology
Pathogenesis
Virulence Factors
Vaccine

Selected Publications

  1. Gopalani, M., A. Dhiman, A. Rahi and R. Bhatnagar, 2016. Overexpression of the pleiotropic regulator CodY decreases sporulation, attachment and pellicle formation in Bacillus anthracis. Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun., 469: 672-678.
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  2. Verma, S., S. Kumar, V.P. Gupta, S. Gourinath, S. Bhatnagar and R. Bhatnagar, 2015. Structural basis of Bacillus anthracis MoxXT disruption and the modulation of MoxT ribonuclease activity by rationally designed peptides. J. Biomol. Struct. Dyn., 33: 606-624.
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  3. Tripathi, D., S. Kant, R. Garg and R. Bhatnagar, 2015. Low expression level of glnA1 accounts for absence of cell wall associated poly-L-glutamate/glutamine in Mycobacterium smegmatis. Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun., 458: 240-245.
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  4. Somani, V.K., S. Aggarwal, D. Singh, T. Prasad and R. Bhatnagar, 2015. Identification of novel raft marker protein, FlotP in Bacillus anthracis. Front. Microbiol., .

  5. Singh, D., V.K. Somani, S. Aggarwal and R. Bhatnagar, 2015. PLGA (85: 15) nanoparticle based delivery of rL7/L12 ribosomal protein in mice protects against Brucella abortus 544 infection: A promising alternate to traditional adjuvants. Mol. Immunol., 68: 272-279.
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  6. Singh, D., D. Goel and R. Bhatnagar, 2015. Recombinant L7/L12 protein entrapping PLGA (poly lactide-co-glycolide) micro particles protect BALB/c mice against the virulent B. abortus 544 infection. Vaccine, 33: 2786-2792.
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  7. Panda, G., P. Tanwer, S. Ansari, D. Khare and R. Bhatnagar, 2015. Regulation and RNA-binding properties of Hfq-like RNA chaperones in Bacillus anthracis. Biochim. Biophys. Acta Gen. Subj., 1850: 1661-1668.
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  8. Kulshreshtha, P., A. Tiwari, S. Joon, S. Sinha and R. Bhatnagar, 2015. Investigation of a panel of monoclonal antibodies and polyclonal sera against anthrax toxins resulted in identification of an anti-lethal factor antibody with disease-enhancing characteristics. Mol. Immunol., 68: 185-193.
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  9. Kaur, M., R. Garg, S. Singh and R. Bhatnagar, 2015. Rabies vaccines: Where do we stand, where are we heading? Expert Rev. Vaccines, 14: 369-381.
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  10. Garhyan, J., S. Bhuyan, I. Pulu, D. Kalita, B. Das and Bhatnagar, 2015. Preclinical and clinical evidence of mycobacterium tuberculosis persistence in the hypoxic niche of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells after therapy. Am. J. Pathol., 185: 1924-1934.
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  11. Garg, R., D. Tripathi, S. Kant, H. Chandra, R. Bhatnagar and N. Banerjee, 2015. The conserved hypothetical protein Rv0574c is required for cell wall integrity, stress tolerance and virulence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Infect. Immun., 83: 120-129.
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  12. Dhiman, A., M. Gopalani and R. Bhatnagar, 2015. WalRK two component system of Bacillus anthracis responds to temperature and antibiotic stress. Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun., 459: 623-628.
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  13. Aggarwal, S., V.K. Somani and R. Bhatnagar, 2015. Phosphate starvation enhances the pathogenesis of Bacillus anthracis. Int. J. Med. Microbiol., 305: 523-531.
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  14. Verma, S. and R. Bhatnagar, 2014. MoxT toxin of Bacillus anthracis exhibits sequence specific ribonuclease activity. Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun., 450: 998-1004.
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  15. Panda, G., T. Basak, P. Tanwer, S. Sengupta, V.A.M. dos Santos and R. Bhatnagar, 2014. Delineating the effect of host environmental signals on a fully virulent strain of Bacillus anthracis using an integrated transcriptomics and proteomics approach. J. Proteomics, 105: 242-265.
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  16. Gorantala, J., S. Grover, A. Rahi, P. Chaudhary, R. Rajwanshi, N.B. Sarin and R. Bhatnagar, 2014. Generation of protective immune response against anthrax by oral immunization with protective antigen plant-based vaccine. J. Biotechnol., 176: 1-10.
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  17. Garg, R., M. Kaur, A. Saxena and R. Bhatnagar, 2014. DNA vaccination for rabies: Evaluation of preclinical safety and toxicology. Trials Vaccinology, 3: 73-80.
