Brief Profile
Dr. Pramod Kandoth earned his Ph.D. from the Department of Biochemistry, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, and his M.Sc. from the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore. His research interests are broadly in understanding plants’ interaction with their environment. His postdoctoral work at the University of South Carolina focused on the role of MAP kinases in the systemin-mediated defense signaling to insects. He demonstrated the essential role of these kinases of plants in the fight against insects. He continued his work on plant defense mechanisms at the University of Missouri to understand soybean resistance to soybean cyst nematode (SCN), the most economically important pathogen of soybean in the United States. His significant achievement in this work includes cloning and functional characterization of Rhg4 and Rhg1a genes, the first known genes that majorly contribute to soybean resistance to SCN. In 2017, he moved to India with the prestigious Ramalingaswami Fellowship from the Department of Biotechnology Government of India and joined the National Agri-food Biotechnology Institute (NABI), Mohali. He handled two projects at NABI funded by DST-SERB and DBT. At NABI, he used a genome editing approach to develop nutritionally safe Lathyrus, a legume known for its climate-resilient attributes. He also works on understanding the role of endoplasmic reticulum pathways of plants in the biotic and abiotic stress responses. He joined CUK as an associate professor in 2022 and will continue with these projects at CUK, Kasaragod. He has excellent publications in Nature, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Nature communications, and Plant Physiology, to name a few.
Education
| Degree | College Name | Year Of Passing |
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| Ph.D. | Indian Institute of Science | 2005 |
| Post Graduation | Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore | 1997 |
| Graduation | Kerala Agricultural University | 1994 |
Teaching & Research Guidance
| Level Of Teaching | Subjects |
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| Post Graduate | Plant Stress Biology |
| Post Graduate | Mutations and Plants |
| Post Graduate | Advances in Plant Biology |
| Research Guidance | ER stress and its relation to environmental stresses |
Recent and Major Publications
- Anjali Verma, Lovenpreet Kaur, Navpreet Kaur, Akanksha Bhardwaj, Ajay K Pandey, Pramod Kaitheri Kandoth, 2024. (2024). "Genome editing of an oxalyl-CoA synthetase gene in Lathyrus sativus reveals its role in oxalate metabolism". Plant Cell Reports, 43, 280
- David A Korasick, Luckio F Owuocha, Pramod K Kandoth, John J Tanner, Melissa G Mitchum, Lesa J Beamer, 2024 (2024). "Structural and functional analysis of two SHMT8 variants associated with soybean cyst nematode resistance". The FEBS Journal, 290,323-337
- Sivasubramanian Rajarammohan, Lovenpreet Kaur, Anjali Verma, Dalwinder Singh, Shrikant Mantri, Joy K Roy, Tilak Raj Sharma, Ashwani Pareek, Pramod Kaitheri Kandoth, 2023. (2023). "Genome sequencing and assembly of Lathyrus sativus - a nutrient-rich hardy legume crop". Scientific Data, 10, 32
- A Verma, N Nidhi, G Kaur, S Mantri, TR Sharma, AK Pandey, PK Kandoth, 2022 (2022). "Contrasting β‐ODAP content correlates with stress gene expression in Lathyrus cultivars". Physiologia Plantarum, 174, e13616
- G Kaur, V Shukla, V Meena, A Kumar, D Tyagi, J Singh, PK Kandoth, Mantri S, Rouached H, Pandey AK (2021). "Physiological and molecular responses to combinatorial iron and phosphate deficiencies in hexaploid wheat seedlings". Genomics, 113: 3935-3950
- Mishra A , Singh A, Mantri S, Pandey AK, Garg M, Deshmukh R, Sonah H, Kandoth PK, Sharma TR,Roy J. 2021. (2021). "Decoding the genome of superior chapatti quality Indian wheat variety ‘C 306’unravelled novel genomic variants for chapatti and nutrition quality related genes". Genomics, 113: 1919-1929
- Kaur N, Kandoth P. K. 2021. (2021). "Tomato bZIP60 mRNA undergoes splicing in endoplasmic reticulum stress and in response to environmental stresses". Plant Physiology and Biochemistry, 160 : 397-403
