Dr. Senthil-Kumar Muthappa
Scientist-V
- 91-11-26741612,14,17 Ext. - 229, 26735229, Fax: 91-11-26741658
- skmuthappa@nipgr.ac.in
Profile
Research Interests
Stress interaction and combined stresses in plants
Due to changing climatic factors, plants are expected to combat the unique combination of stresses. Plants simultaneously exposed to a combination of stresses (for example, drought and pathogens) are expected to employ altogether a different &tailored response for combating them compared to those independently exposed to individual stresses. Such unique adaptive strategy used by plants is an exciting area of research.
Our lab uses Arabidopsis thaliana as model plant and attempts to capture the unique genes involved in disease resistance of these plants against Pseudomonas syringae pathovars (host & nonhost pathogens) under drought stress. Also, we study the interaction of moisture stress with fungal pathogen infection in chickpea and Ralstonia solanacearum infection in tomato plants. We employ virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) tool to investigate the functional relevance of candidate genes.
Findings from this project will enable understanding not only the nature of stress interaction, but also the specific defense responses of combined stressed plants against pathogens.
Nonhost resistance of plants against pathogens
Plants are regularly exposed to wide variety of disease-causing pathogens in their environment. Plants have evolved various defense mechanisms, both active and passive to combat pathogen attack. R-gene mediated defense limits the host range of a pathogen to the member of a single species and is often overcome by the pathogen. In contrast, nonhost resistance is a response to all races of a particular pathogen and occurs in all cultivars of a nonhost plant species. We are particularly interested in understanding nonhost resistance of model plant A. thaliana against few bacterial pathogens that cause disease in crop plants (for example, tomato, and beans). Our lab also has a specific interest in identifying the nonhost plants of Begomoviruses and understanding the resistance mechanism operating in such nonhost plants against the viruses.
Career
Staff scientist: NIPGR, New Delhi (June 2013 onwards)
Post-Doctoral Fellow: Noble Research Institute, Ardmore, Oklahoma, USA (Jan 2007 to June 2013)
Research Associate: University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore (June 2006 to Jan 2007)
Fellowships and Awards
Year
Fellowships/Awards
2022
Fellow, National Academy of Sciences India (NASI)
2021
Fellow, Indian Society for Plant Physiology (FISPP), New Delhi, India
2020
J.C. Bose Gold Medal Award of Indian Society for Plant Physiology
2020
Member, National Academy of Sciences India (NASI)
2020
Fellow, The National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (NAAS), India
2015
DBT Innovative Young Biotechnologist Award
2015
NAAS Associateship, The National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (NAAS), India
Ramalingaswami Re-entry Fellowship, Department of Biotechnology, New Delhi.
Ramanujan Fellowship, Department of Science and Technology, New Delhi [fellowship not availed].
Interested in joining the lab?
Motivated young researchers who would like to join the lab to work on prediction of the occurrence and impact of stress combinations [drought-pathogen stress interaction] by employing simulation and crop modelling related tools are welcome to contact the PI. Researchers with strong statistical, geoinformatics and bioinformatics skills can apply through DBT-BIOCARE or INSPIRE or CSIR senior RA or DST women scientist or DBT-RA or open lab positions.
Current Members
Dr. Nidhi Singh
DBT-Bio-CARe-Women Scientist
Biochemical and molecular characterization of SWEET transporters for their utility in combating chickpea dry root rot disease through gene editing
- nidhisingh@nipgr.ac.in
Dr. Shikha Tuteja Chandna
Research Associate-III
DBT Multi-institutional project entitled “Characterization of chickpea germplasm resource to accelerate genomics-assisted crop improvement” under mission programme “Characterization of genetic resources
- shikhatuteja@gmail.com
Dr. Rubi Jain
ANRF-NPDF Fellow
Deciphering combined drought and dry root rot tolerance mechanisms in chickpea using Multi-Omics and Integrative analysis
- jainrubi@nipgr.ac.in
Dr. Akash Sharma
Research Associate
Development of climate resilient chickpea and brassica by gene editing
- sharmaakash9332@nipgr.ac.in
Dr. Anjali
Senior Research Fellow
Gates Foundation funded project “Development of Climate resilient chickpea and brassica by gene editing
- anjali@nipgr.ac.in
Mr. Dulla Sandeep
Junior Research Fellow
Characterization of chickpea germplasm resource to accelerate genomics-assisted crop improvement.
