Dr. Gopaljee Jha
Staff Scientist V, Plant Microbe Interactions Lab
PhD: Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad
(Degree awarded by Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi)
- 91-11-26741612/14/17 Extn. 177,91-11-26735177
- jmsgopal@nipgr.ac.in
Profile
Research
Understanding the mechanisms by which pathogens cause disease and plants defend themselves is an interesting area of research in modern biology. Important practical implications are emerging out from such researches which are helpful in strategizing plant diseases management to ensuring food security. Rice Sheath Blight disease caused by the Basidiomycete fungus Rhizoctoniasolani remains a threat to global sustainable agriculture and food security. It has complex biology and highly destructive lifestyle and has been reported occurring world-wide causing necrosis and damping-off on numerous plant species. The exact mechanisms by which this fungus establishes and maintains a necrotrophic interaction with their hosts is completely unknown. We endeavour to use the available genome sequences to identify and study the candidate pathogenicity determinant of the pathogen and explore their role in governing virulence and host specificity. Furthermore, we would focus on understand how this pathogen manipulate rice cellular and molecular process to establish sheath blight disease.
Career
Scientist (Feb 2013-present):National Institute of Plant Genome Research, New Delhi, India.
Scientist (Aug 2007-Jan 2013): CSIR-Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology, Palampur, H.P, India.
Visiting Scientist (July 2010-June 2011): The Sainsbury Laboratory, John Innes Centre, Norwich, U.K.
Awards & Honors
Year
Honors
2023
Fellow of the National Academy of Science (NASI), Allahabad, India (FNASc.
2021
Member Guha research conference (GRC)
Year
Awards
2021
DBT - S. Ramachandran National Bioscience Award for Career Development (awarded in 2023).
Swarna Jayanti Fellowship, Department of Science and Technology, Govt of Inida
2010
INSA (Indian National Science Academy) medal for Young Scientist
2007
NASI (National Academy of Science, India) Platinum Jubilee Young Scientist Award
2010-11
BOYSCAST Fellowship from Department of Science and Technology, Govt. of India
Gold Medal: Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, Punjab, India
Career Opportunity
We are a growing lab and can provide an exciting platform for those interested in studying the molecular intricacies of host pathogen interactions. Interested and motivated people are encouraged to contact the PI for joining the lab.
Current Members
Mr. Rajendra Kumar
Designation: Senior Technical Officer
Research Project: Dissecting plant responses to growth promoting microbes
- jaisalraj100@nipgr.ac.in
Mr. Rahul Kumar
Designation: Research Associate
Research Project: Dissecting plant responses to growth promoting microbes
- rahuls697@nipgr.ac.in
Dr. Mamta Rani
Designation: CSIR-SRA
Research Project: Exploring the role of host susceptibility factors and R. solani effectors in rice sheath blight disease
- mamta.nipgr@gmail.com
Dr. Ravindra Kumar Chandan
Designation: DBT-RA
Research Project: Mechanistic understanding of Bg_9562-mediated disease resistance in rice
- rjha.bhu@nipgr.ac.in
Dr. Amrita Pradhan
Designation: Research Associate
Understanding the molecular secrets of antifungal and antibacterial activity of Burkholderia gladioli strain NGJ1 and utilization thereof for disease control in rice
- amritapradhan989@gmail.com
Dr. Saumashish Mukherjee
Designation: Research Associate
Research Project: Elucidating the role of cell wall-degrading enzymes (CAZymes) in pathogenesis of Rhizoctonia solani
