Top journal hails research on plant regeneration

 

The paper titled ‘Regeneration from any part of the plant’ is the first paper to appear from India on the cover page of the journal. The paper was part of the Research conducted by a team of researchers at IISER Trivandrm headed by Kalika Prasad.

 

Abdul Kareem, a PhD student at IISER here is the first author of the paper. Several undergraduate students from IISER here are co-authors of this landmark discovery.

 

This study not only provided deeper insights into the process of how an organism was reborn from any cells in the body but also provided tools that could be utilised to engineer agriculturally important crop species where regeneration was blocked at different stages of their development, Mr Prasad told Deccan Chronicle.

 

It was a scientist from Netherlands, who discovered key genes PLETHROA, essential for the regeneration in plants. The entire regeneration process is accomplished in two steps.

 

PLETHROA proteins initially activate adult stem cells found throughout the plant to make the right regenerative mass and subsequently they regulate key symmetry genes to accomplish the regeneration of the entire plant, Mr Prasad said.

 

The profound ability of living organisms to grow and respond to injury during their lifespan can largely be attributed to stem cells, Mr Prasad said.

 

Mr Prasad the faculty at School of Biology, IISER here who led the research team, earned his B. Sc. from University of Allahabad and M. Sc. from M. S. University Baroda  and Ph.D. degree from Indian Institute of Science Bangalore.

 

During his training in plant molecular genetics as graduate student he visited several laboratories in the US, UK and Singapore. Mr Prasad also visited Massey University, New Zealand. Mr Prasad was EMBO fellow in Utrecht University, The Netherlands.