0000-0002-0278-1707 About
My work broadly concentrates on basic research in the field of Nematology including plant-parasitic and insect-parasitic nematodes. A number of bacterial protein toxins (Txp40, TcaB) were characterized from an insect-parasitic bacterium Photorhabdus akhurstii which symbiotically associates with an entomopathogenic nematode Heterorhabditis indica. Insect pathogenesis of these toxins was studied in Galleria mellonella, Helicoverpa armigera, Spodoptera litura, S. frugiperda and S. exigua. The role of insect gut receptors in enhancing pathogenicity of bacterial toxins has been established.
My other research interests include molecular basis of plant-nematode interaction. Using RNAi, functional analysis of several plant parasitism processes was deciphered including the role of Mi-cpl-1 in metabolic process, FLP and NLP neuropeptides in neuromusculation process, ODR and TAX proteins in chemotaxis process, cell wall degrading enzymes and various pioneer effectors in infection process of plant nematodes including Meloidogyne incognita, M. graminicola, Heterodera avenae etc. Investigations were also performed on understanding the genetic basis of nematode resistance in rice via genome-wide association mapping coupled with omics-driven strategies. A number of laboratory bioassay techniques were developed to track nematode chemotaxis towards different compounds. A staining technique was developed to estimate fat metabolism in nematodes.
Employment
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Indian Agricultural Research Institute Senior Scientist2019 - Present
Education
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Indian Agricultural Research Institute Ph.D.
Projects & Funding
Projects & funding information is unavailable.
Publications (54)
- CRISP-PTG-Assembler Ver. 1.0: a primer design tool for polycistronic tRNA-gRNA (PTG) assembly for Cas9-based multiplex genome editing in plants Save
- A synthetic guide RNA scaffold enhanced CRISPR/Cas9 editing efficiency in plants across multiple gene targets Save
- Resources for genetic control of the root-knot nematode Meloidogyne enterolobii, an impending threat to direct-seeded rice agriculture Save
- CRISPR/Cas9-induced knockout of an amino acid permease gene (AAP6) reduced Arabidopsis thaliana susceptibility to Meloidogyne incognita Save
- Induced knockdown of Mg-odr-1 and Mg-odr-3 perturbed the host seeking behavior of Meloidogyne graminicola in rice Save
- The relative infection potential of Meloidogyne incognita and M. graminicola in the basmati rice cultivar PB1121 Save
- A nematode-inducible promoter can effectively drives RNAi construct to confer Meloidogyne incognita resistance in tomato Save
- Molecular and functional characterization of chemosensory genes from the root-knot nematode Meloidogyne graminicola Save
- The status of the CRISPR/Cas9 research in plant–nematode interactions Save
- Functional analysis of a susceptibility gene (HIPP27) in the Arabidopsis thaliana-Meloidogyne incognita pathosystem by using a genome editing strategy Save