South Dakota State University

college of agriculture & biological sciences

Soybean Genomics Research

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The SDSU Plant Science Department website is maintained by Julia Fausti in accordance with SDSU guidelines.

Last updated 3 November 2009

Research Projects & Reports

SDSU University Research

Links of interest:

· Soybean genome

· miRBase (database of miRNAs)

· Knowplants (My plant science resource website)

 

Journals of interest:

· Plant Cell

· Plant Physiology

· Plant Journal

· PNAS

· Crop Science

 

Research interests:

 

Silence-omics of nodule development in soybean

 

Plants interact with a number of microorganisms during the course of their life cycle. These interactions may be beneficial or deleterious to the plant. A fascinating example of a beneficial plant-microbe interaction is symbiotic root nodule formation in legumes (bean-family of plants). Nodules capable of fixing atmospheric nitrogen result from the interaction between legumes and rhizobia bacteria. Plants activate a multitude of signaling pathways both at the cellular level and whole plant level upon recognition of a compatible rhizobial species, leading to a sequence of physiological events ultimately resulting in functional nodules.

 

My research interests include studying the exchange of signal molecules between the plants and rhizobia (Subramanian et al., 2004, 2006, 2007; Zhang et al., 2008 ), understanding the role of microRNAs in regulating auxin action during nodule development (Subramanian et al., 2008 ) and studying signaling mechanisms governing nodule and lateral root development. My lab is interested in studying the symbiotic interaction between soybean and Bradyrhizobium japonicum as a model system. The recent completion of soybean genome sequencing and the importance of soybean as a major crop in the United States make it an attractive model to study nodule development and rhizobial symbiosis. In addition to the enhancement of scientific knowledge and scholarship, my research has economic and environmental benefits since symbiotic nitrogen fixation in legume root nodules alleviate the use of chemical fertilizers.

 

For graduate student opportunities, please contact me.