- sandeepdulla@nipgr.ac.in
Ms. Durgadevi Adimoolam
Junior Research Fellow
Screening of chickpea germplasm accessions for dry root rot disease using paper blot and sick pot methods
- durgadevia@nipgr.ac.in
Ms. Krisha Rajajoshi
Project Associate
Development of climate resilient chickpea and brassica by gene editing
- rajajoshikrisha@gmail.com
Ms. Amina Hanaan Majeed
Project Associate
Development of a multi-task model-base application of identification and severity assessment of dry root rot disease in chickpea and soybean
- aminahanaan0310@gmail.com
Shri Shankar Acharya
Senior Technical Officer
Responsibilities: Maintenance of computational tools developed by the laboratory and overall day to day laboratory management
- shankar.acharya@nipgr.ac.in
Miss. Neha
Technical Assistant
Stress Combination and their interaction in plant database (SCIPDb)
- neha107@nipgr.ac.in
Miss.Shilpa Mukherjee
Ph. D. Students
Dissecting the key mechanistic role of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and its associated SynComs in providing protection against combined dry root rot disease under drought conditions in chickpea
- shilpamukherjee@nipgr.ac.in
Miss. Suman saini
Ph.D. Student
Elucidating the role of biochemical defence in dry root rot resistance in chickpea.
- sumansaini0123@nipgr.ac.in
Mr. Shubhashish Ranjan
Ph.D. Student
Characterization of genetic determinants of dry root rot disease resistance in chickpea under abiotic stress
- shubhashishranjan@nipgr .ac .in
Mr. Aswin Reddy Chilakala
Ph.D. Student
Combating dry root rot disease of chickpea by expressing antifungal proteins and through genetic enhancement
- swinchilakala@nipgr.ac.in
Mr. Rishabh Mirchandani
Ph.D. Student
Exploring non-host disease resistance to Macrophomina phaseolina
- rishabhmirchandani@nipgr.ac.in
Ms. Anshika Devi
Ph.D. Student
Research Project: Tentative
- anshikadevi@nipgr.ac.in
Mr. Sunder Singh Solanki
Field cum Laboratory Attendant
- sundersolanki82@gmail.com
Mr. Rahim Hussain Tarafdar
Field cum Laboratory Attendant
- hossan.rahim2015@gmail.com
Mr. Rinku
Field cum Laboratory Attendant
Mr. Rohit
Field cum Laboratory Attendant
Former Ph.D Students
Miss. Komal Vitthalrao Mali
PhD Student (Aug 2018- Nov 2024)
Studies on Rhizoctonia bataticola – chickpea interaction under drought stress
- malikomal92@nipgr.ac.in
Mr. Vadivel Murugan Irulappan
PhD Student (July 2015-Mar 2021)
Understanding Mechanisms of Tolerance to Combined Drought and Pathogen infection in Chickpea Using Transcriptomic and Gene Silencing Approaches
- tamilan.vadivel@gmail.com
Ms. Aanchal Choudhary
Elucidating molecular basis of tailored defense response employed by Arabidopsis thaliana against combined biotic and abiotic stresses by functional genomics approach
- aanchal@nipgr.ac.in
Ms. Aarzoo Qamar
PhD Student (July 2013-Mar 2021
Role of proline metabolism in nonhost disease resistance
- aarzoo@nipgr.ac.in
Ms.Urooj Fatima
PhD Student (July 2013-Aug 2020)
Understanding the defense strategies used by Arabidopsis thaliana for limiting the nutrient availability to bacterial pathogens and counter strategies used by pathogens for nutrient acquisition
- urooj@nipgr.ac.in
Mr. Sandeep Kumar Dixit
PhD Student (July 2014-Aug 2020)
Functional characterization of AtGBF3 gene under combined drought and pathogen stress in Arabidopsis thaliana
- sandeepdixit@nipgr.ac.in
Former Lab Members
Miss. Anita Kumari
Research Associate
Research Project: Investigating the role of Cicer arietinum SWEET genes in drought modulated dry root rot disease defense response
- anitak@nipgr.ac.in
Mr. Krishna R Acharya
Current Position:
- kracharya555@gmail.com
Ms. Rim Chaudhury
Current Position: PhD, University of Freiburg, Germany
- rchaudhury96@gmail.com
Dr. Piyush Priya
Post-doctoral researcher (2019-2024)
Current Position: Google
- piyush_priya@nipgr.ac.in
Dr. Manu Kandpal
Post-doctoral researcher (2020-2022)
Current Position: JioGenNext
- manu.kandpal28@gmail.com
Dr. Prachi Pandey
Post-doctoral researcher (2021-2023)
- prachipndy@nipgr.ac.in
Dr. Anupriya Singh
Senior Research Fellow (2020-2022)
Current Position: Guest Faculty, Delhi University
- anupriya190@gmail.com
Mr. Budhibalabanta Bariha
UGC-NET JRF (2022-2024)
Current Position: Lecturer, Govt. of Odisha M.Sc (Botany), Utkal University, Bhubaneswar
- budhibalabanta@nipgr.ac.in
Mr. Vishnu S Babu
BsMs (Biological Sciences), IISER, Thiruvananthapuram
Current Position: Field Specialist in Bioinformatics at Integrated Gulf Biosystems in Riyadh.
