Dr. Anjana J Desai

   Professor of Microbiology  (Superannuated : 15-6-2010)

• Genetics and physiology of N₂ fixation in Rhizobium spp.

• Siderophore production in Rhizobia and Azospirilla.

• Microbial degradation of crude oil and bioremediation.

• Microbial production of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs).

• Microbial treatment of effluents from petrochemical and fertilizer industries.

• Physiology, biochemistry and genetics of radiation resistant organisms isolated from varied habitats.

• Development of a Bio-system producing Microbial metabolites as feed stock for Microbial Enhanced Oil Recovery.

1. Desai AJ, Patel Shaila and Modi VV(1977). Studies on rhizobial haemoglobin and d-leculinic acid  synthetase activity in R. japonicum. Ind. J. Expt. Biol., 16 : 528-530.

2. Patel NP. Desai AJ and Desai JD (1979). Colonization of Curvaularia lunata in Magifera indica var. Alphonso Wood : Antatomical and biochemical evidences. Ind. J. Expt. Biol. 17 : 675-677.

3. Patel NP, Desai AJ and Desai JD (1980) Cellulase production by Scytalidium lignicola. Ind. J. Microbiol. 20 : 155-157.

4. Desai JD, Desai AJ and Vaidya HC (1982). New method for the isolation of saprophytic cultures of Cl. fusiformis from sclerotia. Folia Microbiologica (CZECHOSLOVAKIA) 27 : 182-185.

5. Desai JD, Desai AJ and Shah SR (1982). Activities of carbon catabolic pathways and alkaloid biogenesis during the submerged cultivation of  Claviceps sp. Stain  SD-58. Folia Micrbiologica (CZECHOSLOVAKIA) .27: 245-249.

6. Desai JD,Desai AJ and Patel NP (1982). Production of cellulases and b-glucosidase by shake culture of S. lignicola. J. Ferment. Technol (JAPAN). 60 : 117-124.

7. Joseph MV, Desai JD and Desai AJ (1982). Some studies on nitrate reductase from R. trifoli. Proc. Natl. Seminar on ‘Biological Nitrogen Fixation’IARI, New Delhi, 200-215.

8. Joseph MV, Desai JD and Desai AJ (1983). Production of antimicrobial and bacteriocin like substances by Rhizobium trifolii. Appl. Microbiol. (USA). 45 : 532-535.

9. Desai JD, Desai AJ and patel HC (1983). Effects of biotin on fermentative production of  alkaloids  by  Claviceps  sp.  SD-58.  Appl.  Environ.  Microbiol.  (USA), 45 : 1694-1696.

10. Desai AJ, Tenn G and Saier MH (1984). Isolation and characterization of enzyme III gucitol mutants of E. coli. J. Bacteriol. (USA). 157 : 953-955.

11. Joseph MV, Desai JD and Desai AJ (1985). Possible involvement of phage like structures in antagonism of cowpea rhizobia by Rhizobium trifolii. Appl. Environ. Microbiol (USA), 49 : 459-461.

12. Patel KM, Desai JD and Desai AJ (1985). Amino acid production by submerged cultivation of Pseudomonas fluorescens on gasoilne. Folia Microbiologica (CZECHOSLOVAKIA). 30 : 420-426.

13. Desai JD, Patel HC and Desai AJ (1986). Alkaloid production during the shaking of Claviceps sp. Strain SD-58 : Effect of asparagine. J. Ferment. Technol. (JAPAN) . 64 : 339-342.

14. Desai  JD,  Ray  RM  and  Desai  AJ  (1986). Immobilization  of  b-glucosidase  from S. lignicola on chitosan. J. Ferment. Technol. (JAPAN). 64 : 255-258.

15. Desai JD, Patel HC and Desai AJ (1986). Effect of Tween series of surfactants on alkaloids production by Claviceps sp. Strain SD-58. J. Ferment. Technol. (JAPAN). 64 : 499-502.

16. Desai AJ, Patel Km and Desai JD (1988). Emulsifier  production by Pseudomonas fluorescens during the growth on hydrocarbons. Curr. Sci. 57 : 500-501

17. Patel KM, Desai JD and Desai AJ (1988). Gasoline utilization by Pseudomonas fluorescens. Ind. J. Expt. Biol. 26 : 383-386.

