Profile
Dr. Shiv Meena is an independent group leader at the National Institute of Plant Genome Research, where he leads the Plant RNA Biology Lab, focusing on the functional and mechanistic exploration of noncoding transcription in plants. His Ph.D. from the Leibniz Institute of Plant Biochemistry in Germany has endowed him with expertise in the functional characterization of noncoding transcription and long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) in plants. Furthermore, as a postdoctoral scientist at the Umeå Plant Science Center in Sweden, he studied the characterization of the role of noncoding transcription in governing the optimal cold stress response output in plants. His research group at NIPGR focuses over the experimental exploration of the ‘dark matter of genome’, by concentrating on lncRNAs and their regulatory roles in plant growth, development, and stress responses
Current Focus Areas
Noncoding Transcription in Plants: We aims to decode the functional significance of pervasive noncoding transcription, particularly lncRNAs, in regulating plant development and stress responses, thereby searching for new unexplored means for crop improvement and food security.
Selected Publications
Shiv Kumar Meena, Marti Quevedo, Sarah Muniz Nardeli, Clément Verez, Susheel Bhat, Vasiliki Zacharaki, and Peter Kindgren (2024), Antisense transcription from stress responsive transcription factors fine tunes the cold response in Arabidopsis thaliana: insights from BBX28 and ZAT5 characterization, Plant Cell (accepted)
Vasiliki Zacharaki, Shiv Kumar Meena, Peter Kindgren, The non-coding RNA SVALKA locus produces a cis- natural antisense transcript that negatively regulates the expression of CBF1 and biomass production at normal temperatures, Plant Communications, 2023, 100551
Meena, S.K., Heidecker, M., Engelmann, S., Jaber, A., de Vries, T., Triller, S., Baumann-Kaschig, K., Abel, S., Behrens, S.-E. and Gago-Zachert, S. (2022), Altered expression levels of long noncoding natural antisense transcripts overlapping the UGT73C6 gene affect rosette size in Arabidopsis thaliana. Plant J
Meena, S. K., Wagner, C., Caggegi, L., Baumann-Kaschig, K. and Ried, M. K. (2021). A user- friendly protocol for the cultivation and successful crossing of Lotus japonicus. Bio-protocol
Srivastava A*, Meena SK*, Alam M, Nayeem SM, Deep S, Sau AK (2013) Structural and functional insights into the regulation of Helicobacter pylori arginase activity by an evolutionary non-conserved motif. Biochemistry 2013 52(3), 508-519. (*-Co first author)