- vishnubabu2012@gmail.com
Dr. Mahesh Patil
Post-doctoral researcher (Jul 2016 to Apr 2022)
Current Position: Research manager, Privi Life Sciences Pvt Ltd Mumbai
- mahesh.patil94@gmail.com
Ms. Jyoti Singh
Post-doctoral researcher (Nov 2019-Jan 2021
Literature mining for the development of database for understanding stress tolerance in plants
- jyoti.singh21@gmail.com
Dr. Ranjita Sinha
Post-doctoral researcher (Dec 2013 to May 2020)
Current Position: Post-doctoral researcher, Division of Plant Sciences, University of Missouri Columbia, USA
- sinharanjita83@gmail.com
Dr. Bendangchuchang Longchar
Post-doc/SERB-National Post-Doctoral Fellow (Oct 2016-Nov 2019)
Current Position: Assistant Professor, Mizoram University – Aizawl
- blongchar@gmail.com
Dr. Tarinee Phukan
Senior Research Fellow (Mar 2019-Nov 2019)
Current Position: —
- tarineebiotech90@gmail.com
Ms. Christina Nilofer
Senior Research Fellow (July 2019-Oct 2019)
Current Position: —
- sagayanilo@gmail.com
Dr. Aarti Gupta
Research Associate III (Aug 2019 – Oct 2019)
Current Position: —
- aarti@nipgr.ac.in; aarti.2785@gmail.com
Dr. Sarita
Senior Research Fellow
Ph.D, CSIR-National Botanical Research Institute
- ssarita07@gmail.com
Dr. Nidhi Singh
Research Associate (Aug 2018 to Feb 2019)
Current Position: Post-Doctoral Fellow at Delhi University South Campus, New Delhi
- ssarita07@gmail.com
Miss. Rashmi Maurya
Senior Research Fellow (Feb 2018 to Oct 2018)
Current Position: Research Fellow at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
- rashmi.nbri@gmail.com
Dr. Prachi Pandey
Young Scientist/Post-Doctoral Researcher (June 2014 to Mar 2018)
- prachipndy@gmail.com
Mr. Upendra Bhele
Junior Research Fellow (Mar 2016 to Sep 2016)
Current Position:PhD student at Estonian University of Life Science, Tartu, Estonia
- ubhele@gmail.com
Miss. Reena Prajapati
Junior Research Fellow (Oct 2016 to Jan 2017)
Current Position: Ph.D. student at Wuerzburg University, Germany
- reenaprajapati08@gmail.com
Ms. Anjugam Paramanantham
Junior Research Fellow (Sep 2014 to Sep 2015)
Current Position: Ph.D. student at Gyeongsang National University, Chinju, South Korea
- anju.udhay@gmail.com
Mr. Amit Kumar
Research Assistant (Sep 2013-Nov 2013)
Current Position: PhD student at Leibniz Institute on Aging- Fritz Lippmann Institute (FLI), Jena, Germany
- amittomar632@gmail.com
Ms. Karishma Pasha
Junior Research Fellow (Dec 2013-Sep 2014)
- karishmapasha786@gmail.com
Dr. Aiswarya Baruah
Research Associate (Aug 2013 -Aug 2014)
Current Position: Assistant Professor, Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat, India
- ais.baruah@gmail.com
Mr. Dharanipathi Kamalachandran
Junior Research Fellow (Feb 2017 to June 2018)
Current Position: PhD student under Marie Curie Early Stage Researcher of MiRA Innovative Training Network at Utrecht University, Netherlands.