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  18. Dhiman, A., S. Bhatnagar, P. Kulshreshtha and R. Bhatnagar, 2014. Functional characterization of WalRK: A two-component signal transduction system from Bacillus anthracis. Febs Open Bio, 4: 65-76.
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  19. Tripathi, D., H. Chandra and R. Bhatnagar, 2013. Poly-L-glutamate/glutamine synthesis in the cell wall of Mycobacterium bovis is regulated in response to nitrogen availability. BMC Microbiol., Vol. 13. 10.1186/1471-2180-13-226.
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  20. Sinha, K. and R. Bhatnagar, 2013. Recombinant GroEL enhances protective antigen-mediated protection against Bacillus anthracis spore challenge. Med. Microbiol. Immunol., 202: 153-165.
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  21. Manish, M., A. Rahi, M. Kaur, R. Bhatnagar and S. Singh, 2013. A single-dose PLGA encapsulated protective antigen domain 4 nanoformulation protects mice against Bacillus anthracis spore challenge. Plos One, Vol. 8. 10.1371/journal.pone.0061885.
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  22. Kaur, M., S. Singh and R. Bhatnagar, 2013. Anthrax vaccines: Present status and future prospects. Expert Rev. Vaccines, 12: 955-970.
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  23. Goel, D., V. Rajendran, P.C. Ghosh and R. Bhatnagar, 2013. Cell mediated immune response after challenge in Omp25 liposome immunized mice contributes to protection against virulent Brucella abortus 544. Vaccine, 31: 1231-1237.
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  24. Chopra, N., A. Pathak, R. Bhatnagar and S. Bhatnagar, 2013. Linkage, mobility and selfishness in the MazF family of bacterial toxins: A snapshot of bacterial evolution. Genome Biol. Evolution, 5: 2268-2284.
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  25. Kulshreshtha, P., S. Aggarwal, H. Jaiswal and R. Bhatnagar, 2012. S-layer homology motif is an immunogen and confers protection to mouse model against anthrax. Mol. Immunol., 50: 18-25.
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  26. Goel, D. and R. Bhatnagar, 2012. Intradermal immunization with outer membrane protein 25 protects Balb/c mice from virulent B. abortus 544. Mol. Immunol., 51: 159-168.
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  27. Rahi, A., M. Rehan, R. Garg, D. Tripathi, A.M. Lynn and R. Bhatnagar, 2011. Enzymatic characterization of catalase from Bacillus anthracis and prediction of critical residues using information theoretic measure of relative entropy. Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun., 411: 88-95.
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  28. Kaur, M. and R. Bhatnagar, 2011. Recent progress in the development of anthrax vaccines. Recent Pat. Biotechnol., 5: 148-159.
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  29. Gorantala, J., S. Grover, D. Goel, A. Rahi, S.K.J. Magani, S. Chandra and R. Bhatnagar, 2011. A plant based protective antigen [PA (dIV)] vaccine expressed in chloroplasts demonstrates protective immunity in mice against anthrax. Vaccine, 29: 4521-4533.
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  30. Chopra, N., S. Agarwal, S. Verma, S. Bhatnagar and R. Bhatnagar, 2011. Modeling of the structure and interactions of the B. anthracis antitoxin, MoxX: Deletion mutant studies highlight its modular structure and repressor function. J. Computer-Aided Mol. Des., 25: 275-291.
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  31. Sinha, K. and R. Bhatnagar, 2010. GroEL provides protection against Bacillus anthracis infection in BALB/c mice. Mol. Immunol., 48: 264-271.
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  32. Matta, S.K., S. Agarwal and R. Bhatnagar, 2010. Surface localized and extracellular Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase of Bacillus anthracis is a plasminogen binding protein. Biochim. Biophys. Acta, Proteins Proteomics, 1804: 2111-2120.
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  33. Kaur, M., A. Saxena, A. Rai and R. Bhatnagar, 2010. Rabies DNA vaccine encoding lysosome-targeted glycoprotein supplemented with Emulsigen-D confers complete protection in preexposure and postexposure studies in BALB/c mice. Faseb J., 24: 173-183.

  34. Agarwal, S., N.K. Mishra, S. Bhatnagar and R. Bhatnagar, 2010. PemK toxin of Bacillus anthracis is a ribonuclease an insight into its active site, structure and function. J. Biol. Chem., 285: 7254-7270.
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  35. Midha, S. and R. Bhatnagar, 2009. Genetic immunization with GPI-anchored anthrax protective antigen raises combined CD1d-and MHC II-restricted antibody responses by natural killer T cell-mediated help. Vaccine, 27: 1700-1709.
