Life Sciences & Biotechnology
Title : | Characterization of novel drought-tolerant genes from Prosopis cineraria, a prominent drought-tolerant plant |
Area of research : | Life Sciences & Biotechnology |
Principal Investigator : | Dr. Chandra Pal singh, Rajasthan University, Jaipur, Rajasthan |
Timeline Start Year : | 2023 |
Timeline End Year : | 2026 |
Contact info : | chandrapal203@gmail.com |
Equipments : | spinner/minicentrifuge
Horizontal electrophoresis units with power supply
PCR MACHINE
Refrigerator |
Details
Executive Summary : | Prosopis cineraria, also known as Khejri, is a multipurpose tree species that can tolerate drought, extreme temperature, salinity, and other abiotic stresses. Due to global warming, drought conditions are increasing worldwide, hampering agriculture production. P. cineraria serves as an important natural resource that could be investigated for identifying the genetic factors responsible for tolerating extreme drought stress, which would be useful for developing drought-tolerant plants. several genes have been implicated in the regulation of abiotic stresses in the plants, but the genes involved in the regulation of the tolerance are still unknown. The hypothesis is that genes are key factors in controlling abiotic stresses in crop and tree plants. Exploring genes in P. cineraria and characterization of their functions in drought stress management would be useful for climate-resilient plant production. Key questions to be sought include how the genes encoded by P. cineraria respond to drought stress, whether climatic conditions affect gene expression in P. cineraria, which pathways these drought-responsive genes regulate, and whether the drought-regulating genes of P. cineraria could be used as a potential tool to develop drought-tolerant plants. The experimental plan involves identifying genes with unknown function from leaf transcriptome data of P. cineraria, characterizing their expression in germplasms of P. cineraria, and functionally characterization of these genes in Arabidopsis for developing drought-tolerant plants. The expected outcome is to identify drought-responsive genes encoded by P. cineraria, assess several P. cineraria germplasms for drought-tolerance, and gain attention from the scientific community to improve the conservation of this valuable tree. |
Total Budget (INR): | 25,25,970 |
Organizations involved