Dr. M. Sujatha Director(A)

Contact details: Phone: 040-24598100 E-mail: [email protected]

Experience: 34 years of research experience in genetic improvement of oilseeds and significant achievements include development of male sterile lines in sunflower, niger and safflower; establishment of tissue culture and transformation protocols and first success at development of transgenics for insect pest resistance in castor and necrosis disease in sunflower; identification of molecular markers for distinguishing toxic and non-toxic genotypes of Jatropha curcas; molecular mapping of downy mildew and fertility restorer genes in sunflower; identification of reliable sources of resistance to major insect pests and diseases in cultivated and wild sunflowers besides development of prebred lines in sunflower; identification of differentially expressed genes in castor related to fatty acid metabolism and powdery mildew resistance in sunflower. Awards and recognitions  UNESCO-BAC Fellowship for undergoing specialized training in Biotechnology (1997); fellowship under the Netherlands Fellowship Programme (2002, 2004); DBT Overseas Associateship (short-term) for six months during 2006-2007; TWAS-CAS Fellowship for undergoing Advanced training in China for 3 months during 2012.  Panjabrao Deshmukh Woman Agricultural Scientist Award of ICAR for the year 2004.  Fellow of The National Academy of Sciences, Allahabad, India (NASI), Indian Society of Oilseeds Research (ISOR), Telangana Akademi of Sciences (TAS). Research Publications (Past 5 Years)