- dharanipathik@gmail.com
Dr. Aarti Gupta
Post-Doctoral Researcher (Aug 2013 to June 2018)
Current Position: Post doctoral fellow at Institute of Plant Genetics, Polish Academy of Sciences, Poznan, Poland
- aarti.2785@gmail.com
Former Trainees
Project Trainees (Undergraduate and Post graduate)
Miss. Priya Chandra
Trainee PG (May 2018 to Apr 2019)
Student of B. Tech (Biotechnology)
- priyachandra16@gmail.com
Mr. Jaya Chendrayan K
Trainee UG (Sep 2019 to Nov 2019)
Student of B. Tech (Biotechnology), Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore
- jayachendrayan@gmail.com
Miss. Gayatri Krishna S.
Trainee PG (Jan 2021 to May 2021)
Student of M. Tech Biotechnology, Amity University Noida, UP
- gayatrikrishnas@gmail.com
Miss. Sony Sharma
Trainee PG intern under SERB project (Oct 2020 to Dec 2020)
Student of M. Tech Biotechnology, Center for converging technologies, University of Rajasthan, Jaipur
- sonysharma34191@gmail.com
Miss. Durgadevi A
Trainee PG (Dec 2019 to May 2020)
Student of M.Sc. (Biotechnology), Department of Biotechnology, Alagappa University, Karaikudi
- andurgadevi@gmail.com
Miss. Arya Das
Trainee PG (Jan 2020 to June 2020)
Student of M.Sc. (Bioinformatics), School of biotechnology, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Kollam, Kerala
- thearyadas@gmail.com
Miss. Jeevitha Rangaswamy
Trainee UG (Jan 2020 to Apr 2020)
Student of B.Sc. (Biotechnology), College of Agriculture-University of Agricultural Sciences, Hassan
- jeevitharangaswamy@gmail.com
Miss. Subnam Gerose Dung Dung
Trainee UG (Jan 2017 to May 2017)
Student of B. tech (Biotechnology), Shaheed Udham Singh College of Engineering & Technology (SUSCET), Tangori, Mohali
- subnamgerose@gmail.com
Miss. Swetha Sivaramakrishnan
Trainee UG (June 2018)
Student of B.Sc (H) Biotechnology, Amity Institute of Biotechnology, Amity University Noida
- jsswetha12797@gmail.com
Miss. Nishtha Rawat
Trainee PG (May 2017 to April 2018)
Student of M. Tech Biotechnology, Banasthali University, Banasthali
- nishtharawat475@gmail.com
Mr. Avinash Kumar Jha
Trainee PG (January 2014 to May 2014)
Student of M. Sc., Biotechnology, Lalit Narayan Mithila University
- jhaavi2012@gmail.com
Ms. Anjugam Paramanantham
Trainee PG (February 2014 to June 2014)
Student of M. Tech Biotechnology, Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli
- anju.udhay@gmail.com
Mr. Muthuramalingam Pandian
Trainee PG (December 2014 to April 2015)
Student of M.Sc. Biotechnology, Alagappa University, Karaikudi
- pandianmuthuramalingam@gmail.com
Mr. NR Siva Shanmugam
Trainee PG (December 2014 to June 2015)
Student of M.Tech-Bioinformatics, Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli
- nrsivashanmugam@gmail.com
Miss. N Kavya
Trainee UG (May 2015 to July 2015)
Student of M.Tech Biotechnology, Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli
- n.kavyavandayar@gmail.com
Science academies (IAS, INSA & NASI) summer research fellows
Miss. Shradha Jain
Trainee PG (16th July 2021 to 30 Nov 2021)
Student of Hindu college, Delhi University, New Delhi
- shradha.jain1915@gmail.com
Mr. Deepanshu Garg
Trainee UG (8th June 2020 to 22nd Aug 2020)
Student of B.sc.(Hons.) Biotechnology at Jaipur national university, Jaipur
- jgargj1997@gmail.com
Resources
Chickpea Dry Root Rot Disease Phenome database (CDPdb)
Stress Combinations and their Interactions in Plants (SCIP) Database – http://223.31.159.3/plant_complete/index_orangesunset.php and https://db.nipgr.ac.in/plant_complete/index_orangesunset.php
VIGS database – https://vigs-database.btiscience.org/index.php
pssRNAit: Designing Effective and Specific Plant RNAi siRNAs with Genome-wide Off-target Gene Assessment – https://www.zhaolab.org/pssRNAit/
Selected Publications
Research articles
Priya, P., Patil, M., Pandey, P., Singh, A., Babu, V.S. and Senthil-Kumar, M., 2023. Stress combinations and their interactions in plants database: a one-stop resource on combined stress responses in plants. The Plant Journal, 116(4), pp.1097-1117. https://doi.org/10.1111/tpj.16497
Chilakala, A.R., Pandey, P., Durgadevi, A., Kandpal, M., Patil, B.S., Rangappa, K., Reddy, P.C.O., Ramegowda, V. and Senthil Kumar, M., 2023. Drought attenuates plant responses to multiple rhizospheric pathogens: A study on a dry root rot-associated Disease complex in chickpea fields. Field Crops Research, 298, p.108965.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fcr.2023.108965
