BRIC-National Institute of Plant Genome Research

Dr. Mukesh Kumar Meena

Scientist II

Ph.D: National Institute of Plant Genome Research, New Delhi

Profile

Research Interests

Plants have the unique property to fix carbon dioxide into sugars and the entire human population is directly dependent on them as vital sources of oxygen, food, and other economically important products. Abiotic and biotic challenges pose serious risks to plant growth and crop production worldwide. Therefore, understanding how plants activate defense responses against environmental stresses represents a tremendous opportunity to improve plant yield and meet the agricultural output goals to feed the predicted ~10 billion (1010) human population by 2050. Insect pests in particular pose a significant threat to plant yield, crop production and food supply. Recent reports estimate that one-third of all crop losses are due to insect herbivory on major grain crops such as wheat, rice and maize (Deutsch et al 2018; Science). Harmful effects of insecticides on human health, environment and increasing insecticide resistance are further areas of concern for farmers and policymakers around the world. Our research focus is to study early signaling events during plant-insect interaction in model system Arabidopsis and crop plants. We will employ genetics, biochemistry and cell biology approaches to study defense signaling pathways. Fundamental understanding of plant defense responses against insect pathogens will enable us to generate sustainable strategies to tackle global challenges such as food security and environmental protection.

Professional & Academic Background

Staff Scientist II (2022-present) : National Institute for Plant Genome Research (NIPGR)

Post Doctoral Fellow (2018-2022) : Leibniz Institute of Plant Biochemistry, Halle, Germany

Post Doctoral Fellow (2015-2018) : National Institute for Plant Genome Research (NIPGR)

Ph. D. (2008-2015) : National Institute for Plant Genome Research (NIPGR)

M. Sc. (2006-2008) : Madurai Kamaraj University, Madurai, India

B. Sc. (2003-2006) : Maharaja’s college, Jaipur, India

Awards & Honors

Achievers Award (2025) from University of Rajasthan, India

Prof. S.K. Sopory Young Scientist Award (2024), Indian Society for Plant Physiology, India

Start-Up Research Grant (2023), Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB), India

NASI-Young Scientist Platinum Jubilee Award (2022), National Academy of Sciences, India

Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Postdoctoral Fellowship (2019), European Commission

Best paper of the year award (2019), NIPGR, India

Associate Editor- Plant Physiology Reports (Springer Nature)

Life Member of the "Indian Society for Plant Physiology"

Current Members

Mr. Rupak Saha

Ph.D. Students

Ms. Diksha Saiyam

Ph.D. Students

Ms. Sapna Bhardwaj

Ph.D. Students

Mr. Khrade Vero

Ph.D. Students

Ms. Aiswarya S. Nair

Ph.D. Students

Mr. Raj Patel

Research Interns

Ms. Radha

Research Interns

Mr. Chandra Prakash

Former Lab Members

Mr. Rohith Kumar

M.Sc. trainee (Feb 2023 to June 2023)

Ms. Nivya Yadav

M.Sc. trainee (Feb 2023 to June 2023)

Mr. Harsh Chauhan

B. Tech trainee (July 2023 to August 2023)

Ms. Esha Tailor

B.Sc. trainee (Feb 2024 to March 2024)

Mr. Jigyasu Gaurav

M.Sc. trainee (February 2024 to June 2024)

Mr. Saransh Sharma

B. Tech. trainee (July 2024 to September 2024)

Collaborations

Dr. Axel Mithöfer (Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Germany)

Dr. Bettina Hause (Leibniz Institute of Plant Biochemistry, Germany)

Dr. Edgar Pieter (University of Halle-Wittenberg, Germany)

Dr. Jyothilakshmi Vadassery (NIPGR, New Delhi)

Dr. Debasis Chattopadhyay (NIPGR, New Delhi)

Dr. Rakesh Kumar Shukla (CIMAP, Lucknow)

Dr. Vineeta Tripathi (CDRI, Lucknow)

Publications

Kundu P, Kumari M, Meena MK, Mishra S, Vadassery J (2025) The Arabidopsis eATP receptor, DORN1 and CNGC19 channel act in tandem to regulate plant defense upon Spodoptera litura herbivory. Journal of Experimental Botany Published online January 25, 2025 (doi.org/10.1093/jxb/eraf025)

Mielke S, Zimmer M, Meena MK, Dreos R, Stellmach H, Hause B, Voiniciuc C, Gasperini D (2021) Jasmonate biosynthesis arising from altered cell walls is prompted by turgor-driven mechanical compression. Science Advances 7(7):eabf0356

Menna A, Dora S, Sancho-Andrés G, Kashyap A, Meena MK, Sklodowski K, Gasperini D, Coll NS, Sánchez-Rodríguez C (2021) A primary cell wall cellulose-dependent defense mechanism against vascular pathogens revealed by time-resolved dual transcriptomics. BMC biology 19 (1):1-20

Jogawat A, Meena MK, Kundu A, Varma M, Vadassery J (2020) Calcium channel CNGC19 mediates basal defense signaling to regulate colonization by Piriformospora indica in Arabidopsis roots. Journal of Experimental Botany 71(9):2752-2768

Prajapati R, Mittal D, Meena MK, Vadassery J (2020) Jasmonic acid (JA) induced-calcium elevation in Arabidopsis is highly variable due to time of day and conversion to JA-Ile. Journal of Plant Biochemistry and Biotechnology 29 (4):816-823

Meena MK, Prajapati R, Krishna D, Divakaran K, Pandey Y, Reichelt M, Mathew MK, Boland W, Mithöfer A, Vadassery J (2019) The Ca2+ Channel CNGC19 Regulates Arabidopsis defense against Spodoptera Herbivory. Plant Cell 31(7):1539-1562

Meena MK, Vishwakarma NK, Tripathi V, Chattopadhyay D (2019) CBL-interacting protein kinase 25 contributes to root meristem development. Journal of Experimental Botany 70(1):133-147

Khandal H, Parween S, Roy R, Meena MK, Chattopadhyay D (2017) MicroRNA profiling provides insights into post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression in chickpea root apex under salinity and water deficiency. Scientific Reports 7(1):4632

Meena MK, Ghawana S, Diwedi V, Roy A, Chattopadhyay D (2015) Expression of chickpea CIPK25 enhanced root growth and abiotic stress tolerance. Frontiers in plant science 6:683

Meena MK, Ghawana S, Sardar A, Dwivedi V, Khandal H, Roy R, Chattopadhyay D (2015) Investigation of genes encoding Calcineurin B-like protein family in legumes and their expression analyses in chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.). Plos one 10(4):e0123640

Reviews

Yadav B, Majhi A, Phagna K, Meena MK*, Ram H* (2023) Negative regulators of grain yield and mineral contents in rice: potential targets for CRISPR-Cas9-mediated genome editing. Functional & Integrative Genomics 23(4):317

Meena MK, Sardar A, Chattopadhyay D (2019) Decoding and relay of calcium signals by CBL-CIPK module in plants. Proc Indian Natn Sci Acad 85(1): 143-156

Meena MK, Vadassery J (2015) Channels hold the key: cyclic nucleotide gated channels (CNGC) in plant biotic stress signaling. Endocytobiosis & Cell Research vol.26

Book Chapter

Meena MK (2024) Regulating postharvest pathogen infection and decay using biotechnological tools. Bioengineered Fruit and Vegetables: Trends in Postharvest Quality Improvement. Apple Academic Press (AAP)
https://www.appleacademicpress.com/bioengineered-fruit-and-vegetables-trends-in-postharvest-quality-improvement/9781774917480

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