Profile
Intracellular innate immunity in plants is orchestrated by strategic deployment of immune sentinels at key cellular locations. Immune modulators intercept invasive actions of pathogen-derived effectors in their attempts to promote colonization. Basal defenses of the plant are often suppressed by activities of these effectors. Resistance proteins (R) are key players of a plant immune surveillance machinery. Through direct or indirect association with the effector targets, R proteins sense effector-induced perturbations to elicit a robust and rapid defense response. However, functions of only a limited R protein and their cognate avirulent effectors are known in any plant systems. This severely impacts the genetic engineering of disease-resistant traits in susceptible plants. We are investigating effector evolution and how avirulent effectors are detected in resistant plants. In parallel, we investigate defense signaling pathways orchestrated by various inositol phosphates. These versatile signaling messengers regulate fate and function of key immune modulators.
Current Focus Areas
Effector evolution, interference with plant immune-related translational processes processes, and their perception to trigger defenses in resistant plants..
targeting of common cellular hubs by unrelated pathogen effectors and their implication on disease incidence and immune induction.
Regulatory roles and signaling routes of inositol phosphates in maintaining functional homeostasis of positive and negative immune modulators.
Selected Publications
Roy, A., Ghosh, D., Kasera, M., Girish, T.R., Nori, S., Vemanna, R.S., Mohapatra, S., Surya Narayan, S., Bhattacharjee, S. Kappaphycus alvarezii-derived formulations enhance salicylic acid-mediated anti-bacterial defenses in Arabidopsis thaliana and rice. (2022) J. Appl. Phycol. 34(1)-3.
Gulabani, H, Goswami, K, Walia, Y., Roy, A., Noor, J.J., Ingole, K.D., Kasera, M., Laha, D., Giehl, R.F.H., Schaaf, G., Bhattacharjee, S. Arabidopsis inositol polyphosphate kinases IPK1 and ITPK1 modulate crosstalk between SA dependent immunity and phosphate starvation responses. (2022). Plant Cell Reports. 41(2): 347-363.
Kasera, M., Ingole, K.D., Rampuria, S., Walia, Y., Gassmann, W., Bhattacharjee, S. Global SUMOylome Adjustments in Basal Defenses of Arabidopsis thaliana Involve Complex Interplay Between SMALL-UBIQUITIN LIKE MODIFIERs and the Negative Immune Regulator SUPPRESSOR OF rps4-RLD1. (2021) Front. Cell Dev. Biol., 9: 680760.
Ingole, K.D., Kasera, M., van den Burg, H., Bhattacharjee, S. Antagonism between SUMO1/2 and SUMO3 regulates SUMO conjugate levels and fine-tunes immunity. (2021). J. Exp. Bot. 72(18): 6640-6658
7. Dahale, S.K., Ghosh, D., Ingole, K.D., Chugani, A., Kim, S.H., Bhattacharjee, S. HopA1 Effector from Pseudomonas syringae pv syringae Strain 61 Affects NMD Processes and Elicits Effector-Triggered Immunity. (2021) Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2021, 22, 7440.