1. Francis, G., John, O., Piergiorgio, S. Sujatha M. 2019. Apomixis as a tool for development of high yielding clones and selections in Jatropha curcas L. Genet Resour Crop Evol. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10722-019-00851-0 2. Sai Sudha P, Tarakeswari M, Padmavathi AVT, Kumar Aniel O, Navajeet C, Saurabh G, Vineeth KV, Krishna Mohan AVSK, Sivarama Prasad L, Boney K, Mulpuri Sujatha, Vijay Bhasker Reddy L. 2019. Deciphering the transcriptomic insight during organogenesis in castor (Ricinus communis L.), jatropha (Jatropha curcas L.) and sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.). 3 Biotech (2019) 9:434. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13205-019-1960-9 (bioRxiv 679027; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/679027) 3. Tarakeswari Muddanuru, Ananda Kumar Polumetla, Lakshminarayana Maddukuri, Sujatha Mulpuri 2019. Development and evaluation of transgenic castor (Ricinus communis L.) expressing the insecticidal protein Cry1Aa of Bacillus thuringiensis against lepidopteran insect pests. Crop Protection 119: 113-125 4. D. Sreelekha, M. Sujatha, K. Ulaganathan. 2019. Mapping of plastid RNA editing sites of Helianthus and identification of differential editing in fungal infected plants. Current Plant Biology. 18: doi.org/10.1016/j.cpb.2019.100109 5. Daniele Trebbi, Samathmika Ravi, Chiara Broccanello, Claudia Chiodi, George Francis, John Oliver, M. Sujatha, Subhashini Srinivasan, Piergiorgio Stevanato. 2019. Identification and validation of SNP markers linked to seed toxicity in Jatropha curcas L. Scientific Reports 9:10220 | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-46698-4 6. K.T. Ramya, A. Vishnuvardhan Reddy, M. Sujatha. 2019. Agromorphological and molecular analysis discloses wide genetic variability in sunflower breeding lines from USDA, USA. Indian Journal of Genetics and Plant Breeding 79(2): 444-452 7. Mangesh Y Dudhe, Sujatha Mulpuri, Hari Prakash Meena, Ranganatha A.R.G., Varaprasad K.S., Vishnuvardhan Reddy A. 2019. Genetic variability, diversity and identification of trait specific accessions from the conserved sunflower germplasm for exploitation in the breeding programme. Agricultural Research. 1-14, https://doi.org/10.1007/s40003-019-00406-w 8. MY Dudhe, AB Rajguru, KD Bhoite, SM Kadam, ARG Ranganatha, M Sujatha, AV Reddy. 2018. Characterization, evaluation and multivariate analysis of sunflower germplasm under semi-arid environments of three locations in two sunflower growing states in India. Journal of Environmental Biology 39 (6), 990-996. 9. K. Prathap Reddy, D. Kamakshi, P.B. Kirti, C. Mohan Rao, S.S. Thakur, M. Sujatha. 2018. An insight into powdery mildew infected susceptible, resistant and immune sunflower genotypes. Proteomics. 18: https://doi.org/10.1002/pmic.201700418 10. Singareddy, V., Sheri, V.R., M. Tarakeswari, T. Revathi, R.K. Jain, S. Chander Rao, K.S. Varaprasad, M. Sujatha. 2018. Genetic engineering of sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) for resistance to necrosis disease through deployment of the TSV coat protein gene. Plant Cell Tiss Organ Cult (2018) 135: 263-277. 11. M. Sujatha, K. Ulaganathan, B. Divya Bhanu, P.K. Soni. 2018. RNA-Seq data of control and powdery mildew pathogen (Golovinomyces orontii) treated transcriptomes of Helianthus niveus. Data in Brief (Elsevier) 17: 210-217. 12. Francis, G., Oliver, J. and Sujatha, M. 2017. High yielding and trait specific genotypes and genetic associations among yield and yield contributing traits in Jatropha curcas L. Agroforestry Systems DOI: 10.1007/s10457-017-0089-2 13. H.P. Meena, M. Sujatha and P.K. Soni. 2017. Interspecific hybrid between cultivated sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) and silver leaf sunflower H. argophyllus T. & G.: Cytomorphological and molecular characterization. Indian Journal of Genetics and Plant Breeding 77(4): 547-555. 14. H.P. Meena, H.D. Pushpha and M. Sujatha. 2017. Interspecific hybrid between silver leaf sunflower (Helianthus argophyllus T & G) and cultivated sunflower: Cytomorphological characterization of F1 hybrid. Journal of Oilseeds Research 34(2): 81-88. 15. M. Santhalakshmi Prasad, M. Sujatha, K. Alivelu, K. Sujatha. 2016. Sources of resistance to Alternariaster leaf blight in sunflower pre-breeding lines derived from interspecific crosses and wild Helianthus species. Crop Protection 92, 70-78 16. Y. Zhang, M. Sujatha, A. Liu. 2016. Photosynthetic capacity of the capsule wall and its contribution to carbon fixation and seed yield in castor (Ricinus communis L.). Acta Physiologiae Plantarum 38 (10), 245 17. J. Jacob, M. Sujatha, K.S. Varaprasad. 2016. Screening of cultivated and wild Helianthus species reveals herbicide tolerance in wild sunflowers and allelic variation at Ahasl1 (acetohydroxyacid synthase 1 large subunit) locus. Plant Genetic Resources 1, 9 18. M. Sujatha and M. Tarakeswari. 2016. Molecular identification of a 16SrII-D phytoplasma associated with sunflower phyllody in India. Australasian Plant Disease Notes 11 (1), 1-5 19. M. Sujatha, P.K. Soni, G. Suresh Kumar. 2016. Morphological and molecular characterization of powdery mildew on sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.), alternate hosts and weeds commonly found in and around sunflower fields in India. Phytoparasitica 44 (3), 353-367 20. D. Sandeep Kumar, M. Tarakeswari, M. Lakshminarayana, M. Sujatha. 2016. Toxicity of Bacillus thuringiensis crystal proteins against eri silkworm, Samia cynthia ricini (Lepidoptera: Saturniidae). Journal of Invertebrate Pathology 138, 116-119 21. K. Prathap Reddy and M. Sujatha. 2016. Ploidy analysis of Helianthus species by flow cytometry and its use in hybridity confirmation. The Nucleus 59 (2), 123-130 22. Meena, H.P., Soni, P.K., Sujatha, M. 2016. Characterization of F1 interspecific hybrids between cultivated sunflower and Helianthus argophyllus T & G. Proceedings of the National Seminar on Breeding of Field Crops for Biotic and Abiotic Stresses in relation to Climate Change. 116-128. 23. Yang Zhang, Sujatha Mulpuri, Aizhong Liu. 2015. High light exposure on seed coat increases lipid accumulation in seeds of castor bean (Ricinus communis L.), a non-green oilseed crop. Photosynthesis Research. 128 (2), 125-140 24. Chander Rao, S., Sujatha, M., Karuna, K., Varaprasad, K.S. 2015. Powdery mildew disease in sunflower: A review. Journal of Oilseeds Research. 32(2): 111-122 (CP-58/15). 25. Sujatha, M., Soni, P.K., Jawaharlal, J. 2015. Identification of Podosphaera xanthii causing powdery mildew on sesame (Sesamum indicum L.). Journal of Oilseeds Research 32(2): 183-185 26. K. Prathap Reddy, N.V.P.R. Ganga Rao and M. Sujatha. 2015. Molecular diversity in castor (Ricinus communis L.). Industrial Crops and Products. 66: 271-281 27. Zhang Yang, Mulpuri Sujatha, Liu Aizhong. 2015. Exogenous glutamine increases lipid accumulation in developing seeds of castor bean (Ricinus communis L.) cultured in vitro. Archives of Biological Sciences DOI:10.2298/ABS150404090Z