Johannes Manjrekar (1957–2020) was a well-known molecular biologist and a faculty member at the Department of Microbiology and Biotechnology Centre, Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, India. He ...was an extremely popular professor among his students and offered help to anyone who needed it. He was also an avid reader, a writer, polyglot, and a nature enthusiast. He keenly pursued insect collecting, bird-watching and photography. Here, we honor him by presenting a glimpse of his life, and his academic and scholarly interests.
On March 9, 2018, 5 years had passed since Prasanna K. Mohanty, an extraordinary student of photosynthesis, plant biologist par excellence, a pioneer of Light Regulation of Photosynthesis, a renowned ...mentor, and a friend of a vast international community of scientists left us. Many of us, who knew him, miss him dearly and cherish his fond memories. Here we include some of the late responses we have received from many friends of Prasanna Mohanty and announce the launch of Prasanna K. Mohanty fellowship for young researchers working in the area of photosynthesis by the International Society of Photosynthesis Research.
Gramene (http://www.gramene.org) is an online resource for comparative functional genomics in crops and model plant species. Its two main frameworks are genomes (collaboration with Ensembl Plants) ...and pathways (The Plant Reactome and archival BioCyc databases). Since our last NAR update, the database website adopted a new Drupal management platform. The genomes section features 39 fully assembled reference genomes that are integrated using ontology-based annotation and comparative analyses, and accessed through both visual and programmatic interfaces. Additional community data, such as genetic variation, expression and methylation, are also mapped for a subset of genomes. The Plant Reactome pathway portal (http://plantreactome.gramene.org) provides a reference resource for analyzing plant metabolic and regulatory pathways. In addition to ∼ 200 curated rice reference pathways, the portal hosts gene homology-based pathway projections for 33 plant species. Both the genome and pathway browsers interface with the EMBL-EBI's Expression Atlas to enable the projection of baseline and differential expression data from curated expression studies in plants. Gramene's archive website (http://archive.gramene.org) continues to provide previously reported resources on comparative maps, markers and QTL. To further aid our users, we have also introduced a live monthly educational webinar series and a Gramene YouTube channel carrying video tutorials.
Lalit Mohan Srivastava (1931–2012) was a well-known plant developmental biologist. He was an authority on the molecular basis of the action of gibberellins and on the physiology, and biochemistry of ...the seaweeds. Here, we honor him by presenting a glimpse of his life and research; he had authored more than 60 research papers, of which we mention only a few.
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