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Curriculum vitae

Plant Morphogenesis Lab

Prakash KUMAR Associate Professor and Acting Head Contact Information: Dept of Biological Sciences National University of Singapore 14 Science Drive 4, Singapore 117543 Tel: 65162859 Fax: 67792486 email: dbshead@nus.edu.sg or dbskumar@nus.edu.sg

Research Areas:

Plant Development, Tissue Culture, Plant Physiology and Molecular Biology.

Research Interests:

Induction of adventitious shoot buds from cultured explants is an important technique used in biotechnological improvement of plants. Our main research focus areas come under physiological and molecular aspects of the regulation of such shoot development in plant tissue culture. We use leaf cultures of Paulownia sp., a fast-growing timber tree species, and Petunia as experimental systems. Recently, we have initiated some work with Arabidopsis on shoot development and with coriander aimed at studying ethylene signal transduction intermediates. Additionally, we are interested in RAPD markers for plant systematics.

It is hoped that the results of these long-term research projects may be useful in developing a means of regulating organogenesis at will. Moreover, it will contribute towards a better understanding of the complex process of de novo organogenesis.

Current Projects:

The current research projects we are undertaking include the following themes:

1. Cloning genes that are activated during shoot bud differentiation.
2. Transgenic plants for functional analysis of selected cDNA (e.g., PkMADS, AGL24).
3. Role of ethylene and CO2 in tissue culture, and in extending the shelf life of selected plants (e.g., coriander).
4. Use of RAPD markers for plant systematics and sex determination (in rattan and Cycas).

Selected Publications:

• Nair DG, Fry BG, Alewood P, Kumar PP, Kini RM. Antimicrobial activity of omwaprin, a new member of waprin family of snake venom proteins. Biochemical Journal (2006) - in press

• Wang Y, Kumar PP. Characterization of two ethylene receptors PhERS1 and PhETR2 from petunia: PhETR2 regulates timing of anther dehiscence. Journal of Experimental Botany (2006) in press.

• Xu Y,  Teo LL, Zhou J, Kumar PP,  Yu H. Floral organ identity genes in the orchid Dendrobium crumenatum. Plant Journal (2006) 46: 54-68.

• Pung YF, Wong PTH, Kumar PP, Hodgson WC, Kini RM. Ohanin, a novel protein from king cobra venom induces hypolocomotion and hyperalgesia in mice. Journal of Biological Chemistry (2005) 280:13137-13147.

• Yu H, Ito T, Zhao Y, Peng J, Kumar PP, Meyerowitz EM. Floral homeotic genes are targets of gibberellin signaling in flower development. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., USA (2004) 101:7827-7832.

• Zhang P, Pwee KH, Tan HT, Kumar PP. Conservation of class C function of floral organ development during 300 million years of evolution from gymnosperms to angiosperms. Plant Journal (2004) 37: 566-577.

• Yu H, Kumar PP. Posttranscriptional gene silencing in plants by RNA (Invited Review Article). Plant Cell Rep (2003) 22: 167-174.

• Yu H, Xu Y, Tan EL, Kumar PP. 2002. AGAMOUS-LIKE 24, a dosage-dependent mediator of the flowering signals. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., USA. 99:16336-16341.

• Prakash AP, Kumar PP. 2002. PkMADS1 is a novel MADS-box gene regulating adventitious shoot induction and vegetative shoot development in Paulownia kawakamii. Plant Journal 29:141-151.

• Kumar, P.P., Lakshmanan, P. & Thorpe, T.A. Regulation of morphogenesis in plant tissue culture by ethylene (Review article). In Vitro Cellular and Developmental Biology-Plant (1998) 34:94-103.

• Prakash, A.P. & Kumar, P.P. Inhibition of shoot induction by 5-azacytidine and 5-aza-2'-deoxycytidine in Petunia involves DNA hypomethylation. Plant Cell Reports (1997) 16:719-724.
  

Research Accomplishments

Full List of Publications

Membership on Editorial Boards

• Editor, Plant Cell Reports (Springer, from Jan 1999 onwards)
• Reviews Editor, Plant Cell Reports (Springer, from April 2002 onwards)
• Editor, Plant Cell, Tissue and Organ Culture - (Jan 1999 - Jan 2006)