18. Saxena Babita, Desai AJ and Modi VV (1989). Transposon mutagenesis in Rhizobium sp. (Cojans cojan) strain S2 and Azospirillum lipoferum D2. Ind. J. Expt. Biol. 27 : 210-213.

19. Modi VV, Desai AJ and Saxena Babita (1989). Some physiological and genetic properties of nitrogen fixing bacteria. Proc. Of ‘International Sympodium and Workshop on Biological Nitrogen Fixation Associated With Rice Production’, held at Central Rice Research Association, Cuttack, 189-195.

20. Saxena  Babita, Desai AJ and Modi VV (1990). External adsorption of Azospirillum lipoferum  strain  D2  to  plant  roots  and  its effect on plant growth. Curr. Sci. 59 : 424-427.

21. Udupa Rajesh, Shah Samir, Modi VV and Desai AJ (1991). Large plasmid from cowpea Rhizobium sp. Correlation between exopolysaccharide content, ex planta nitrogenase activity and presence of plasmid. Ind. J. Expt. Biol. 29 : 430-433.

22. Jadhav RS and Desai AJ (1992). Isolation and characterization of siderophore from cowpea Rhizobium (peanut isolate). Curr. Microbiol. (USA). 24 : 137-141.

23. Shah S, Karkhanis  V and Desai AJ (1992).Isolation and characterization of siderophore with antimicrobial activity from Azospirillum lipoferum M. Curr. Microbiol (USA), 25 : 347-351

24. Shah S, Rao KK and Desai AJ (1993). Production of catecholate type of siderophore by Azospirillum lipoferum M. Ind. J. Expt. Biol. 31 : 41-44.

25. Desai JD and Desai AJ (1993). Production of bisurfacrant. In “Biosurfactant: Production, Properties and Application” Surfactant Science Series Vol. 48 (N. Kosaric Ed.) Marcel Dekker Inc., New York / Hong, pp. 65-97.

26. Shah  S,  Sanyal  I,  Rao  KK  and  Desai AJ (1993).Isolation of large plasmid from A. lipoferum M: A correlation production. In. Adv. Pl. Biotech. Biochem. Lodha ML, Mehta SL, Ramafopal S and Srivastava GP, Eds.) Ind. Doc. Agri biochemists Publn., Kanpur, India. 89-91

27. Jadhav RS, Thaker N and Desai AJ (1993). Isolation of outer membrane protein by Triton X-1oo treatment and detection of iron repressible outer membrane proteins from cowpea Rhizobium (Groundnut isolate). Adv. Pl. Biotech. (Lodha ML, Mehta SL, Ramagopal S and Srivastava GP, Eds.), Ind. Soc. Agri. Biochemists, Kanpur, India. pp. 117-121.

28. Hanson KG, Desai JD and Desai AJ (1993). Rapid and simple screening technique for potential  crude  oil  degrading  microorganisms.  Biotechnol.  Techniques (UK). 7: 745-748.

29. Desai AJ, Patel RN and Desai JD (1994). Advances in biosurfactant production : A step forward to commercial applications. J . Sci. Ind. Res. 53 : 619-629.

30. Jadhav  RS, Thaker N and Desai AJ (1994). Involvement of the siderophore of cowpea Rhizobium in the iron nutrition of the peanut. World J. Microbiol. Biotechnol. 10 : 360-361.

31. Jadhav RS and Desai AJ (1994). Role of siderophore in iron uptake in cowpea Rhizobium GN1 (peanut isolate) : possible involvement of iron repressible outer membrane proteins. FEMS Microbiol. Letts. (THE NETHERLANDS). 115 : 185-190.

32. Hanson KG. Kale VC and Desai AJ (1994). The possible involvement of cell surface and outer membrane proteins of Acinetobacter sp. A3 in crude oil degradation. FEMS Microbiol Letts. (THE NETHERLANDS). 122 : 275-280.

33. Jadhav RS and Desai AJ (1996). Effect of nutritional and environmental conditions on siderophore production by Rhizobium GN1 (peanut isolate). Ind. J. Expt. Biol. 34 : 436-439.

34. Hanson KG and Desai AJ (1996). Intergeneric protoplast fusion between Acinetobacter sp. A3 and Pseudomonas putida DP99 for enhance hydrocarbon degradation. Biotechnol. Letts. (UK). 18 : 1369-1374.

