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Dr. Jose Sebastian

Assistant Professor

Biological Sciences

jose@iiserbpr.ac.in

+91 680 2227 765

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Academic Background

  • MSc (Environmental Science), Cochin University of Science & Technology, Kerala

  • PhD (Plant molecular biology), CCMB, Hyderabad

Professional Experience 

  • Post-Doctoral Associate, Department of Plant Biology, CIS (Stanford University), Stanford, CA

  • Post-Doctoral Associate, BTI, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY

  • Visiting Scientist, Department of Molecular Cell Biology, Utrecht University, The Netherlands

Research Interests

  • Plant-Environment Interaction

  • Developmental Biology

  • Stress Physiology

Research Group

  • Pratyay Seth

  • Afsana Parvin

  • Dhruba Som

  • Dharmesh Kumar Mohanty

About me

Plant developmental biologist interested in how plants, especially root system communicates with their environment. How they perceive changes and how these are addressed so that survival and growth are minimally impacted even under adverse conditions. Answers to these questions can aid in improving our agriculture systems.

 

Similarly, some plants are efficient in acclimatizing/tolerating environmental changes, may it be availability of water, or elevated temperature. If we can decipher the molecular mechanisms enabling this “tolerance”, that can be then used to engineer such attributes in crop varieties.

Biography

Jose Sebastian obtained his PhD (Plant Molecular Biology), in 2009 from CCMB, Hyderabad. He was a postdoctoral fellow at BTI (Cornell University) and Carnegie Institution (Stanford University) before joining IISER Berhampur in 2018.

Research Projects

ü  Plant-Environment Interaction

ü  Developmental Biology

ü  Stress Physiology

A significant portion of plant’s adaptive adjustments with the environment occur in the root system- the hidden half of the plants. These may be at the cellular, organ, and organismal levels and are key to plants survival under a constantly changing environment. Among the multitude of environmental factors influencing plant growth, water is of paramount significance. However, how exactly the presence or absence of water modulates the root system architecture is still poorly understood, especially in the agronomically important monocot (cereal crops) plants. Similarly, the adverse impacts of heat stress on root system traits under a water-limited environment is under explored. To explore these and related questions, we are using the recently developed monocot model system Setaria viridis (green millet) together with the eudicot model Arabidopsis thaliana. We employ various classic and next-generation developmental- genetic- cytological tools to investigate the questions of interest. We believe, utilizing the strengths and benefits of these unique genetic model systems could aid in unravelling the multifaceted interactions between plants and their environment. 

Key Publications

ü  Seth P, Sebastian J. Plants and global warming: challenges and strategies for a warming world. Plant Cell Rep. 2024 Jan 2;43(1):27. doi: 10.1007/s00299-023-03083-w. PMID: 38163826

ü  Sebastian J*, Yee M*, Viana W, Álvarez R, Feldman M, Priest H, Trontin C, Lee T, Jiang H, Baxter I, Mockler T, Hochholdinger H, Brutnell T and Dinneny J (2016). Grasses suppress shoot-borne roots to conserve water during drought. PNAS, (doi:10.1073/pans. 1604021113) (*joint authors, Highlighted in BBC (http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-36769901), Recommended F1000 Prime).

ü  Sebastian J, Ryu KH, Zhou J, Tarkowská D, Tarkowski P, Cho YH, Yoo SD, Kim ES, Lee JY (2015). PHABULOSA controls the quiescent center-independent root meristem activities in Arabidopsis thaliana. PLoS Genetics Mar 2;11(3):e1004973. (Featured on the cover page, Recommended F1000 Prime)

ü  Eun-Sol Kim*, Goh Choe*, Sebastian J*, Kook Hui Ryu, Linyong Mao, Zhangjun Fei, Lee JY (2016). HAWAIIAN SKIRT regulates the quiescent center-independent root meristem activity in Arabidopsis. Physiol Plant.157 (2):221-33. (*joint first author)

ü  Rellán-Álvarez R, Lobet G, Lindner H*, Pradier P*, Sebastian J*, Yee MC, Geng Y, Trontin C, LaRue T, Schrager-Lavelle A, Haney CH, Nieu R, Maloof J, Vogel JP, Dinneny JR (2015). GLO-Roots: an imaging platform enabling multidimensional characterization of soil-grown root systems. eLife;10.7554/eLife.07597 (*joint authors)

ü  Carlsbecker, A., Lee, J.Y., Roberts, C.J., et al., (2010). Cell signaling by microRNA 165/6 directs gene dose-dependent root cell fate. Nature 465, 316-321. (Recommended F1000 Prime)

ü  Kaur, J., Sebastian, J., and Siddiqi, I. (2006). The Arabidopsis-mei2-like genes play a role in meiosis and vegetative growth in Arabidopsis. Plant Cell 18, 545-559. (Recommended F1000 Prime)

Contact Details

Full Name

Jose Sebastian


Email

jose@iiserbpr.ac.in


Contact

+91 680 2227 765


Address

IISER Berhampur