Completed master’s in 2012 on “Isolation and Characterisation of different alleles responsible for
shape and size of Brinjal fruits in different The project emphasized sequencing the
genomic content of fruits of numerous eggplant varieties on different development levels, to
compare their mutations and characterise different alleles for them using the Automated Next-
Generation Sequencing method.
Joined PhD in 2014 at the Department of Biotechnology, Jamia Hamdard, New Delhi with Professor
M.Z. Abdin, and perform the research work at the ICAR-National Institute for Plant Biotechnology,
New Delhi with Dr Amolkumar U. Solanke under the title, “Functional Validation of Magnaporthe
Oryzae responsive genes for blast resistance in rice” with Rajiv Gandhi National Fellowship. Later
joined “CRISPR-Cas9 based genome editing of multiple negative regulators for blast resistance in
rice” a DST-SERB project from 18/11/2019 to 07/06/2021. And ICAR-CABin funded,
“RiceMetaSys: Understandin
EDUCATION
2022 – PhD in Biotechnology at the Dept. of Biotech., Jamia Hamdard and ICAR- National Institute
for Plant Biotechnology, New Delhi.
2012 - Master of Science (M.Sc.) in Biotechnology from C.C.S. University, Meerut Campus
Major in Biotechnology, Aggregate Percentage -67.5%
2009 - Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) in Biotechnology with 58 % from C.C.S. University, Meerut.
2006 - Intermediate with 55% C.B.S.E. Board, Delhi.
2004 - High school with 77% from C.B.S.E. Board, Delhi.
RESEARCH, TEACHING, or OTHER INTERESTS
Biotechnology, Agricultural and Biological Sciences, Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology, Molecular Biology
8
Scopus Publications
132
Scholar Citations
6
Scholar h-index
6
Scholar i10-index
Scopus Publications
JA-mediated defence activation underlies Chilo partellus tolerance in maize: Evidence from integrative multi-omics analyses S.B. Suby, Megha Sailwal, Naveen Kumar, T. P. Ahammed Shabeer, Krishan Kumar, Pashupat D. Vasmatkar, Vishesh Kumar, Yasin J. Khan, Amolkumar U. Solanke Current Plant Biology, 2026 Maize faces substantial yield losses from herbivory by the spotted stemborer Chilo partellus , and understanding defence mechanisms is critical for breeding resilient cultivars. In this study, two maize inbred lines, BML 6 (susceptible) and BML 7 (tolerant), and their hybrid DHM 117, were evaluated for resistance, revealing that BML 7 reduced larval establishment and growth, BML 6 supported higher larval survival, and the hybrid exhibited intermediate resistance with increased biomass, reflecting partial inheritance of defence traits. Transcriptomic and RT-PCR analyses demonstrated that jasmonic acid (JA) mediated signalling orchestrates maize defence, with strong induction of key genes in BML 7 and DHM 117, including Lipoxygenase 2/3/5 (LOXs), Fatty acid α-dioxygenase (FAD1), Terpene synthases 4/10 (TPS4/10), α-terpineol synthase, Cystatin 2, Anthranilate synthase α-subunit 1 (ASα1), and Anthranilic acid methyltransferase 1 (AAMT1), driving terpenoid and benzoxazinoid biosynthesis, whereas BML 6 primarily activated the phenylpropanoid pathway. Metabolomic profiling (UPLC-QTOF-MS) revealed that BML 7 accumulated specialized metabolites, including phenolic acid–flavonoid conjugates, while BML 6 showed higher levels of simple phenolics, linking metabolite composition to larval performance. Overall, the integration of phenotypic, transcriptomic, and metabolomic evidence underscores the central role of JA signalling and its downstream defence network in maize, identifying functional molecular markers for developing pest-resilient cultivars. • Multi-omics integration reveals key maize defense pathways against C. partellus . • RT-PCR validates JA signaling and induction of defense genes in tolerant lines. • Susceptible BML6 supports larval growth with weak JA response & simple phenolics. • Tolerant BML7 and hybrid DHM117 upregulate terpenoid/BX genes & defense metabolites. • Hybrid DHM117 inherits partial defense traits from BML7 while maintaining biomass.
