Faculty Member

Various glucosinolates and their products also possess anti-carcinogenic, anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory properties in humans and animals. Metabolic engineering of Indian mustard for enrichment of desirable glucosinolates while reducing the anti-nutritional glucosinolates will improve the food and feed value of this crop. The lab focuses on developing transgene-free Indian mustard varieties with biofortified glucosinolates for human consumption.

The lab is investigating the role of key players regulating the source-sink relationship in glucosinolate transport process to develop ‘the ideal lines’ with low-seed and high-leaf glucosinolates. Tissue-specific manipulation of glucosinolate accumulation will be a promising strategy to engineer defense against insects and pests of Brassica crops. Additionally, the role of glucosinolate-negotiated defense against the white mold pathogen, Sclerotinia is also being researched. Key pathogen proteins of Sclerotinia-Brassica interaction are being identified and functionally characterized to understand the disease mechanism in-depth.

Glucosinolates are a group of amino acid-derived plant secondary metabolites distinctive to the order Capparales, which includes agriculturally important Brassica vegetables, condiments and oilseed crops and the model species Arabidopsis thaliana.

The biological activities of glucosinolates are governed post breakdown by myrosinases (β-thioglucoside glucohydrolase, TGG). Glucosinolate activation by myrosinases upon herbivory is poorly understood in Brassica crops and is further complexed by polyploidy. The lab focuses on in-planta characterization of myrosinase encoding gene family in mustard to understand the regulation of glucosinolate catabolism during herbivory.

The G-protein research in crop species is still in its infancy, and a handful of studies suggest important roles of G-proteins in regulating plant architectural and key agronomical traits including plant’s response to abiotic and biotic factors. The involvement and signal transduction mediated by G-proteins in plant development, stress adaptation and defense regulation are being studies to develop novel approaches to boost plant yield and fitness in the changing environments.

The branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) Ile, Val and Leu are essential nutrients that humans and other animals need to obtain from plants. However, the total amounts of plant BCAAs rarely match the human nutritional requirements. Research in our laboratory focuses on understanding the mechanistic basis for BCAA homeostasis and feedback regulation of a key allosteric enzyme (IPMS) of Leu biosynthesis pathway in Brassicas by utilizing an array of evolutionary, biochemical and gene editing tools.