35. Hanson KG, Nigam A, Kapadia Mand and Desai AJ (1996). Crude oil degradation by Acinetobacter sp. A3 as influenced by nitrogen, phosphorous and surfactants. Ind. J Expt. Biol. 34 : 1276-1278.

36. Jadhav RS and Desai AJ (1997). Iron reductase activity in cowpea Rhizobium GN1. World J. Microbiol. Biotechnol. (USA). 13 : 347-348.

37. Hanson KG, Nigam A, Kapadia M and Desai AJ (1997). Bioremediation of crude oil contamination using Acinetobacter sp.A3. Curr. Microbiol (USA). 35(3) : 191-193.

38. Acharya A and Desai AJ (1997). Studies on utilization of acetonitrile by Rhodococcus erythropolis A-10.World J. Microbiol Biotechnol. (UK), 13 : 175-178.

39. Patel RN and Desai AJ (1997). Biosurfactant production by Pseudomonas aeruginosa GS3 from molasses. Letts. Appl. Microbiol. (UK). 22(2) : 91-94.

40. Patel RN and Desai AJ (1997). Surface active properties of rhamnolipids from Pseudomonas aeruginosa GS 3. J. Basic Microbiol. (Germany), 37 (4) : 281.

41. Snehal Pandya and Anjana Desai (1997). Localization of nod. Nif and acidic exopolysaccharide determinants on a large plasmid in slow growing cowpea Rhizobium Sp. S2. Curr. Microbiol. 36 : 36-40.

42. Snehal Pandya, Pradeep Uchil, Mahesh Subramaniam and Anjana Desai (1998). Determination of host-specificity of cowpea miscillany Rhizobium sp. using nod ABC - lacz. Curr. Microbiol. 36 : 361-364.

43. Vivek Yellore and Anjana Desai (1998). Production of poly-3-hydroxybutyrate from lactose  and  whey  by  Methylobacterium  sp.  ZP 24.  Letts. Appl. Microbiol. 26 : 391-394.

44. Srividya Iyer, Antiksha Joshi and Anjana Desai (1998). Rapid detection of a fungal poly (3-hydroxybuturate) depolymerase using a new in situ gel activity staining technique. Biotech. Tech. 11 (12) : 905-907.

45. Patel DS, Desai AJ and Desai JD (1998). Biodegradation of dimethylterephthalate by Commomonas acidovorans D4. Ind. J. Expt. Biol. 36 : 321-324.

46. Yellore V.S, N.B.Thakur and  Desai A.J. (1999) Enhancement of growth and poly 3-hydroxybutyrate production from Methylobacterium sp. ZP24 by formate and other organic acids. Letts. Appl. Microbiol. 29 : 171-175

47. Acharya A, and  Desai AJ (1999). Acetomitrile hydrolysing enzymes in Rhodococcus erythropolis A10. World J. Microbiol. Biotechnol. (UK), 15 (1) : 123-125

48. Snehal Pandya, Poornima Iyer, Vaishali Gaitonde, Trilok Parekh and Anjana Desai (1998). Chemotaxis of Rhizobium sp. S2 towards cajanus cajan root exudate and its major components  Curr. Micrbiol. 36 : 36-40

49. Thakore Ishit, Iyer Srividya, Devi Surekha, Desai Anjana and Lele Ashok (1999). Morphology, thermo-mechanical properties and biodegradability of LDPE / starch blends. J of Appl. Polymer Sc. 74 : 2791-2802

50. Zala S, Nerurkar A, Anjana Desai AJ, Ayyer J and  Akolkar V (1999).  Biotreatment of nitrate rich industrial effluent by suspended bacterial growth. Biotech. Lett. 21 : 481-485.

51. Patel DS and Desai AJ (1998). Biochemical pathway of Dimethylterephthalate degradation in Commomonas acidovarans D4. Ind J. Microbiol. 38 : 69-72.

52. Vivek Yellore, M.S. Ghatnekar, JS Pai and A.J. Desai ( 2000). Effect of total nutrient feed on production of poly-3-hydroxybutyrate by Methylobacterium sp. ZP24 grown on sugars. Jr of Industrial. Microbiol. Biotechnol .  25 : 276-279.