Genome-Wide Analysis of von Willebrand Factor A Gene Family in Rice for Its Role in Imparting Biotic Stress Resistance with Emphasis on Rice Blast Disease Suhas Gorakh Karkute, Vishesh Kumar, Mohd Tasleem, Dwijesh Chandra Mishra, Krishna Kumar Chaturvedi, Anil Rai, Amitha Mithra Sevanthi, Kishor Gaikwad, Tilak Raj Sharma, Amolkumar U. Solanke Rice Science, 2022 von Willebrand factor A (vWA) genes are well characterized in humans except for few BONZAI genes, but the vWA genes are least explored in plants. Considering the novelty and vital role of vWA genes, this study aimed at characterization of vWA superfamily in rice. Rice genome was found to have 40 vWA genes distributed across all the 12 chromosomes, and 20 of the 40 vWA genes were unique while the remaining shared large fragment similarities with each other, indicating gene duplication. In addition to vWA domain, vWA proteins possess other different motifs or domains, such as ubiquitin interacting motif in protein degradation pathway, and RING finger in protein-protein interaction. Expression analysis of vWA genes in available expression data suggested that they probably function in biotic and abiotic stress responses including hormonal response and signaling. The frequency of transposon elements in the entire 3K rice germplasm was negligible except for 9 vWA genes, indicating the importance of these genes in rice. Structural and functional diversities showed that the vWA genes in a blast-resistant rice variety Tetep had huge variations compared to blast-susceptible rice varieties HP2216 and Nipponbare. qRT-PCR analysis of vWA genes in Magnaporthe oryzae infected rice tissues indicated OsvWA9, OsvWA36, OsvWA37 and OsvWA18 as the optimal candidate genes for disease resistance. This is the first attempt to characterize vWA gene family in plant species.
Genome-Wide Identification and Characterisation of Cytokinin-O-Glucosyltransferase (CGT) Genes of Rice Specific to Potential Pathogens Wadzani Palnam Dauda, Veerubommu Shanmugam, Aditya Tyagi, Amolkumar U. Solanke, Vishesh Kumar, Subbaiyan Gopala Krishnan, Bishnu Maya Bashyal, Rashmi Aggarwal Plants, 2022 Cytokinin glucosyltransferases (CGTs) are key enzymes of plants for regulating the level and function of cytokinins. In a genomic identification of rice CGTs, 41 genes with the plant secondary product glycosyltransferases (PSPG) motif of 44-amino-acid consensus sequence characteristic of plant uridine diphosphate (UDP)-glycosyltransferases (UGTs) were identified. In-silico physicochemical characterisation revealed that, though the CGTs belong to the same subfamily, they display varying molecular weights, ranging from 19.6 kDa to 59.7 kDa. The proteins were primarily acidic (87.8%) and hydrophilic (58.6%) and were observed to be distributed in the plastids (16), plasma membrane (13), mitochondria (5), and cytosol (4). Phylogenetic analysis of the CGTs revealed that their evolutionary relatedness ranged from 70–100%, and they aligned themselves into two major clusters. In a comprehensive analysis of the available transcriptomics data of rice samples representing different growth stages only the CGT, Os04g25440.1 was significantly expressed at the vegetative stage, whereas 16 other genes were highly expressed only at the reproductive growth stage. On the contrary, six genes, LOC_Os07g30610.1, LOC_Os04g25440.1, LOC_Os07g30620.1, LOC_Os04g25490.1, LOC_Os04g37820.1, and LOC_Os04g25800.1, were significantly upregulated in rice plants inoculated with Rhizoctonia solani (RS), Xoo (Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae) and Mor (Magnaporthe oryzae). In a qRT-PCR analysis of rice sheath tissue susceptible to Rhizoctonia solani, Mor, and Xoo pathogens, compared to the sterile distilled water control, at 24 h post-infection only two genes displayed significant upregulation in response to all the three pathogens: LOC_Os07g30620.1 and LOC_Os04g25820.1. On the other hand, the expression of genes LOC_Os07g30610.1, LOC_Os04g25440, LOC_Os04g25490, and LOC_Os04g25800 were observed to be pathogen-specific. These genes were identified as the candidate-responsive CGT genes and could serve as potential susceptibility genes for facilitating pathogen infection.
