Dr. Pinky Agarwal
Staff Scientist IVM. Sc. and Ph. D. (Plant Molecular Biology-South Campus Delhi University)
Tel: 91-11-26735211
Fax: 91-11-26741658
Email: pinky.agarwal@nipgr.ac.in
Research in News
Development of First-ever 90K Pan-genome SNP Genotyping Arrays, "Indian Rice panArray (IndRA)" and "Indian Chickpea panArray (IndiCA)" appeared in the latest released E-book (Cutting-Edge Technologies Impacting Agriculture and Allied Areas, Page 18) by the DBT, Ministry of Science & Technology, Government of India https://dbtindia.gov.in/latest-announcement/cutting-edge-technology-agriculture-and-allied-areas
SNP Arrays are released by Honourable Minister of Science & Technology Dr. Jitendra Singh Oct 8, 2021 for National Use. This technology has commercialized with Affymetrix Technologies, USA (Thermo Fisher Scientific, USA & Imperial Life Sciences, Gurgaon) for designing universal array for large-scale SNP genotyping applications in rice and chickpea.
Profile
Research Area
Molecular studies on rice grain/seed development (goal: increase yield and protein content of rice grain)
Research Interests and ongoing work
Rice is a staple food of majority of the world’s population, including India. It is the source of livelihood for many farmers, and is an economically important crop plant. Increasing population, and the consequences thereof, are exerting a pressure on the land available for rice cultivation. Scientifically calculated predictions say that rice yield needs to be increased without a corresponding increment in the cultivated area. Rice contributes to 40% of the total protein intake in India, despite having a low protein content (up to 10%). Hence, the plant can be used to address the problem of malnutrition. Since the edible part of rice crop is seed/grain (diagram on left), research on the same is extremely essential to obtain food security.
Rice seed development has been categorized by us into five stages. Each stage has distinct morphological changes. Transcriptome analysis by microarray has highlighted the genes and pathways responsible for the processes occurring in each stage. Transcriptome analysis by RNAseq on the same stages, in two varieties of rice, one with large seed and the other with small seed, has shown the causes of grain size increment. miRNA analyses of all these tissues indicates that they play an important role in controlling seed size. Gene families such as those encoding for C2H2 zinc finger transcription factors, seed storage proteins and DLN repressors have been identified by us in rice. The functional role of many such transcriptional activators/repressors is being/has been elucidated in the lab. One such example is a NAC transcription factor which is good for the formation of sticky rice. Genes whose function in seed development has been characterized, especially ones responsible for size increment or seed storage protein synthesis will eventually be used for rice crop improvement.
Technologies and Products
Development of the First-ever 90K Pan-genome SNP Genotyping Arrays, "Indian Rice panArray (IndRA)" and "Indian Chickpea panArray (IndiCA)" for accelerated genomics-assisted crop improvement of rice and chickpea.
Next-generation Molecular Breeding Develops Superior High-Yielding Chickpea Variety
Annually, huge amount of yield loss is incurred due to occurrence of water stress at maturity in chickpea. Marker-assisted backcross breeding-derived drought tolerant desi chickpea variety "ADVIKA (NC7)" developed by introgressing superior natural alleles of an ABC transporter gene in the genetic background of JG 16 enhances seed weight and yield (7% high) under drought stress. This is the First high-yielding drought tolerant variety developed by DBT-NIPGR is now approved by the Central Sub-committee on Crop Standards, Notification and Release of Varieties (CVRC), Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Government of India, for Release and Notification as a Central Variety for National use and Cultivation especially in Central Zone of India.
Development of High-yielding Protein-rich Desi and Kabuli Varieties in Chickpea [ICAR-All India Coordinated Research Projects (AICRP) on Chickpea-Advanced Varietal Trial].
Development of A Semi-erect/Semi-dwarf Chickpea Variety with Enhanced Planting Density and Productivity [ICAR- AICRP on Chickpea-Advanced Varietal Trial].
Development of an Early-Flowering/Maturing Chickpea Variety with Increased Flower number and Enhanced Yield [ICAR- AICRP Trials on Chickpea-Advanced Varietal Trial].
