Research Projects

Malnutrition is the leading cause of death among children under the age of five in India and every second child in this age group in India is severely affected. Pigeonpea is the primary protein source for over a billion people, especially in developing countries like India, making it the world's sixth most important legume food crop (Liu et al. 2021). Phytophthora blight caused by Phytophthora drechsleri Tucker F.Sp. cajani, an oomycete, has emerged as a devastating disease of pigeonpea, causing 100% yield losses under favorable environment regardless of the soil type, cropping system, or variety sown (Pande et al. 2011, Sharma et al. 2006, 2015). In general, bacterial and fungal plant pathogens use secretory proteins referred to as effector proteins to mediate infection by suppressing the host's defence systems. Thus, identifying the effector genes is crucial for establishing host-plant resistance and comprehending effector biology. Phytophthora dreschleri have not been thoroughly characterized at the level of the genome or proteome, the full utility of genomics, transcriptomics and proteomics for the identification and validation of the effector proteins has likely not been realized. As a consequence, little information is available concerning the molecular processes underlying its pathogenicity and invasiveness. 1. Presently, the lack of a high-quality reference genome for P. dreschleri has hampered the advancement of various genetic and genomic investigations on this species, particularly on its effectors. Therefore, genome sequencing of P. dreschleri will be taken up in this proposed project using a combination of nanopore and illumina sequencing technologies to build a high quality reference genome. 2. Dual RNA-seq and proteome analysis are proposed to interpret the compatible and incompatible pigeonpea and P. dreschleri interactions at the molecular level to identify the key effector proteins and molecular mechanisms. 3. Genome editing procedures for functional characterization of genes are not yet standardized for P.dreschleri. The proposed project aims at development of CRISPR/Cas9-12 as an editing tool for functional genomics studies of P.dreschleri and validation of the candidate effector genes. Thus, the proposed project will provide a holistic and comprehensive understanding of the pigeonpea-P.dreschleri interactions, elucidating disease resistance and susceptibility genes in the host, candidate effector genes in the pathogen, and their molecular mechanisms. Advanced approaches like genomic selection and genome editing may be used to develop disease-resistant cultivars.