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 Central University of Kerala
26 August 2026

Dr. Pramod K Kandoth

Kandoth Lab


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.

21

Publications

3

Projects

2

Students

4

Courses Taught


...
Dr. Pramod K Kandoth
Associate Professor
Department of Plant Science
  
  [email protected]
 Personal Website
 Vidwan Profile
Academic Identity
 Google Scholar ID
 ORCID
 Scopus ID
 Researcher ID

 Research

None

 Education

DegreeCollege NameYear Of Passing
Ph.D.Indian Institute of Science2005
Post GraduationTamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore1997
GraduationKerala Agricultural University1994

 Teaching & Research Guidance

    Level Of TeachingSubjects
    Post GraduatePlant Stress Biology
    Post GraduateMutations and Plants
    Post GraduateAdvances in Plant Biology
    Research GuidanceER stress and its relation to environmental stresses

 Recent and Major Publications

    1. Ankita Rana, Ajay K Pandey, Pramod Kaitheri Kandoth (2026). "From Stress to Development: Unfolded Protein Response as a Driver of Plant Life (2026)". Plant Molecular Biology Reporter, 44, 90

    2. Ankita Rana, Navpreet Kaur, Ajay Kumar Pandey, Pramod Kaitheri Kandoth (2026). "Transcriptome analysis coupled with virus induced gene silencing delineates the unfolded protein response of tomato". Molecular Genetics and Genomics, 301, 64

    3. Anjali Verma, Lovenpreet Kaur, Pramod Kaitheri Kandoth (2025). "Agrobacterium rhizogenes‐Mediated Hairy Root Transformation for Genome Editing in Recalcitrant Legume Lathyrus sativus". Current Protocols, 5, e70256

    4. 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

    5. 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

    6. 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

    7. 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

    8. 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

    9. 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

    10. 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

    11. 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

    12. 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

    13. 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

    14. 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

    15. 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

    16. 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

    17. 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

    18. 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.

    19. 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.

    20. 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.

    21. 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

 Available Positions

 Research Projects Undertaken

Project TitleProject TypeCommencement YearCompletion YearFunding Agency
ER stress-induced programmed cell death in plantsongoing20262029ANRF-ARG
Genomic approaches to reduce β-ODAP levels in Lathyrus sppCore Grant20202023DST-SERB
Deciphering endoplasmic reticulum stress response pathways in plants and its role in tolerance to belowground plant pathogens and abiotic stressesna20172023Department of Biotechnology, Government of India

 Patents

    None

 Miscellaneous

 Membership/Fellowship of other institutions/professionals societies :
 Student related co-curricular, extension and field based activities and counseling.
 Contribution to corporate sector-management of the department and institution through participation in academic and administration,committees and responsibilities.
 Other activities/Responsibilities :
 Any other relevant information, if not given above :

 Contact

Full Name
 Dr. Pramod K Kandoth
Address
 Room No.114, Godavari, Department of Plant Sciences, Central University of Kerala, Periye Kasaragod
Telphone Number
(With STD Code)
PinCode
 671316