Research Projects

Kidney bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) is an essential crop globally, providing crucial nutrients, especially in developing countries. In India, kidney bean production was 5.31 million tonnes in 2019, cultivated across 12.69 million hectares (FAO, 2019). It is grown in several states, including Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu. Among these, the Western Himalayas of Jammu and Kashmir stands out for its diverse landraces of kidney beans, making it an important region for production and a significant income source for farmers (Kumar et al., 2017; Sheikh et al., 2017; Choudhary et al., 2018). However, kidney bean cultivation is severely threatened by yellow mosaic disease (YMD), caused by begomoviruses, which are transmitted by whiteflies (Bemisia tabaci). The disease results in stunted growth, mosaic symptoms, and reduced pod and seed quality, significantly affecting yield. The specific causal agents in Jammu and Kashmir are still poorly characterized. Despite the economic importance of kidney beans, research on begomovirus infections is limited, especially concerning the identification of resistant germplasm and the molecular mechanisms behind resistance. This project aims to bridge this gap by integrating field surveys, molecular characterization, infectious clone construction, germplasm screening, and transcriptome analysis to understand and mitigate the impact of YMD. The project will begin with extensive surveys of kidney bean fields across Jammu and Kashmir to assess the incidence and distribution of YMD. Symptom scoring will be used to evaluate disease severity, and leaf samples showing typical symptoms will be collected for molecular analysis. The next step will involve molecularly characterizing the begomoviruses infecting kidney beans. DNA extraction, PCR amplification, sequencing, and phylogenetic analysis will identify viral species and associated satellite molecules, such as betasatellites, which may influence disease severity. This will aid in developing effective control strategies. Infectious clones of the identified begomoviruses will be constructed to study their pathogenicity. These clones will be delivered to kidney bean plants using Agrobacterium-mediated inoculation to facilitate viral replication and reproduce disease symptoms, confirming the virulence of the clones. Germplasm screening will be conducted to identify resistance to begomoviruses by inoculating plants with the viral clones and monitoring disease progression and viral load via PCR assays. Finally, transcriptome analysis will be carried out on both resistant and susceptible kidney bean lines to identify genes and pathways involved in resistance. High-throughput RNA sequencing will provide detailed insights into gene expression, and differentially expressed genes will be mapped to defense pathways. The findings will be validated by qRT-PCR.