Research Groups

Plant Biology: Plant Molecular Biology

Research Interests and Description

Staff Research Scientist: Sneh Lata Singla-Pareek

Research Interests

Abiotic and Biotic stress, gene expression, signalling, crop improvement, transgenics, viral replication and RNAi.

Description of Research

Soil salinity is a global problem and a solution to this problem by any method, such as conventional breeding, molecular markers or transgenic approach, will create an opportunity for cultivation of crops in soils affected by salinity. In an effort to contribute towards the goal of raising plants with better suitability with respect to deteriorating edaphic factors, we have isolated several novel stress responsive genes, which have been characterized employing the contemporary tools and techniques. Out of this set of genes, a few have been functionally validated employing the tools of functional genomics. Among these, those involved in removing the cellular toxicity, as mediated via glyoxalase pathway warrants special mention. This is because the transgenic plants overexpressing both Gly I and Gly II enzymes, have been found to be able to tolerate multiple stresses such as salinity, drought as well as heavy metals. The biochemical basis of this improved tolerance has also been addressed. Further, this glyoxalase pathway has been engineered in rice conferring enhanced salinity and drought tolerance. In a joint venture with a commercial seed company, the glyoxalase pathway has been introgressed in a salt sensitive rice genotype which can now germinate under high levels of salinity. This raises hope that successful development of salinity tolerant rice plants will not only bring uncultivable land under active cultivation, but also pave the way for use of this technology in other crops for similar use.
Another major focus of our research is to isolate and characterize novel stress responsive genes which can be other possible candidates for future transgenics for salinity and drought tolerance. In this endeavor, we are characterizing a family of proteins with unknown functions. Also, gene pyramiding efforts are underway to further enhance stress tolerance limits.
Technologies developed
We have been able to develop several cutting edge technologies which are critical to raise transgenic plants with improved tolerance towards stresses. Some of the major ones are:

Isolation and cloning of suitable genes of interest from a range of crop plants.
Suitable transformation and regeneration protocols for several models as well as crop plants such as Nicotiana tabaccum, Brassica juncea, B. nigra, O. sativa IR64 and O. sativa PB1 and Solanum lycopersicum.
Isolation of promoters from crop plants for novel stress related genes.
Strategy for raising antibiotic “marker-free” transgenic plants.
Protocols for testing and assessing the stress tolerance of transgenic plants under controlled green house conditions and assessment of vital parameters.

With the use of the above technologies, one product has been raised which has shown promise with limited green house testing towards raising stress tolerance crop plants. The transgenic rice O. sativa is being shared with commercial and non-commercial partners (CSSRI, KARNAL and Bioseed Research) for testing under field conditions and eventual release to the end user.

Recent Publications

Karan, R., Singla-Pareek, S.L., Pareek, A. 2009. Histidine kinase and response regulator genes as they relate to salinity tolerance in rice. Functional and Integrative Genomics 9, 411-417

Kumari, S., Singh, P., Singla-Pareek, S.L., Pareek, A. 2009. Heterologous expression of a salinity and developmentally regulated rice cyclophilin gene (OsCyp2) in E. coli and S. cerevisiae confers tolerance towards multiple abiotic stresses. Molecular Biotechnology 42, 195-204

Kushwaha, H.R., Singh, A.K., Sopory, S.K., Singla-Pareek, S.L., Pareek, A. 2009. Genome wide expression analysis of CBS domain containing proteins in Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh and Oryza sativa L. reveals their developmental and stress regulation. BMC Genomics 10, 200

Singla-Pareek, S.L,. Yadav, S.K., Mustafiz, A., Sopory, S.K. 2009. Role of the glyoxalase pathway in delaying plant senescence under stress conditions. SEB Experimental Biology Series 62, 171-185

Tohudul Islam, S.M., Tammi, R.S., Singla-Pareek, S.L., Seraj, Z.I. 2009. Agrobacterium-mediated transformation and constitutive expression of PgNHX1 from Pennisetum glaucum L. in Oryza sativa L. cv. Binnatoa. Plant Tissue Culture and Biotechnology 19, 25-33