Research Projects

The growing global population and environmental deterioration pose significant challenges to food security and agricultural productivity. Developing climate resilient, high-yield crops is essential to address these issues. However, the genetic gains achieved during the Green Revolution have reached a plateau, necessitating innovative approaches to boost crop performance. Photosynthesis, the cornerstone of biomass accumulation and yield, offers an untapped avenue for crop improvement. Enhancing photosynthetic efficiency is a promising strategy for sustainable food grain production. Chloroplasts are semi-autonomous organelles responsible for photosynthesis and the synthesis of key metabolites, essential for plant development and survival. Their function relies on coordinated interactions between nuclear and plastid genomes which are regulated by complex post-transcriptional processes such as RNA splicing and editing. Chloroplast genes often contain group II introns which require nuclear-encoded splicing factors for their removal. Disruption of chloroplast RNA splicing can lead to leaf discoloration, impaired photosynthesis, and even plant lethality. This study investigates molecular basis of the white stripe leaf (wsl) mutant, characterized by a 251 bp deletion in the plastid Ycf3 gene which is essential for photosystem I (PSI) assembly in rice. The mutation disrupts RNA splicing, leading to defective chloroplast development, impaired PSI assembly, reduced photosynthetic capacity, abnormal leaf variegation and stunted growth. These phenotypic traits provide an ideal model for exploring chloroplast RNA processing and the impact of splicing on chlorophyll biosynthesis, retrograde signaling, and oxidative stress homeostasis. The project addresses critical knowledge gaps in understanding the molecular mechanisms linking chloroplast RNA splicing to photosynthesis and plant stress responses. By integrating advanced genomic tools such as RNA sequencing, we aim to profile gene expression changes and identify splice variants associated with the mutant phenotype. High-resolution imaging and chlorophyll fluorescence assays will further elucidate structural and functional impacts on chloroplasts. These integrated approaches will clarify the connections between Ycf3 splicing, photosynthetic efficiency, and oxidative stress homeostasis. By uncovering novel regulatory pathways involved in chloroplast function, this research could enable the development of rice germplasm with optimized photosynthetic efficiency and enhanced tolerance to environmental stresses. The findings are expected to support sustainable agriculture by contributing to the breeding of high-yield, stress-tolerant rice, aligning with sustainable development goals (SDGs) for food security and climate resilience.