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  36. Midha, S. and R. Bhatnagar, 2009. Anthrax protective antigen administered by DNA vaccination to distinct subcellular locations potentiates humoral and cellular immune responses. Eur. J. Immunol., 39: 159-177.
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  37. Kaur, M., H. Chug, H. Singh, S. Chandra, M. Mishra, M. Sharma and R. Bhatnagar, 2009. Identification and characterization of immunodominant B-cell epitope of the C-terminus of protective antigen of Bacillus anthracis. Mol. Immunol., 46: 2107-2115.
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  38. Kaur, M., A. Rai and R. Bhatnagar, 2009. Rabies DNA vaccine: No impact of MHC class I and class II targeting sequences on immune response and protection against lethal challenge. Vaccine, 27: 2128-2137.
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  39. Kanodia, S., S. Agarwal, P. Singh, S. Agarwal, P. Singh and R. Bhatnagar, 2009. Biochemical characterization of alanine racemase-a spore protein produced by bacillus anthracis. BMB Rep., 42: 47-52.
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  40. Chawla, A., S. Midha and R. Bhatnagar, 2009. Efficacy of recombinant anthrax vaccine against Bacillus anthracis aerosol spore challenge: Preclinical evaluation in rabbits and Rhesus monkeys. Biotechnol. J., 4: 391-399.
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  41. Chawla, A. and R. Bhatnagar, 2009. Anthrax vaccine. Adult Immunization, 1: 1-7.

  42. Joshi, M.C., A. Sharma, S. Kant, A. Birah and G.P. Gupta et al., 2008. An insecticidal GroEL protein with chitin binding activity from Xenorhabdus nematophila. J. Biol. Chem., 283: 28287-28296.
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  43. Agarwal, S., P. Kulshreshtha, D.B. Mukku and R. Bhatnagar, 2008. α-enolase binds to human plasminogen on the surface of Bacillus anthracis. Biochim. Biophys. Acta, Proteins Proteomics, 1784: 986-994.
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  44. Gupta, M., S. Alam and R. Bhatnagar, 2007. Catalytically inactive anthrax toxin (s) are potential prophylactic agents. Vaccine, 25: 8410-8419.
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  45. Chandra, S., M. Kaur, S. Midha, J. Gorantala and R. Bhatnagar, 2007. Induction of cytotoxic T lymphocyte response against Mycobacterial antigen using domain I of anthrax edema factor as antigen delivery system. Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun., 357: 50-55.
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  46. Aziz, M.A., S. Midha, S.M. Waheed and R. Bhatnagar, 2007. Oral vaccines: New needs, new possibilities. Bioessays, 29: 591-604.
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  47. Agarwal, S., S. Agarwal and R. Bhatnagar, 2007. Identification and characterization of a novel toxin-antitoxin module from Bacillus anthracis. Febs Lett., 581: 1727-1734.
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  48. Gupta, M., S. Alam and R. Bhatnagar, 2006. Kinetic characterization and ligand binding studies of His351 mutants of Bacillus anthracis adenylate cyclase. Arch. Biochem. Biophys., 446: 28-34.
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  49. Chandra, S., M. Kaur, S. Midha, R. Bhatnagar and N. Banerjee-Bhatnagar, 2006. Evaluation of the ability of N-terminal fragment of lethal factor of Bacillus anthracis for delivery of Mycobacterium T cell antigen ESAT-6 into cytosol of antigen presenting cells to elicit effective cytotoxic T lymphocyte response. Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun., 351: 702-707.
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  50. Alam, S., M. Gupta and R. Bhatnagar, 2006. Inhibition of platelet aggregation by anthrax edema toxin. Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun., 339: 107-114.
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  51. Aziz, M.A., D. Sikriwal, S. Singh, S. Jarugula, P.A. Kumar and R. Bhatnagar, 2005. Transformation of an edible crop with the pagA gene of Bacillus anthracis. Faseb J., 19: 1501-1503.
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  52. Singh, S., M.A. Aziz, P. Khandelwal, R. Bhat and R. Bhatnagar, 2004. The osmoprotectants glycine and its methyl derivatives prevent the thermal inactivation of protective antigen of Bacillus anthracis. Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun., 316: 559-564.
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  53. Singh, S., A. Singh, M.A. Aziz, S.M. Waheed, R. Bhat and R. Bhatnagar, 2004. Thermal inactivation of protective antigen of Bacillus anthracis and its prevention by polyol osmolytes. Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun., 322: 1029-1037.
