Research

Leaves are the powerhouses of plants, and understanding how they age helps us improve plant health and productivity. My research explores the molecular mechanisms behind leaf aging and how plants respond to stress.


Leaf aging (senescence) is a natural developmental process observed in plants. The most visible characteristic is the change in leaf color from green to yellow. During the fall season, the colors we see in leaves are a result of this process known as leaf senescence.

One of the biggest challenges for plants is exposure to various abiotic stressors, such as salt, which can induce premature leaf senescence. However, plant hormones such as cytokinin can slow down leaf aging.

Therefore, my doctoral research investigates the molecular mechanisms regulating stress-induced leaf senescence in tomato, with an emphasis on cytokinin signaling and transcriptional regulation under salt stress.


My research is composed of two main projects. 

Project 1 (Completed): Understanding the effect of two cytokinin types; cis-Zeatin and trans-zeatin in delaying leaf senescence in tomato under salt stress

Approach:

Senescence Assay
Phenotypic characterization of plants under salt stress
RNA-seq data analysis
Differential Gene Expression
WGCNA
Pathway Enrichment Analysis
Integration of hormone/salt stress response datasets

Outcomes: Identification of key genes associated with leaf senescence and cytokinin biosynthetic pathway.


Project 2 (Ongoing): Functional role of selected candidate gene in regulating leaf senescence in tomato

Approach:

Characterization of mutant genes
qPCR
Plasmid construction and molecular cloning
Agarose Gel Electrophoresis

Outcome: To validate the gene targets that may contribute towards the elucidation of cytokinin biosynthetic pathway towards improved stress tolerance and delayed leaf senescence

Core Technical expertise

Molecular Genetics

  • Gene cloning and plasmid construction

  • Functional genomics

  • Mutant characterization

  • Gene overexpression systems

Transcriptomics & Data Analysis

  • RNA-seq pipeline analysis

  • Differential expression analysis

  • Network analysis (WGCNA)

  • Statistical analysis in R

  • Data visualization

Plant Stress Physiology

  • Salt stress assays

  • Hormone treatment experiments

  • Senescence phenotyping

  • Controlled growth condition experiments

Applied Impact

This work contributes to identifying molecular targets for improving crop performance under salinity stress and enhances understanding of hormone-regulated stress adaptation mechanisms relevant to agricultural biotechnology.