- smukherjee13@nipgr.ac.in
Mr. Debashis Sahoo
Designation: Ph.D. scholar
Research Project: Understanding host genes imparting susceptibility to sheath blight disease in rice
- deb.sahoo@nipgr.ac.in
Ms. Rajni Dahiya
Designation: Ph.D. scholar
Research Project: Identification and characterization of antimicrobial encoding gene clusters in Burkholderia gladioli NGJ1
- rajni1208@nipgr.ac.in
Ms. Mandira Roy
Designation: Ph.D. scholar
Research Project: Modulation of plant defense response by Burkholderia gladioli NGJ1
- mandiraroy@nipgr.ac.in
Mr. Naveen Goel
Designation: Ph.D. scholar
Research Project: Characterization of rice gene(s) modulated during establishment of sheath blight disease
- naveengoel99@gmail.com
Mr. Bukya Rajesh
Designation: Ph.D. scholar
Research Project: Understanding the role of effector proteins of Rhizoctonia solani in disease establishment in plants
- bukyarajesh@nipgr.ac.in
Ms. Surbhi Vashisth
Designation: I3C BRIC-RCB Ph.D. scholar
Research Project: Development of improved sheath blight disease resistance by targeting rice translational processes
- surbhivashisth@nipgr.ac.in
Mr. Sunder Singh Solanki
Designation: Lab Attendant
Mr. Minto Mandal
Designation: Field Attendant
Mr. Surender Kumar
Designation: Field Attendant
Former Members
Dr. Srayan Ghosh: Ph.D. scholar
Dr. Isha Tyagi: Ph.D. scholar
Dr. Sunil Kumar Yadav: Ph.D. scholar
Dr. Kriti Tyagi: Ph.D. scholar
Dr. Joyati Das: Ph.D. scholar
Dr. Poonam Kanwar: DBT-RA
Dr. Durga Madhab Swain: DBT-RA
Dr. Ravi Kant: SERB-NPDF
Dr. Ankita Magotra: Research Associate
Dr. Kristi Kabyashree: Research Associate
Dr. Santosh Kumar Gupta: Research Associate
Dr. Md. Iqbal Raja Khan: Research Associate
Dr. Papa Rao Vaikuntapu: Research Associate
Dr. Pramila Yadav: Project Assistant
Ms. Aiswarya Krishnan: Project Assistant
Mr. Saurabh Singh: Project Assistant
Mr. Chandan Kumar: Project Assistant
Ms. Ganga Devi Sinniah: NAM-ST, RTF-DCS Fellowship awardee
Selected Publications
Chandan, R.K., Kumar, R., Kabyashree, K., Yadav, S.K., Roy, M., Swain, D., and Jha, G*. 2023. A prophage tail-like protein facilitates the endophytic growth of Burkholderia gladioli and mounting immunity in tomato. New Phytopathologist (accepted). Doi: 10.1111/nph.19184.
Das, J., Kumar, R., Yadav, SK., and Jha, G*. 2023. Nicotinic acid catabolism modulates bacterial mycophagy in Burkholderia gladioli strain NGJ1. Microbiology spectrum. e0445722. doi: 10.1128/spectrum.04457-22.
Francis, A., Ghosh, S., Tyagi, K., Prakasam, V., Rani, M., Singh, N.P, Pradhan, A., Sundaram, RM., Priyanka, C., Laha, GS., Kannan, C., Prasad, MS., Chattopadhyay, D., and Jha, G*. 2023. Evolution of pathogenicity-associated genes in Rhizoctonia solani AG1-IA by genome duplication and transposon-mediated gene function alterations. BMC Biology. 21(1):15. doi: 10.1186/s12915-023-01526-0.
Chandan, R.K., Kumar, R., Swain, D., Ghosh, S., Bhagat, P., Patel, S., Bagler, G., Sinha, A., and Jha, G*. 2023. RAV1 family members function as transcriptional regulators and play a positive role in plant disease resistance. The Plant Journal. 114: 39-54. https://doi.org/10.1111/tpj.16114.
Sahoo, P. K., Kumar, R., Rani, A., Yadav, S. K., Jha, G.* and Jain D. 2022. N-terminal residues play a critical role for stabilizing the filamentous assembly and the anti-fungal activity of Bg_9562. Microbiology spectrum. 10(5):e0160722. doi: 10.1128/spectrum.01607-22.
Sahoo, R. K., Chandan, R. K., Swain, D. M., Tuteja, N., and Jha, G*. 2022. Heterologous overexpression of PDH45 gene of pea provides tolerance against sheath blight disease and drought stress in rice. Plant Physiology and Biochemistry.186: 242-251.