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  54. Singh, J., M.C. Joshi and R. Bhatnagar, 2004. Cloning and expression of mycobacterial glutamine synthetase gene in Escherichia coli. Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun., 317: 634-638.
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  55. Khandelwal, P., R. Bhatnagar, D. Choudhury and N. Banerjee, 2004. Characterization of a cytotoxic pilin subunit of Xenorhabdus nematophila. Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun., 314: 943-949.
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  56. Chattopadhyay, A., N.B. Bhatnagar and R. Bhatnagar, 2004. Bacterial insecticidal toxins. Crit. Rev. Microbiol., 30: 33-54.
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  57. Ahuja, N., P. Kumar, S. Alam, M. Gupta and R. Bhatnagar, 2003. Deletion mutants of protective antigen that inhibit anthrax toxin both in vitro and in vivo. Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun., 307: 446-450.
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  58. Singh, S., N. Ahuja, V. Chauhan, E. Rajasekaran, S.M. Waheed, R. Bhat and R. Bhatnagar, 2002. Gln277 and Phe554 residues are involved in thermal inactivation of protective antigen of Bacillus anthracis. Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun., 296: 1058-1062.
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  59. Singh, A., V. Chauhan, A. Sodhi and R. Bhatnagar, 2002. Asp 187 and Phe 190 residues in lethal factor are required for the expression of anthrax lethal toxin activity. Fems Microbiol. Lett., 212: 183-186.
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  60. Singh, A., S. Singh, S.M. Waheed, P. Khandelwal and R. Bhatnagar, 2002. Expression of anthrax lethal factor gene by osmolyte induction. Fems Microbiol. Lett., 209: 301-305.
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  61. Kumar, P., N. Ahuja and R. Bhatnagar, 2002. Anthrax edema toxin requires influx of calcium for inducing cyclic AMP toxicity in target cells. Infect. Immun., 70: 4997-5007.
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  62. Chauhan, V. and R. Bhatnagar, 2002. Identification of amino acid residues of anthrax protective antigen involved in binding with lethal factor. Infect. Immun., 70: 4477-4484.
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  63. Aziz, M.A., S. Singh, P. Annand-Kumar and R. Bhatnagar, 2002. Expression of protective antigen in transgenic plants: A step towards edible vaccine against anthrax. Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun., 299: 345-451.
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  64. Kumar, P., N. Ahuja and R. Bhatnagar, 2001. Purification of anthrax edema factor from Escherichia coli and identification of residues required for binding to anthrax protective antigen. Infect. Immun., 69: 6532-6536.
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  65. Gupta, P., V. Sahai and R. Bhatnagar, 2001. Enhanced expression of the recombinant lethal factor of Bacillus anthracis by fed-batch culture. Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun., 285: 1025-1033.
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  66. Gupta, P., S. Singh, A. Tiwari, R. Bhat and R. Bhatnagar, 2001. Effect of pH on stability of anthrax lethal factor: Correlation between denaturation and activity. Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun., 284: 568-573.
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  67. Gupta, P., A. Singh, V. Chauhan and R. Bhatnagar, 2001. Involvement of residues 147VYYEIGK153 in binding of lethal factor to protective antigen of Bacillus anthracis. Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun., 280: 158-163.
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  68. Chauhan, V., A. Singh, S.M. Waheed, S. Singh and R. Bhatnagar, 2001. Constitutive expression of protective antigen gene of Bacillus anthracis in Escherichia coli. Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun., 283: 308-315.
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  69. Bhatnagar, R. and S. Batra, 2001. Anthrax toxin. Critical Rev. Microbiol., 7: 167-200.

  70. Batra, S., P. Gupta, V. Chauhan, A. Singh and R. Bhatnagar, 2001. Trp 346 and Leu 352 residues in protective antigen are required for the expression of anthrax lethal toxin activity. Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun., 281: 186-192.
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  71. Ahuja, N., P. Kumar and R. Bhatnagar, 2001. Rapid purification of recombinant anthrax-protective antigen under nondenaturing conditions. Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun., 286: 6-11.
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  72. Ahuja, N., P. Kumar and R. Bhatnagar, 2001. Hydrophobic residues Phe552, Phe554, Ile562, Leu566 and Ile574 are required for oligomerization of anthrax protective antigen. Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun., 287: 542-549.
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  73. Adhuna, A., P. Saltora and R. Bhatnagar, 2000. Nitric oxide induced expression of stress proteins in virulent and avirulent promastigotes of Leishmania donovani. Immunol. Lett., 71: 171-176.
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