- Korasick DA, Kandoth PK , Tanner JJ , Mitchum MG, Beamer LJ. 20 (2020). "Impaired folate binding of serine hydroxymethyltransferase 8 from soybean underlies resistance to the soybean cyst nematode". Journal of Biological Chemistry, 295: 3708-3718
- Kandoth, P. K., Liu, S., Prenger, E., Ludwig, A., Lakhssassi, N., Heinz, R., Zhou, Z., Howland, A., Gunther, J., Eidson, S., Dhroso, A., LaFayette, P., Tucker, D., Johnson, S., Anderson, J., Alaswad, A., Cianzio, S.R., Parrott, W.A., Korkin, D., Meksem, K., Mitchum M. G. 2017. (2017). "Systematic mutagenesis of serine hydroxymethyltransferase reveals an essential role in nematode resistance". Plant physiology, 175: 1370-80
- Liu, S., Kandoth, P. K., Lakhssassi, N., Kang, J., Colantonio, V., Heinz, R., Yeckel, G., Zhou, Z., Bekal, S., Dapprich, J., Rotter, B., Cianzio, S., Mitchum, M.G., Meksem, K. 2017 (2017). "The soybean GmSNAP18 gene underlies two types of resistance to soybean cyst nematode". Nature Communications, 8: 14822
- Kandoth, P. K., Heinz, R., Yeckel, G., Gross, N.W., Juvale, P. S., Hill, J., Whitham, S. A., Baum T. J., Mitchum M.G. 2013 (2013). "A virus-induced gene silencing method to study soybean cyst nematode parasitism in Glycine max.". BMC Res Notes, 6:255
- Kandoth, P. K. and Mitchum M.G. 2013. (2013). "War of the worms: how plants fight underground attacks (review).". Curr Opin Plant Biol., 16: 457-463
- Liu, S., *Kandoth, P.K., Warren, S.D., Yeckel, G., Heinz, R., Alden, J., Yang, C., Jamai, A., El-Mellouki, T., Juvale, P.S., Hill, J., Baum, T.J., Cianzio, S., Whitham, S. A., Korkin, D., Mitchum, M.G., Meksem K. 2012. (2012). "A soybean cyst nematode resistance gene points to a new mechanism of plant resistance to pathogens.". Nature, 492: 256–260
- Juvale, P.S., Hewezi, T., Zhang, C., Kandoth, P.K., Mitchum, M.G., Hill, J.H., Whitham, S.A., Baum T.J. 2012 (2012). "Temporal and spatial Bean pod mottle virus‐induced gene silencing in soybean". Mol Plant Pathol., 13: 1140-48
- Kandoth, P.K., *Ithal, N., Recknor, J., Maier, T., Nettleton, D., Baum, T.J., Mitchum, M.G. 2011. (2011). "The Soybean Rhg1 Locus for Resistance to the Soybean Cyst Nematode Heterodera glycines Regulates the Expression of a Large Number of Stress- and Defense-Related Genes in Degenerating Feeding Cells.". Plant Physiol., 155: 1960-75.
- Kandoth, P.K., Singh, S., Jayabaskaran, C. 2010. (2010). "Biochemical and structural characterization of recombinant hyoscyamine 6ß-hydroxylase from Datura metel L.". Plant Physiol Biochem., 48: 966-970.
- Kandoth, P.K., Singh, S., Jayabaskaran, C. 2010 (2010). "Expression of hyoscyamine 6ß-hydroxylase in root pericycle cells and accumulation of its product scopolamine in leaf and stem tissues of Datura metel L.". Plant Science, 178: 202-206.
- Kandoth, P.K., Ranf, S., Pancholi, S.S., Jayanty, S., Walla, M.D., Miller, W., Howe, G.A., Lincoln, D.E., and Stratmann, J.W. 2007. (2007). "Tomato MAPKs LeMPK1, LeMPK2, and LeMPK3 function in the systemin-mediated defense response against herbivorous insects.". Proc Natl Acad Sci USA, 104:12205–12210
Group Members
![]() | Sreelekha A- Doctoral Fellow (Ph.D.)
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- Thesis Title: Endoplasmic reticulum stress in plants
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![]() | Gayathri V.- Doctoral Fellow (Ph.D.)
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- Thesis Title: ERAD pathways in plants
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Research Projects Undertaken
| Project Title | Project Type | Commencement Year | Completion Year | Funding Agency |
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| Genomic approaches to reduce β-ODAP levels in Lathyrus spp | Core Grant | 2020 | 2023 | DST-SERB |
| Deciphering endoplasmic reticulum stress response pathways in plants and its role in tolerance to belowground plant pathogens and abiotic stresses | na | 2017 | 2023 | Department of Biotechnology, Government of India |
Miscellaneous
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