Lessons from developmental biology create exciting possibility of manipulating morphogenetic plans for engineering desirable crop traits. Since regulatory mechanisms underlying developmental programmes are shared across plant species, insights from model plant Arabidopsis thaliana can be exploited to drive crop improvement. The evolutionarily related Brassicas, though natural beneficiaries, present unique challenges owing to polyploidy. Borne from cycles of genome duplication and fractionation events, Brassicas harbour multiple gene copies (homolog complexes) that collectively govern various biological processes. Our research group deciphers functions of regulatory genes using complementary approaches of natural variation and reverse genetics. We characterize transcription factors, miRNAs and cis-regulatory elements, controlling developmental traits such as flowering, root and seed development. Understanding evolutionary logic of homolog retention and fractionation across Brassicaceae constitutes an important research theme. By way of active collaborations, we also try to unravel how bimolecular interactions manifest in polyploid genomes from structural informatics viewpoint, and how such information can be leveraged for genome editing based design of novel alleles and traits.

We dynamically integrate modern technological approaches for functional genomics. Programmable nucleases are being deployed for genome editing, activation (CRIPSPR-A) and interference (CRISPR-I) of gene expression. Gain-of-function and knock-down mutants have also been generated in crop Brassicas using a variety of approaches. Transcriptomic analyses of genome edited/ modified mutants will reveal interesting biological insights.

Anandita was awarded fellowship by Max Planck Society, for post-doctoral research at the Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology, Tuebingen, Germany, under the mentorship of Professor Detlef Weigel, Director (FRS). She contributed in developing a mechanistic understanding of flowering response in Arabidopsis thaliana using natural variation, transcriptomics and reverse genetics. Her doctoral thesis entitled “DNA fingerprinting for assessment of genetic diversity in medicinal plant species” involved assessment of genetic diversity in medicinal tree species, Azadirachta indica (neem) and Emblica officinalis (amla). Under the joint mentorship of Dr. Malathi Lakshmikumaran and Late Prof. PS Srivasatava, she demonstrated applicability of AFLP and DNA based markers in germplasm characterization. Her research findings implicated India as the true Centre of origin for neem. At TERI School of Advanced Studies, she has contributed in formulation of academic programmes (M.Sc. Plant Biotechnology, M.Sc. Biotechnology, Advanced Post-Graduate Diploma in Regulations in Biotechnology) and associated courses. Currently, she teaches several courses in Department of Biotechnology.

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Publications:
 

