Dr. Ramesh V. Sonti
Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB)
Hyderabad
India
My laboratory studies the interaction between Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae (Xoo) and its host, the rice plant. We study Xoo virulence functions and rice defence responses. We have found that Xoo secretes rice cell wall degrading enzymes like cellulases and xylanases. These enzymes are important virulence factors of Xoo.
We have also found that treatment of rice tissues with purified Xoo cellulase induces defence responses including programmed cell death like reactions. Treatment of rice cell walls with these purified cellulases results in release of elicitors that can induce the defence responses.
We are interested in characterization of the cellulose degradation products that are involved in elicitation of defence responses.
Our expertise is in the area of microbial and plant genetics and the use of various microscopic techniques, expression profiling, etc. for studying the mechanisms of plant-pathogen interactions.