Francis A, Ghosh S, Tyagi K, Prakasham V, Rani M, Singh NP, Pradhan A, Sundaram RM, Priyanka C, Laha GS, Kannan C, Prasad MS, Chattopadhyay D*, Jha G* (2023) Evolution of pathogenicity-associated genes in Rhizoctonia solani AG1-IA by genome duplication and transposon-mediated gene function alterations. BMC Biology doi: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12915-023-01526-0 (* co-corresponding author)
Das, J., Kumar, R., Yadav, S. K., and Jha, G*. 2022. The alternative sigma factor, rpoN1 and rpoN2 are required for mycophagous activity of Burkholderia gladioli strain NGJ1. Environmental Microbiology. 24: 2781-2796. doi: 10.1111/1462-2920.158.
Pal, G., Mehta, D., Singh, S., Magal, K., Gupta, S., Jha, G., Bajaj, A. and Vemanna, R. 2021. Foliar application or seed priming of cholic acid-glycine conjugates can mitigate/prevent the rice bacterial leaf blight disease via activating plant defence genes. Front. Plant Sci. 12. 746912. DOI=10.3389/fpls.2021.746912.
Das, J., Kumar, R., Yadav, S. K., and Jha, G*. 2021. The alternative sigma factor, rpoN1 and rpoN2 are required for mycophagous activity of Burkholderia gladioli strain NGJ1. Environmental microbiology. doi: 10.1111/1462-2920.158.
Yadav SK, Magotra A, Ghosh S, Krishnan A, Pradhan A, Kumar R, Das J, Sharma M, and Jha G*. 2021. Immunity proteins of dual nuclease T6SS effectors function as transcriptional repressors. EMBO reports. 22:e51857. https://doi.org/10.15252/embr.202051857.
Rani M, and Jha G*. 2021. Host Gamma Aminobutyric Acid Metabolic Pathway is involved in Resistance against Rhizoctonia solani. Phytopathology. (Accepted). https://doi.org/10.1094/PHYTO-08-20-0356-R.
Das J, Yadav SK, Ghosh S, Tyagi K, Magotra A, Krishnan A and Jha G*. 2021. Enzymatic and non-enzymatic functional attributes of plant microbiome. Current Opinion in Biotechnology. 69: 162-171.
Pradhan A, Sahoo D, Ghosh S, and Jha G*. 2021. Fungal effectors, the double edge sword of phytopathogens. Current Genetics. 67: 27-40. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00294-020-01118-3.
Ghosh S, Kant Ravi, Pradhan A. and Jha G*. 2021. RS_CRZ1, a C2H2 type transcription factor is required for pathogenesis of Rhizoctonia solani in tomato. Mol. Plant-Microbe Interact. 34: 26-38. DOI: 10.1094/MPMI-05-20-0121-R.
Yadav SK, Das J, Kumar R, and Jha G*. 2020. Calcium regulates the mycophagous ability of Burkholderia gladioli strain NGJ1 in a type III secretion system-dependent manner. BMC Microbiology. 20: 216. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12866-020-01897-2.
Das J and Jha G*. 2020. Bacteriophages: co-evolving with bacteria to provide useful traits. Polymorphism. 4: 72-82. (Invited Review).
Swain DM, Sahoo R, Chandan R, Ghosh S, Kumar R, Jha G*, and Tuteja N*. 2019. Concurrent overexpression of rice G-protein β and γ subunits provide enhanced tolerance to sheath blight disease and abiotic stress in rice. Planta. 250: 1505-1520. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00425-019-03241-z.
Kant R, Tyagi K, Ghosh S and Jha G*. 2019. Rhizoctonia solani exploits host alternative NADH:ubiquinone oxidoreductase to promote pathogenesis in tomato. Phytopathology. 109: 1741-1750. https://doi.org/10.1094/PHYTO-02-19-0055-R.
Saggu SK, Jha G and Mishra PC. 2019. Enzymatic degradation of biofilm by metalloprotease from Microbacterium sp. SKS10. Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology 7: 192. doi: 10.3389/fbioe.2019.00192.
Rani M, Tyagi K and Jha G*. 2020. Advancement in Plant Disease Control Strategies. Book chapter in Advancement in Crop Improvement Techniques, to be published by Elsevier Inc .doi. 10.1016/B978-0-12-818581-0.00010-3.
