Ramanjulu Sunkar

editor of MicroRNAs in Plant Development and Stress Responses

February 4, 2013

Dr. Ramanjulu Sunkar received his Ph.D. in Plant Stress Physiology from Sri Krishnadevaraya University, Anantapur, India. He obtained his post-doctoral training at the Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel, University of Bonn, Germany, and University of California, Riverside, USA. In 2006, Dr. Sunkar joined the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, OSU as an Assistant Professor and promoted to Associate Professor in 2011. His lab focuses on "genome-wide identification of miRNAs and their targets in plants and animals." Research program in his laboratory has been funded by the USDA, NSF-EPSCoR, OCAST, Oklahoma Tobacco Research Centre, and Oklahoma Agricultural Experiment Station (OAES). He is an associate editor of BMC Plant Biology and BMC Genomics and serving on the editorial board of three other International peer-reviewed Journals.

Precise regulation of gene expression both in time and space are vital for plant growth and development and adaptation to biotic and abiotic stress conditions. This is achieved by multiple mechanisms, with perhaps the most important control being exerted at the level of transcription. However, with the recent discovery of microRNAs another ubiquitous mode of gene regulation that occurs at the post-transcriptional level has been identified. MicroRNAs can silence gene expression by targeting complementary or partially complementary mRNAs for degradation or translational inhibition. Recent studies revealed that microRNAs play fundamental roles in plant growth and development, as well as in adaptation to biotic and abiotic stresses. This volume has 13 chapters contributed by the leaders from Argentina, Australia, Germany, Spain, Switzerland, and USA and discusses the roles of individual miRNAs that control and regulate diverse aspects of plant processes.

URL: https://library.okstate.edu/news/celebratingbooks/2013-honorees/ramanjulu-sunkar

Last Updated: 12 January 2022