Billker:Rita Tewari

I am a Research Lecturer associated with the Billker Lab

Major research interest on "Functional analysis of malaria parasite-host cell interactions in vivo using gene targeting". Presentally working on a genome-wide systematic deletion analysis of Plasmodium berghei protein kinases to reveal molecular mechanisms of life cycle regulation.

my email: r.tewari[AT]imperial.ac.uk

Some Publications

1. Tewari R, Dorin D, Moon R, Doerig C, and Billker O. An atypical mitogen-activated protein kinase controls cytokinesis and flagellar motility during male gamete formation in a malaria parasite. Mol Microbiol. 2005 Dec;58(5):1253-63. DOI:10.1111/j.1365-2958.2005.04793.x |
2. Reininger L, Billker O, Tewari R, Mukhopadhyay A, Fennell C, Dorin-Semblat D, Doerig C, Goldring D, Harmse L, Ranford-Cartwright L, Packer J, and Doerig C. A NIMA-related protein kinase is essential for completion of the sexual cycle of malaria parasites. J Biol Chem. 2005 Sep 9;280(36):31957-64. DOI:10.1074/jbc.M504523200 |
3. Tewari R, Rathore D, and Crisanti A. Motility and infectivity of Plasmodium berghei sporozoites expressing avian Plasmodium gallinaceum circumsporozoite protein. Cell Microbiol. 2005 May;7(5):699-707. DOI:10.1111/j.1462-5822.2005.00503.x |
4. Tewari R, Ogun SA, Gunaratne RS, Crisanti A, and Holder AA. Disruption of Plasmodium berghei merozoite surface protein 7 gene modulates parasite growth in vivo. Blood. 2005 Jan 1;105(1):394-6. DOI:10.1182/blood-2004-06-2106 |
5. Billker O, Dechamps S, Tewari R, Wenig G, Franke-Fayard B, and Brinkmann V. Calcium and a calcium-dependent protein kinase regulate gamete formation and mosquito transmission in a malaria parasite. Cell. 2004 May 14;117(4):503-14. DOI:10.1016/s0092-8674(04)00449-0 |
6. Edvardsen RB, Lerat E, Maeland AD, Flåt M, Tewari R, Jensen MF, Lehrach H, Reinhardt R, Seo HC, and Chourrout D. Hypervariable and highly divergent intron-exon organizations in the chordate Oikopleura dioica. J Mol Evol. 2004 Oct;59(4):448-57. DOI:10.1007/s00239-004-2636-5 |
7. Gillemans N, McMorrow T, Tewari R, Wai AW, Burgtorf C, Drabek D, Ventress N, Langeveld A, Higgs D, Tan-Un K, Grosveld F, and Philipsen S. Functional and comparative analysis of globin loci in pufferfish and humans. Blood. 2003 Apr 1;101(7):2842-9. DOI:10.1182/blood-2002-09-2850 |
8. Tewari R, Spaccapelo R, Bistoni F, Holder AA, and Crisanti A. Function of region I and II adhesive motifs of Plasmodium falciparum circumsporozoite protein in sporozoite motility and infectivity. J Biol Chem. 2002 Dec 6;277(49):47613-8. DOI:10.1074/jbc.M208453200 |
9. Kropf P, Herath S, Tewari R, Syed N, Klemenz R, and Müller I. Identification of two distinct subpopulations of Leishmania major-specific T helper 2 cells. Infect Immun. 2002 Oct;70(10):5512-20. DOI:10.1128/IAI.70.10.5512-5520.2002 |
10. Gillemans N, Tewari R, Lindeboom F, Rottier R, de Wit T, Wijgerde M, Grosveld F, and Philipsen S. Altered DNA-binding specificity mutants of EKLF and Sp1 show that EKLF is an activator of the beta-globin locus control region in vivo. Genes Dev. 1998 Sep 15;12(18):2863-73. DOI:10.1101/gad.12.18.2863 |
11. Tewari R, Gillemans N, Wijgerde M, Nuez B, von Lindern M, Grosveld F, and Philipsen S. Erythroid Krüppel-like factor (EKLF) is active in primitive and definitive erythroid cells and is required for the function of 5'HS3 of the beta-globin locus control region. EMBO J. 1998 Apr 15;17(8):2334-41. DOI:10.1093/emboj/17.8.2334 |
12. Tewari R, Gillemans N, Harper A, Wijgerde M, Zafarana G, Drabek D, Grosveld F, and Philipsen S. The human beta-globin locus control region confers an early embryonic erythroid-specific expression pattern to a basic promoter driving the bacterial lacZ gene. Development. 1996 Dec;122(12):3991-9. DOI:10.1242/dev.122.12.3991 |

13. Ellis J, Philipsen S, Strouboulis J, Pruzina S, Tewari R, Gillemans N, Drabek, D, Harper A, Grosveld F and Fraser P (1995). The regulation of human  globin gene expression; the roles of 5’HS1-4. Proceedings of the Ninth Conference on Hemoglobin Switching held at Orcas Island, 10-14 June 1994, editor Dr. G. Stamatoyannopoulos, pg. 29-38

14. Nakayama I, Foresti F, Tewari R, Schartl M, and Chourrout D. Sex chromosome polymorphism and heterogametic males revealed by two cloned DNA probes in the ZW/ZZ fish Leporinus elongatus. Chromosoma. 1994 Mar;103(1):31-9. DOI:10.1007/BF00364723 |

15. Tewari R , Michard-Vanhee C, Perrot E and Chourrout D (1992) Mendelian transmission, structure and expression of transgenes following their injection into the cytoplasm of trout eggs. Transgenic Research 1, 250-260.

16. Tewari R and Rao SR. Replication status of the fragile X chromosome and its implications for reproductive performance in the Indian mole rat (Nesokia indica). J Reprod Fertil. 1991 Jan;91(1):203-6. DOI:10.1530/jrf.0.0910203 |
17. Thelma BK, Tewari R, Juyal RC, and Rao SR. Random/nonrandom X-chromosome inactivation in Nesokia indica: possible influence of heterochromatin. Cytogenet Cell Genet. 1991;56(2):87-90. DOI:10.1159/000133056 |

18. Tewari R, Juyal RC, Rao SRV and Thelma BK (1989). Significance of fragile sites on the sex chromosome of Nesokia indica. Nucleus 32, 93-102.

19. Thelma BK, Juyal RC, Tewari R, and Rao SR. Does heterochromatin variation potentiate speciation? A study in Nesokia. Cytogenet Cell Genet. 1988;47(4):204-8. DOI:10.1159/000132550 |
20. Tewari R, Juyal RC, Thelma BK, Das BC, and Rao SR. Folate-sensitive fragile sites on the X-chromosome heterochromatin of the Indian mole rat, Nesokia indica. Cytogenet Cell Genet. 1987;44(1):11-7. DOI:10.1159/000132334 |
21. Simon MM, Ali S, Tewari R, Simon HG, Müller-Hermelink HK, and Epplen JT. Leukemic cells arise from cloned cytotoxic lymphocytes during cell culture. Eur J Immunol. 1986 Oct;16(10):1269-76. DOI:10.1002/eji.1830161014 |