Understanding rice-magnaporthe oryzae interaction in resistant and susceptible cultivars of rice under panicle blast infection using a time-course transcriptome analysis Vishesh Kumar, Priyanka Jain, Sureshkumar Venkadesan, Suhas Gorakh Karkute, Jyotika Bhati, Malik Zainul Abdin, Amitha Mithra Sevanthi, Dwijesh Chandra Mishra, Krishna Kumar Chaturvedi, Anil Rai, Tilak Raj Sharma, Amolkumar U. Solanke Genes, 2021 Rice blast is a global threat to food security with up to 50% yield losses. Panicle blast is a more severe form of rice blast and the response of rice plant to leaf and panicle blast is distinct in different genotypes. To understand the specific response of rice in panicle blast, transcriptome analysis of blast resistant cultivar Tetep, and susceptible cultivar HP2216 was carried out using RNA-Seq approach after 48, 72 and 96 h of infection with Magnaporthe oryzae along with mock inoculation. Transcriptome data analysis of infected panicle tissues revealed that 3553 genes differentially expressed in HP2216 and 2491 genes in Tetep, which must be the responsible factor behind the differential disease response. The defense responsive genes are involved mainly in defense pathways namely, hormonal regulation, synthesis of reactive oxygen species, secondary metabolites and cell wall modification. The common differentially expressed genes in both the cultivars were defense responsive transcription factors, NBS-LRR genes, kinases, pathogenesis related genes and peroxidases. In Tetep, cell wall strengthening pathway represented by PMR5, dirigent, tubulin, cell wall proteins, chitinases, and proteases was found to be specifically enriched. Additionally, many novel genes having DOMON, VWF, and PCaP1 domains which are specific to cell membrane were highly expressed only in Tetep post infection, suggesting their role in panicle blast resistance. Thus, our study shows that panicle blast resistance is a complex phenomenon contributed by early defense response through ROS production and detoxification, MAPK and LRR signaling, accumulation of antimicrobial compounds and secondary metabolites, and cell wall strengthening to prevent the entry and spread of the fungi. The present investigation provided valuable candidate genes that can unravel the mechanisms of panicle blast resistance and help in the rice blast breeding program.
RiceMetaSysB: A database of blast and bacterial blight responsive genes in rice and its utilization in identifying key blast-resistant WRKY genes V Sureshkumar, Bipratip Dutta, Vishesh Kumar, G Prakash, Dwijesh C Mishra, K K Chaturvedi, Anil Rai, Amitha Mithra Sevanthi, Amolkumar U Solanke Database, 2019 Nearly two decades of revolution in the area of genomics serves as the basis of present-day molecular breeding in major food crops such as rice. Here we report an open source database on two major biotic stresses of rice, named RiceMetaSysB, which provides detailed information about rice blast and bacterial blight (BB) responsive genes (RGs). Meta-analysis of microarray data from different blast- and BB-related experiments across 241 and 186 samples identified 15135 unique genes for blast and 7475 for BB. A total of 9365 and 5375 simple sequence repeats (SSRs) in blast and BB RGs were identified for marker development. Retrieval of candidate genes using different search options like genotypes, tissue, developmental stage of the host, strain, hours/days post-inoculation, physical position and SSR marker information is facilitated in the database. Search options like ‘common genes among varieties’ and ‘strains’ have been enabled to identify robust candidate genes. A 2D representation of the data can be used to compare expression profiles across genes, genotypes and strains. To demonstrate the utility of this database, we queried for blast-responsive WRKY genes (fold change ≥5) using their gene IDs. The structural variations in the 12 WRKY genes so identified and their promoter regions were explored in two rice genotypes contrasting for their reaction to blast infection. Expression analysis of these genes in panicle tissue infected with a virulent and an avirulent strain of Magnaporthe oryzae could identify WRKY7, WRKY58, WRKY62, WRKY64 and WRKY76 as potential candidate genes for resistance to panicle blast, as they showed higher expression only in the resistant genotype against the virulent strain. Thus, we demonstrated that RiceMetaSysB can play an important role in providing robust candidate genes for rice blast and BB.
Genome-Wide Identification and Characterisation of Cytokinin-O-Glucosyltransferase (CGT) Genes of Rice Specific to Potential Pathogens RA Wadzani Palnam Dauda, Veerubommu Shanmugam, Aditya Tyagi, Amolkumar U ... MDPI-Plants 11 (7), 917 , 2022 2022 Citations: 12
