Research Interests

Our laboratory is interested in studying the mechanism of bacterial virulence and plant defense using Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae (Xoo) and rice as a model system. In the area of rice functional genomics, our group is working towards identification and characterization of genes involved in important agronomic traits in rice such as disease (bacterial blight, sheath blight) and pest (yellow stem borer) resistance, abiotic stress resistance, higher yield, early maturation etc. We are attempting to develop novel markers for some of these important agronomic traits using genetic methodologies, NGS and bioinformatic analysis. The novel markers will be useful for the development of newer rice varieties.

Selected Publications

Multiomics-assisted characterization of rice-Yellow Stem Borer interaction provides genomic and mechanistic insights into stem borer resistance in rice. Gokulan et al. Theoritical and Applied Genetics. (2024). doi: 10.1007/s00122-024-04628-7.

Suppression of XopQ-XopX induced immune responses of rice by the type III effector XopG. Deb et al. Molecular Plant Pathology (2022). doi: 10.1111/mpp.13184

Dual activities of receptor like kinase OsWAKL21.2 induce immune responses. Malukani et al. Plant Physiology. (2020). https://doi.org/10.1104/pp.19.01579

Action of multiple cell wall degrading enzymes is required for elicitation of innate immune responses during Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae infection in rice. Tayi et al. Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions. (2016). 29(8):599-608.

Transcriptional profiling of rice leaves undergoing a hypersensitive response like reaction induced by Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae cellulase. Jha et al. Rice. (2010). 3: 1-21.