Research

Agriculture 

Due to unsustainable agricultural practices, salt and drought stress have become a major challenge in agriculture. Such challenges remain and will exacerbate with rise in global population, climate change and shift in demography towards urban settlements. Several cellular and physiological parameters of plants such as water potential, ion homeostasis, photosynthetic efficiency and transpiration rate are adversely affected by stress resulting in lower productivity. Several field studies indicated the role of potassium and calcium in ameliorating plant stress. However, the cellular and molecular mechanism through which the ions can mitigate stress and their limitations are yet to be identified. Pertinent questions such as role nutrient interactions, transporters, channels, genetic regulatory networks, ion homeostasis, compatible solutes and reactive oxygen species can help us better understand the process.

Environment

Anthropogenic activities have led to heavy metal contamination of several habitats with severe health and environmental costs. Phytoremediation has been used as an ecofriendly, sustainable and inexpensive strategy to clean environment of heavy metal pollution. Though the technique has become popular in the past two decades yet the molecular mechanism of heavy metal accumulation in plant tissue is not clearly understood. The distribution and compartmentation mechanism of the metals along with their effect on the nutrient content of edible parts of plants are pertinent questions. Understanding the physiological, biochemical and genetic mechanisms that allow plants to tolerate heavy metal toxicity can propel biotechnological innovations for climate smart agriculture and sustainable environment.

Cell signaling

Several developmental events in the life cycle of plants such as seed development, seed germination, vegetative growth, stem elongation, leaf expansion, flowering and pollen maturation are regulated by gibberellins. DELLA proteins besides being involved in crosstalk between phytohormones and the environment are also involved in repression of gibberellin responses thus are considered as master growth repressors. Gibberellins mediates the polyubiquitination and degradation of DELLA proteins. DELLA genes have been exclusively identified in land plants and they had a significant role in green revolution which mostly focused on modifying above-ground parts of plants. However, knowledge gap exists about their role in root development though we know that nodulation and the growth of endodermis are influenced by such protein. Thus, transcript analysis of DELLA gene expression has potential for biotechnological innovation in developing better root architecture and climate-smart agriculture.

Calcium signaling through CBL-CIPK network plays a major role in plant’s response to developmental and environmental cues. CBL–CIPK signaling pathway is involved in several biological processes including nutrient sequestration, abiotic/biotic stress response and stomatal movement. The pathway maintains Ca2+ homeostasis in plants through several membrane-bound channels and transporters that tightly regulates sequestration and release of calcium from intracellular organelles and environment. Thus, functional characterization of the CBL–CIPK pathway can be a precursor for biotechnological innovation to develop resilient crops.

SynComs

A significant amount of greenhouse gases such as methane and nitrous oxide are released by soil dwelling methanogens and denitrifying bacteria respectively. Soil bacteria decompose organic matter and release carbon dioxide. Conversely, soil microbes play a major role in preserving carbon and organic content in soil thus maintaining soil structure, preventing release of carbon dioxide to atmosphere and promoting plant growth and development. Thus, evaluating the community structure and dynamics is important for carbon sequestration and agriculture. Synthetic microbes can augment the roles of naturally occurring microbes in soil and can help to dissect their specific roles in a community, thus, advancing the targets of environmental sustainability and food security. SynComs are an emerging area of research and can be useful in understanding the role of microbes in rhizosphere in relation to plant growth, development and immunity.