Research

Doctoral research

For my PhD thesis, I'm investigating the effects of host genetic variation on symbioses and how outcomes of these interactions could shift on a mutualism-parasitism spectrum. I study pea aphids and their symbiotic bacterial partners to explore the molecular processes influencing host-microbe interactions.

For my main thesis project, I have uncovered a role for pea aphid immunity linked to symbiont phenotypes within hosts. I am using flow cytometry and RNASeq to uncover the cellular and genetic mechanisms underlying specificity in partnerships. So far, I am unraveling that certain pea aphid host populations are better at accommodating bacterial symbionts than others.

In another project, I am investigating how host genetic variation in pea aphids affects the benefits provided by bacterial symbionts. I am testing this using lab-reared pea aphid host populations and some species of bacterial symbionts that are able to confer protection against a fungal pathogen. I occasionally dip my feet in 'field work' to collect natural populations of pea aphids and expand my collection of protective symbionts in the lab (which is why I'm sometimes found whacking bushes on the UNC campus).

Publications:

Aphid facultative symbionts confer no protection against the fungal entomopathogen Batkoa apiculata. Rose A. Inchauregui^, Keertana Tallapragada and Benjamin J. Parker. PLoS ONE, 2023.
Pathogen-microbiome interactions and the virulence of an entomopathogenic fungus. Matthew R. Kolp, Yazmin de Anda Acosta^, William Brewer, Holly L. Nichols, Elliott B. Goldstein, Keertana Tallapragada and Benjamin J. Parker. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 2024.

^ Undergrad researcher.

Indu B. et al., Scientific Reports, 2021.

Masters research

For my master's thesis research, I explored whether species of yeast interact with bacteria, and if these interactions could result in potentially transient symbioses. Scattered reports of yeasts co-isolated with bacteria showed that yeast cells could "eat"/engulf bacteria. In my thesis, along with another grad student we first cataloged co-occurances of bacterial species with pure isolates of yeast species from both domestic and wild sources. We then explored the nature of these co-occurances given the evidence from previous studies. We starved yeast cells and co-cultured them with fluorescently tagged bacteria, and found internalization of fluorescent bacteria inside yeast cells.

Publications:

Uncovering the hidden bacterial ghost communities of yeast and experimental evidences demonstrates yeast as thriving hub for bacteria. Indu B.#, Keertana Tallapragada#, Ipsita Sahu, Jagadeeshwari Uppada, Sasikala Chintalapati and Venkata Ramana Chintalapati. Scientific Reports, 2021.

# Co-first authors.

Research as a lab technician

I was appointed as a Junior Research Fellow at the University of Hyderabad before my PhD program. I worked on an industry-funded project to assess the effects of pharmaceutical effluents on the emergence of antimicrobial resistance in sewage and river water. I juggled various projects, including one in which we discovered and described a new bacterial species.

Publications:

Mesobacillus aurantius sp. nov., isolated from an orange-colored pond near a solar saltern . Anusha Rai, Smita N., Shabbir A., Jagadeeshwari U., Keertana T., Sasikala Ch. and Ramana Ch. V. Archives of Microbiology, 2021

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