53. Srividya Iyer, Ruchir Shah, Ashima Sharma, Dietet Jendrossek and Anjana Desai (2002)  Purification of Aspergillus fumigatus (Pdf1) Poly(B-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB) depolymerase using a new single step substrate affinity chromatography method: Characterization of self aggregation behavior. Jr of Polymer and the Environ. 8 : 197-203.

54. Zala Swati, ayyer Jayalaksmi and Desai Anjana ( 2004) Nitrate removal from the effluent of a fertilizer industry using a bioreactor packed with immobilized cells of Psedomonas stutzeri and Comamonas testosteroni World J. of Microbiology. 20; 661-665

55. Avishek Nath, Swapna Bhat, Jayendra Devle and Anjana Desai (2005) Enhanced production of 3-hydroxybutyric acid (3-HB) by in vivo depolymerization of polyhydroxybutyric acid  in 3-HB dehydrogenase mutants of Methylobacterium sp. ZP24. Annals of Microbiology 55 : (2) 23-27.

56. Avishek Nath and Anjana J.Desai  (2005) An economical route towards production of chiral drug intermediates from green thermoplastics. Pharma Times 38: 32-36

57. Falguni Joshi G.Archana and Anjana Desai (2006) Siderophore  cross utilization amongst Rhizospheric bacteria and role of differential affinities of the siderophores for Fe on siderophore mediated growth stimulation under iron limited conditions. Current  Microbiology 53 : 141-147. 

58. Arif Khan, Geetha R, Aparna Akolkar, Ami pandya, G. Archana and   Anjana J. Desai (2006) Differential cross-utilization of heterologous siderophores b nodule bacteria of Cajanus cajan and its possible role in growth under iron-limited condition. Applied  Soil Ecology  34: 19-263.

59. Falguni R. Joshi, Swati Kholiya, G. Archana and Anjana J. Desai (2007)   Siderophore cross-utilization amongst nodule isolates of the Cowpea miscellany            group and its effect on plant growth  in the presence of antagonistic organisms. Microbiological  Research. 163: (5) 564-570.     

60. Joshi Sanket, Sanjay Yadav, Anuradha Nerurkar and Anjana j. Desai (2007) Statistical optimization of medium components for the production of biosurfactant by Bacillus  licheniformis  K51. J. Microbiol.Biotechnol. 17(20): 313-319.

61. Sanket Joshi, Chirag Bharucha, Sujata Jha, Sanjay Yadav, Anuradha Nerurkar  and Anjana Desai (2008) Biosurfactant production using molasses and whey under  thermophilic  conditions.  Bioresource Technology 99: 195-199

62. Manish shukla, Ruchi chaturvedi. Dhruti Tamhane, Madhavi Parmar, Pranav Vyas G. archana Srikumar Apte, JR Bandekar and Anjana Desai (2007) Multiple stress tolerance of radiation resistant bacterial isolates obtained from various habitats: a physiological correlation between  stresses. Current microbiology 54: 142-148.

63. Geetha Rajendran, Shreni mistry, Anjana J. Desai and G. Archana (2007) Functional expression  of E. coli fhuA gene in Rhizobium spp. Of Cajanus cajan             provides growth advantage in presence  of Fe3+:ferrichrome as iron source. Archives of microbiology, 187: 257- 264.

64. Nath A., M. Dixit, A. Bandiya, S. Chavada  and A. J. Desai (2008) Enhabced PHB  production and  scale up studies using cheese whey in fed batch culture of Methylobacterium sp. Zp24.  Bioresource Technology 99: 5749-5755.

65. Sanket joshi, Chirag Bharucha and Anjana Desai (2007) Production of  biosurfactant and antifungal compound by fermented food isolate Bacillus subtilis 20B. Bioresource Technology. 99: (11) 4603-8.

66. Sanket Joshi, Sanjay Yadav, Anjana Desai (2008) Application of response surface methodology to evaluate the optimum medium components for the enhanced production of  lichenysin by B.licheniformis R2. Biochem. Eng. J. 41: 122-127

67. Joshi Falguni, Chaudhari Amisha, Joglekar, Payal, G. Archana and Desai Anjana (2008). Effect of expression of Bradyrhizobium japonicum 61A152 feg A gene in Mesorhizobium sp.its competitive survival and nodule occupancy on Arachis hypogea.  Appl. Soil. Ecology  40: 338-347.