Ghosh S, Malukani KK, Chandan RK, Sonti RV and Jha G*. 2019. How plants respond to pathogen attack’, book chapter in Sensory Biology of Plants. Springer Nature Publishing Group doi. 10.1007/978-981-13-8922-1_20.
Ghosh, S., Kanwar, P., Mirza, N., Tyagi K. and Jha, G*. 2019. Genome analysis provides insight about pathogenesis of Indian strains of Rhizoctonia solani in rice. Functional and Integrative Genomics. 19: 799-810. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10142-019-00687-y.
Chandan RK, Singh AK, Patel S, Swain DM, Tuteja N, Jha G*. 2019. Silencing of tomato CTR1 provides enhanced tolerance against Tomato leaf curl virus infection. Plant Signal Behav. 19:1-7. doi: 10.1080/15592324.2019.1565595.
Kumar R, Yadav SK, Swain DM and Jha G* (2018). Burkholderia gladioli strain NGJ1 deploys a prophage tail-like protein for mycophagy. Microbial Cell, 5: 116 – 118; DOI: 10.15698/mic2018.02.617.
Kumar R, Swain DM, Yadav SK, Tyagi I, Kumar R, Das J, Ghosh S and Jha G* (2018). Bacteria-fungal Confrontation and Fungal Growth Prevention Assay. Bio-protocol 8(2): e2694. DOI: 10.21769/BioProtoc.2694.
Ghosh S, Kanwar P, Jha G*. Identification of candidate pathogenicity determinants of Rhizoctonia solani AG1-IA, which causes sheath blight disease in rice. Curr Genet. 2017. doi: 10.1007/s00294-017-0791-7.
Swain DM, Yadav SK, Tyagi I, Kumar R, Kumar R, Ghosh S, Das J and Jha G *. 2017. A prophage tail-like protein is deployed by Burkholderia bacteria to feed on fungi. Nature communications. 8: 404.
Ghosh S, Kanwar P, and Jha G* (2017) Alterations in rice chloroplast integrity, photosynthesis and metabolome associated with pathogenesis of Rhizoctonia solani“. Scientific Reports (Accepted).
Kumar R, Barman A, Phukan T, Kabyashree K, Singh N, Jha G, Sonti R.V, Genin S and Ray R.K. (2016). Ralstonia solanacearum virulence in tomato seedlings inoculated by leaf clipping. Plant Pathology. DOI: 10.1111/ppa.12628.
Jha G*, Tyagi I, Kumar R, and Ghosh S. (2015).Draft genome sequence of broad spectrum antifungal bacterium Burkholderia gladioli strain NGJ1, isolated from healthy rice seeds. Genome announcement. (Accepted).
Ghosh S, Gupta SK and Jha G* (2014) Identification and functional analysis of AG1-IA specific genes of Rhizoctonia solani. Current Genetics 60: 327-341. DOI: 10.1007/s00294-014-0438-x.
Kumar R, Barman A, Jha G, Ray SK (2013). Identification and establishment of genomic identity of Ralstonia solanacearum isolated from a wilted chilli plant at Tezpur, North East India. Current Science 105: 1571-1578.
Thakur K, Chawla V, Bhatti S, Swarnkar MK, Kaur J, Shankar R, Jha G* (2013). De novo transcriptome sequencing and analysis for Venturiainaequalis, the devastating apple scab pathogen. PLoS ONE 8(1): e53937. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0053937.
Kumar S, Haque AS, Jha G, Sonti RV and Sankaranarayanan R (2012) Crystallization and preliminary crystallographic studies on CbsA, a secretory exoglucanase from Xanthomonasoryzae pv. oryzae. ActaCrystallographica Section F. 68: 1191-1194.