Choudhary A and Senthil-Kumar M (2022) Drought attenuates plant defence against bacter ial pathogens by suppressing the expression of CBP60g/SARD1 during combined stress. Plant Cell & Environment 45(4):1127-1145.https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/pce.14275
Irulappan V, Kandpal M, Saini K, Rai A, Ranjan A, Sinharoy S, Senthil-Kumar M (2022) Drought stress exacerbates fungal colonization and endodermal invasion and dampens defense responses to increase dry root rot in chickpea. Molecular Plant Microbe Interactions, https://apsjournals.apsnet.org/doi/10.1094/MPMI-07-21-0195-F
Fatima U, Bhorali P, Senthil-Kumar M (2019) Morpho-pathological and global transcriptomic analysis reveals the robust nonhost resistance responses in chickpea interaction with Alternaria brassicae. Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions https://doi.org/10.1094/MPMI-05-19-0117-R
Senthil-Kumar, M., Mysore, K. Tobacco rattle virus-based virus-induced gene silencing in Nicotiana benthamiana. Nature Protocol 9, 1549-1562 (2014).https://doi.org/10.1038/nprot.2014.092
Rojas CM, Senthil-Kumar M, Wang K, Ryu CM, Kaundal A and Mysore KS (2012) Glycolate oxidase plays a major role during nonhost resistance responses by modulating reactive oxygen species mediated signal transduction pathways. The Plant Cell 24(1): 336-52. https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.111.093245
Keri Wang#, Senthil-Kumar M#, Choong-Min Ryu, Li Kang and Mysore KS (2012) Phytosterols play a key role in plant innate immunity against bacterial pathogens by regulating nutrient efflux into the apoplast. Plant Physiology 158(4): 1789-802. #equal contribution. https://doi.org/10.1104/pp.111.189217
Senthil-Kumar M and Mysore KS (2012) d-ornithine aminotransferase and proline dehydrogenase genes play a role in nonhost disease resistance by regulating pyrroline-5-carboxylate metabolism-induced hypersensitive response. Plant Cell and Environment 35(7): 1329-43. https://doi.org/10.1104/pp.111.189217
For all publications visit: https://scholar.google.co.in/citations?user=vmbK4UMAAAAJ&hl=en
Review articles
Choudhary, A. and Senthil-Kumar, M., 2024. Drought: A context-dependent damper and aggravator of plant diseases. Plant, Cell & Environment. https://doi.org/10.1111/pce.14863
Pandey, P., Patil, M., Priya, P. and Senthil-Kumar, M., 2024. When two negatives make a positive: the favorable impact of the combination of abiotic stress and pathogen infection on plants. Journal of Experimental Botany, 75(3), pp.674-688. https://doi.org/10.1111/pce.14863
Fatima, U., Anjali, A. and Senthil-Kumar, M., 2022. AtSWEET11 and AtSWEET12: The twin traders of sucrose. Trends in Plant Science, 27(10), pp.958-960. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tplants.2022.06.009
Rai, A., Irulappan, V. and Senthil-Kumar, M., 2022. Dry root rot of chickpea: a disease favored by drought. Plant Disease, 106(2), pp.346-356. https://doi.org/10.1094/PDIS-07-21-1410-FE
Senthil-Kumar M and Mysore KS (2013) Nonhost resistance against bacterial pathogens – retrospects and prospects. Annual Review of Phytopathology 51: 19.1-19.21.https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-phyto-082712-102319
Senthil-Kumar M and Mysore KS (2011) New dimensions of using VIGS for plant functional genomics. Trends in Plant Science 16(12): 656-665. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tplants.2011.08.006
Research covered in news media
Podcast Interview (06/July/2024): https://open.spotify.com/episode/0chGqOfF6H16q4YDxELoAI
Research Matters press release (23/Mar/2020): Chickpea’s trick can help mustard fight fungi
American Phytopathological Society a press release (29/Jan/2020): Can chickpea genes save mustard seeds from blight disease?
The Hindu BusinessLine story (9/Feb/2020): Fighting fungal pest: Chickpea could give mustard a tip or two
Press release IS-MPMI InterConnections on student achievements (12/Mar/2020): Student project reveals a strategy for managing Alternaria blight through nonhost resistance