Identification of novel resources for panicle blast resistance from wild rice accessions and mutants of cv. Nagina 22 by syringe inoculation under field conditions AUS Vishesh Kumar, Pankaj K Singh, Suhas Gorakh Karkute, Mohd Tasleem ... 3 Biotech 12 (2), 1-11 , 2022 2022 Citations: 4
Current Status of Bioinformatics Resources of Small Millets AUS Thiyagarajan Thulasinathan, Priyanka Jain, Arvind Kumar Yadav, Vishesh ... Omics of Climate Resilient Small Millets, 221-234 , 2022 2022 Citations: 10
Genome-Wide Analysis of von Willebrand Factor A (vWA) Gene Family in Rice for Its Role in Imparting Biotic Stress Resistance with Emphasis on Rice Blast Disease AUS Suhas Gorakh KARKUTE, Vishesh KUMAR, Mohd TASLEEM, Dwijesh Chandra ... Rice Science 29 , 2022 2022 Citations: 18
Understanding Rice- Magnaporthe Oryzae Interaction in Resistant and Susceptible Cultivars of Rice under Panicle Blast Infection Using a Time-Course … V Kumar, P Jain, S Venkadesan, SG Karkute, J Bhati, MZ Abdin, ... Genes 12 (2), 301 , 2021 2021 Citations: 46
RiceMetaSysB: a database of blast and bacterial blight responsive genes in rice and its utilization in identifying key blast-resistant WRKY genes V Sureshkumar, B Dutta, V Kumar, G Prakash, DC Mishra, KK Chaturvedi, ... Database 2019, baz015 , 2019 2019 Citations: 24
Genome-Wide Analysis in Wild and Cultivated Oryza Species Reveals Abundance of NBS Genes in Progenitors of Cultivated Rice HC Rawal, SV Amitha Mithra, K Arora, V Kumar, N Goel, DC Mishra, ... Plant Molecular Biology Reporter 36 (3), 373-386 , 2018 2018 Citations: 18
MOST CITED SCHOLAR PUBLICATIONS
Understanding Rice- Magnaporthe Oryzae Interaction in Resistant and Susceptible Cultivars of Rice under Panicle Blast Infection Using a Time-Course … V Kumar, P Jain, S Venkadesan, SG Karkute, J Bhati, MZ Abdin, ... Genes 12 (2), 301 , 2021 2021 Citations: 46
RiceMetaSysB: a database of blast and bacterial blight responsive genes in rice and its utilization in identifying key blast-resistant WRKY genes V Sureshkumar, B Dutta, V Kumar, G Prakash, DC Mishra, KK Chaturvedi, ... Database 2019, baz015 , 2019 2019 Citations: 24
Genome-Wide Analysis of von Willebrand Factor A (vWA) Gene Family in Rice for Its Role in Imparting Biotic Stress Resistance with Emphasis on Rice Blast Disease AUS Suhas Gorakh KARKUTE, Vishesh KUMAR, Mohd TASLEEM, Dwijesh Chandra ... Rice Science 29 , 2022 2022 Citations: 18
Genome-Wide Analysis in Wild and Cultivated Oryza Species Reveals Abundance of NBS Genes in Progenitors of Cultivated Rice HC Rawal, SV Amitha Mithra, K Arora, V Kumar, N Goel, DC Mishra, ... Plant Molecular Biology Reporter 36 (3), 373-386 , 2018 2018 Citations: 18
Genome-Wide Identification and Characterisation of Cytokinin-O-Glucosyltransferase (CGT) Genes of Rice Specific to Potential Pathogens RA Wadzani Palnam Dauda, Veerubommu Shanmugam, Aditya Tyagi, Amolkumar U ... MDPI-Plants 11 (7), 917 , 2022 2022 Citations: 12
Current Status of Bioinformatics Resources of Small Millets AUS Thiyagarajan Thulasinathan, Priyanka Jain, Arvind Kumar Yadav, Vishesh ... Omics of Climate Resilient Small Millets, 221-234 , 2022 2022 Citations: 10
Identification of novel resources for panicle blast resistance from wild rice accessions and mutants of cv. Nagina 22 by syringe inoculation under field conditions AUS Vishesh Kumar, Pankaj K Singh, Suhas Gorakh Karkute, Mohd Tasleem ... 3 Biotech 12 (2), 1-11 , 2022 2022 Citations: 4
Publications
Research Publications:
1. Genome-wide analysis in wild and cultivated Oryza species reveals abundance of NBS genes in progenitors of cultivated rice. Plant Molecular Biology Reporter (2018), 36(3), 373-386.
2. RiceMetaSysB: a database of blast and bacterial blight-responsive genes in rice and its utilization in identifying key blast-resistant WRKY genes. Database (2019).
3. Understanding rice-Magnaporthe oryzae interaction in resistant and susceptible cultivars of rice under panicle blast infection using time-course transcriptome analysis. Genes (2021), 12(2), 301.
4. Genome-Wide Analysis of von Willebrand Factor A (vWA) Gene Family in Rice for Its Role in Imparting Biotic Stress Resistance with Emphasis on Rice Blast Disease. Rice Science (2022), 29(4): 375-384.
5. Identification of novel resources for panicle blast resistance from wild rice accessions and mutants of cv. Nagina 22 by syringe inoculation under field conditions. 3 Biotech (2022),12(2), 1-11
6. Genome-Wide Identification and Characterisation of Cytokinin-O-Glucosyltransferase (CGT) Genes of Rice Specific to Potential Pathogens. Plants-Basel (2022) 11(7):917.
7. Current Status of Bioinformatics Resources of Small Millets. In Omics of Climate Resilient Small Millets (pp. 221-234). (2022). Singapore: Springer Nature Singapore.