• Jain R, Srivasatava H, Kumar K, Sharma S, Singh A, Gaikwad K (2024) Understanding the role of P type ATPases in regulating pollen fertility and development in pigeonpea. Molecular Genetics and Genomics, 299:68, (DOI) 10.1007/s00438-024-02155-0
• Anand S, Lal M, Bhardwaj E, Shukla R, Jain A, Sri T, Singh A and Das S (2023) MIR159 regulates multiple aspects of stamen and carpel development and requires dissection and delimitation of differential downstream regulatory network for manipulating fertility traits. Physiology and Molecular Biology of Plants 29:1437–1456 (DOI) (DOI)10.1007/s12298-023-01377-7
• Singh S and Singh A (2021) A prescient evolutionary model for genesis, duplication and differentiation of MIR160 homologs in Brassicaceae. Molecular Genetics and Genomics (DOI) 10.1007/s00438-021-01797-8
• Sri T, Gupta B, Tyagi S, Singh A (2020) Homeologs of Brassica SOC1, a central regulator of flowering time, are differentially regulated due to partitioning of evolutionarily conserved transcription factor binding sites in promoters. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution DOI 10.1016/j.ympev.2020.106777
• Tyagi S, Sri T, Singh A, Mayee, Shivaraj SM, Sharma P, Singh A (2019) SUPPRESSOR OF OVEREXPRESSION OF CONSTANS1 influences flowering time, lateral branching, oil quality, and seed yield in Brassica juncea cv. Varuna. Functional and Integrative Genomics 19: 43-60, DOI: 10.1007/s10142-018-0626-8
• Tyagi S, Mazumdar PA, Mayee P, Shivraj SM, Anand S, Singh A, Madhurantakam C, Sharma P, Das S, Kumar A, Singh A (2018) Natural variation in Brassica FT homeologs influences multiple agronomic traits including flowering time, silique shape, oil profile, stomatal morphology and plant height in B. juncea. Plant Science 277: 251-266, DOI: 10.1016/j.plantsci.2018.09.018
• Shivraj SM, Jain A, Singh A (2018) Highly preserved roles of Brassica MIR172 in polyploid Brassicas: Ectopic expression of variants of Brassica MIR172 accelerates floral transition. Molecular Genomics and Genetics. 293: 1121-1138 DOI: 10.1007/s00438-018-1444-3
• Dhakate P, Tyagi S, Singh A, Singh A (2017) Functional characterization of a novel Brassica LEAFY homolog from Indian mustard: Expression pattern and gain-of-function studies. Plant Science 258: 29-44
• Negi MS, Sharma SS, Singh A , Chauhan S, Adholeya A, Tripathi SBT (2017) Analysis of Genetic Diversity of Indian Tea Accessions Using Two Modified Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism Methods. Proceedings of National Academy of Science, India, Sect. B Biol. Sci. doi:10.1007/s40011-016-0798-8
• Shivraj SM, Singh A (2016) Sequence variation in Brassica AP2 and analysis of interaction of AP2-miR172 regulatory module. Plant Cell, Tissue and Organ Culture (PCTOC) 125: 191–206
• Mayee P, Singh A (2016) Natural genetic variation in Brassica homologs of FLOWERING LOCUS T and characterization of its expression domains. Journal of Plant Biochemistry and Biotechnology. 25: 270-277
• Sri T, Mayee P, Singh A (2015) Sequence and expression variation in SUPPESSOR of OVEREXPRESSION of CONSTANS 1 (SOC1): Homeolog evolution in Indian Brassicas. Development Genes and Evolution. 225: 287-303
• Dhakate P, Shiv SM, Singh A (2014) Design of artificial miRNA for redundant silencing of Brassica SHP1 and SHP2: transient assay-based validation of transcript cleavage from polyploid Brassicas. Acta Physiol Plant 36: 2125-2135
• Shivraj SM, Dhakate P, Mayee P, Negi MS, Singh A (2014) Natural genetic variation in MIR172 isolated from Brassica species. Biologia Plantarum 58: 627-640, 2014
• Rosloski SM, Singh A, Jali SS, Balasubramanian S, Weigel D, Grbic V (2013) Functional analysis of splice variant expression of MADS AFFECTING FLOWERING 2 of Arabidopsis thaliana. Plant Mol Biol 81: 57-69
• Balasubramaniaan S, Schwartz C, Singh A, Warthmann N, Kim MC, Maloof J, Loudet O, Trainer GT, Tsegaye Dabi, Borewitz, Chory J, Weigel D (2009) QTL mapping in new Arabidopsis thaliana advanced intercross recombinant inbred lines. PLoS One 4: e4318
• Singh A, Das S, Wilson N (2007) Genomics and IP: An Overview. Journal of Intellectual Property Rights 12: 57-71
• Lempe J, Balasubramanian S, Sureshkumar S, Singh A, Schmid M and Weigel D (2005) Diversity of Flowering Responses in Wild Arabidopsis thaliana Strains. PLoS Genet 1:109-18
• Singh A, Chaudhury A, Srivastava PS, Lakshmikumaran M (2003) Comparison of AFLP and SAMPL markers for assessment of intra-population genetic variation in Azadirachta indica A Juss. Plant Science 162: 17-25 (IF: 3.3)
• Singh A, Negi MS, Moses VK, Venkateswarlu B, Lakshmikumaran M (2002) Utility of AFLP markers in ascertaining the clonal fidelity in tissue-culture raised neem plantlets. In Vitro Cellular and Developmental Biology-Plant 38, 519-524
• Negi MS, Singh A and Lakshmikumaran M (2000) Genetic variation and relationship among and within Withania species as revealed by AFLP markers. Genome 43: 975-980
• Singh A, Negi MS, Rajagopal J, Bhatia S, Tomar UK, Srivastava PS, Lakshmikumaran M (1999) Assessment of genetic diversity in Azadirachta indica using AFLP markers. Theoretical and Applied Genetics 99: 272-279