68. Aparna V Akolkar, Gauravi M Deshpande, Kandarp N Raval, Deepa Durai, Anuradha S Nerurkar, Anjana J Desai (2008) Organic solvent tolerance of Halobacterium sp SP1(1) and its extracellular protease. Journal of Basic Microbiology, DOI No. 10.1002/jobm.200800012,

69. Harish Suthar, Krushi Hinurao, Anjana Desai and Anuradha Nerurkar (2008). Evaluation of bioemulsifier mediated microbial Enhanced Oil Recovery using sand pack column Journal of   Microbiological Methods 75: 225-230

70. A.Akolkar, N. Bharambe,S.Trivedi and  A. Desai (2008) Statistical optimization of medium components for extracellular protease production by an extreme haloatcheon Halobacterium  sp.1 (1) Letters in Applied microbiology ( In Press)

Membership :

1. Life Member and Secretary,  Society of Biological Chemists of India, Baroda unit.

2. Life Member, Association of  Microbiologists of India.

3. Member, Society of clean environment, Baroda

Conferences/Workshops/Talks attended :

1. Presented paper entitled Characterization and production of siderophore from Rhizobium sp. GN1 at Dept. Atomic Energy Symposium on Molecular Biology of Micro-organization, National Chemical Laboratory, Pune during Jan. 28-30, 1992.

2. Presented paper entitled, Isolation of large plasmids from A. lipoferum M : A correlation between presence of plasmid and siderophore production at International Conference on Biotechnology in Agriculture and Forestry, Indian Agriculture Research Institute, New Delhi held during Feb. 15-18, 1993.

3. Presented a paper entitled, Adaptive response of a bacterium A3 to crude oil stress at DAE Symposium on Stress and Adaptive Responses in Biological System at M.S.University of Baroda, Baroda during March 23-25, 1994.

4. Presented paper entitled Studies on siderophore of cow pea Rhizobium G-1: Its role in iron acquisition and competitive survival of organism in rhizosphere: at the Eleventh Australian Nitrogen Fixation Conference at University of Western Australia Nedlands, (Australia) during Sept.22-27,1996.

5. Attended 97^th General Meeting of American Society for Microbiology at Miami Beach, U.S.A. during May 4-8,1997.

6. Presented paper entitled Bioremediation of crude oil contaminated soil using Acinetobacter sp. A-3 at Indo  US Workshop on Application of Biotechnology for Clean environment and Energy at Bangalore University, Bangalore during Aug.5-8,1998.

7. Participated in panel discussion on Strategies to control environmental pollution Organized by Vigyan Parishad (Baroda Chapter) on World Environment Day June 5^th , 1998

8. Participated as resource person at the refresher course organized by Dept. of Microbiology School of Science Gujarat University Ahmedabad on Jan.19. 1999 Delivered a talk on Siderophore and its role in iron transport.

9. Conducted training program on Environmental Awareness at Netlon India, Vadodara on Feb.20,1999.

10. Talks on N2 fixation at Dept. of Biosciences, S.P.University, Vallabh Vidyanagar.

11. Gave invited talk on Bioremediation at a symposium on Transfer of technology at Dept. of Bioscience S.P. University , Vallabh  Vidyanagar on Jan. 27,1996.

12. Presented paper entitled Methylobacterium sp. ZP24, a potential producer of biodegradable polymer, polyhydroxyalkanoates at an International Conference on ‘Plastic Waste Management and Environment’ held at New Delhi on March 15-16, 2001.

13. Presented paper entitled, Biotreatment of nitrate containing effluent : An overview at an All India Convention on ‘Low cost biotechnology applications in pollution prevention and control’ organized by National Centre for Technical Development at Mumbai  December 28-29, 2001.

14. Invited talk on Biotechnology and Bioremediation : Successes and Limitations at National Symposium on ‘Microbial diversity in sustainable development’ held at Gujarat University, Ahmedabad, March 1-2, 2003.

Research Projects :

Copyright © 2002
Bioinformatics Centre , Dept. of Microbiology and Biotechnology Centre
M.S. University of Baroda, Baroda, India 390002 Phone:91-0265-2794396 , Fax: 91-265-2792508

Last updated: Saturday, 19 June, 2010 05:17 PM