Bogdanove AJ, Koebnik R, Lu H, Furutani A, Angiuoli SV, Patil PB, Van Sluys MA, Ryan RP, Meyer DF, Han SW, Aparna G, Rajaram M, Delcher AL, Phillippy AM, Puiu D, Schatz MC, Shumway M, Sommer DD, Trapnell C, Benahmed F, Dimitrov G, Madupu R, Radune D, Sullivan S, Jha G, Ishihara H, Lee SW, Pandey A, Sharma V, Sriariyanun M, Szurek B, Vera-Cruz CM, Dorman KS, Ronald PC, Verdier V, Dow JM, Sonti RV, Tsuge S, Brendel V, Rabinowicz PD, Leach JE, White FF, Salzberg SL. (2011). Two new complete genome sequences offer insight into host and tissue specificity of plant pathogenic Xanthomonas spp. J. Bacteriology. 193: 5450-5464. Doi:10.1128/JB.05262-11.
Bhatti S and Jha G* (2010) Current trends and future prospects of biotechnological interventions through tissue culture in apple. Plant Cell Reports 29: 1215-1225.
Jha G, Patel H K, Dasgupta M, Palaparthi R and Sonti RV (2010) Transcriptional profiling of rice leaves undergoing a hypersensitive response like reaction induced by Xanthomonasoryzaepv. oryzaecellulase. Rice (springer). 3, 1-21. DOI 10.1007/s12284-009-9033-z. (Published in the special issue: biotic stress).
Jha G*,Thakur K and Thakur P (2009) The Venturia apple pathosystem: pathogenicity mechanisms and plant defense responses. Journal of Biomedicine and Biotechnology. Article ID 680160, doi:10.1155/2009/680160 (A review article).
Jha G and Sonti RV (2009) Attack and defense in Xanthomonas-rice interactions. Proc. Indian NatnSciAcad 75: 49-68 (Invited Review).
Salzberg SL, Sommer DD, Schatz M C Phillippy AM, Rabinowicz PD, Tsuge S, Furutani A, Ochiai H, Delcher AL, Kelley D, Madupu R, Puiu D, Radune D, Shumway M, Trapnell C, Aparna G, Jha G, Pandey A, Patil PB, Ishihara H, Meyer DF, Szurek B, Verdier V, Koebnik R, Dow JM, Ryan RP, Hirata H, Tsuyumu S, Won Lee S, Ronald PC, Sonti RV, Van Sluys M -A, Leach JE, White FF and Bogdanove AJ (2008) Genome sequence and rapid evolution of the rice pathogen Xanthomonasoryzaepv. oryzaePXO99A. BMC Genomics 9: 204. doi:10.1186/1471-2164-9-204 (highly accessed article).
Jha G, Rajeshwari R and Sonti RV (2007) Functional interplay between two Xanthomonasoryzaepv. oryzaesecretion systems in modulating virulence on rice. Mol. Plant-Microbe Interact. 20: 31-40 (A cover page article).
Aparna G, Chatterjee A, Jha G, Sonti RV and Sankaranarayanan R (2007) Crystallization and preliminary crystallographic studies on LipA, a secreted lipase/esterase from Xanthomonasoryzaepv. oryzae. ActaCryst Sec F. F63, 708-710.
Subramoni S, Jha G, and Sonti RV (2006) Virulence functions of Xanthomonads. Book chapter in Plant Associated Bacteria, 535-571. Edited by Sam Gnanamanickam Published by Springer NL.
Jha G, Rajeshwari R and Sonti RV (2005) Bacterial type two secretion system secreted proteins: double-edged swords for plant pathogens. Mol. Plant-Microbe Interact. 18:891-898 (an invited review).
Rajeshwari R, Jha G and Sonti RV (2005) Role of an in plantaexpressed xylanase of Xanthomonasoryzaepv. oryzaein promoting virulence on Rice. Mol. Plant-Microbe Interact. 18: 830-837.
Patent
Durga Madhab Swain, Sunil Kumar Yadav, Gopaljee Jha. 2016. Novel Protein Against Fungal Pathogens. Provisional Indian Patent Application no. 201611024726.
Pramila Yadav, Ashish Bedi, Gopaljee Jha, Subhash C Yadav. A conjugate comprising gold nanoparticles and Venturia inaequalis specific probes and kits comprising the same for the detection of apple scab. Indian Patent (File No: 361/DEL/2015)
Karnika Thakur and GopaljeeJha, Method for detecting fungal pathogens. WIPO patent pub no: WO/2011/098907