- Professor, Centre for Plant Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University,Coimbatore-641003
- 09842232057
Senthil Natesan
Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Biotechnology, Faculty Member
- Prof Senthil Natesan has published over 200 research articles and 4 books. He is one of the most-cited authors in the... moreProf Senthil Natesan has published over 200 research articles and 4 books. He is one of the most-cited authors in the research gate (35.35 score), Google scholar (H index of 26 and i10 index of 67). He is also actively involved in the development and release of eight high-yielding millet varieties. Further, he was involved in the development of three tropical wheat varieties for cultivation in Tamil Nadu and mapping Pseudo back chaf in wheat through association mapping. His contribution in the development of Finger millet, Foxtail millet, Proso millet, little millet, and Barnyard millet varieties had created an impact in the expansion of area under minor millets cultivation in Tamil Nadu. Notably he has developed high beta carotene maize inbreds through Marker Assisted Breeding. For the first time, he elucidated the genetic basis of grain dispersal mechanisms in Barley and published it in the Journal “CELL” (2015). He developed an interspecific SNP based Mungbean linkage map for mapping MYMV and bruchid resistance and also contributed development of a mungbean variety ‘Vamban 3’ and black gram varieties viz., ‘Vamban (Bg) 6edit
Background: Mungbean [Vigna radiata (L.) Wilczek] is a vital pulse crop having a colossal nutritionary and gastronomic significance. The bruchid, Callosobruchus maculatus is recognised as the most heinous storage pest of leguminous crops... more
Background: Mungbean [Vigna radiata (L.) Wilczek] is a vital pulse crop having a colossal nutritionary and gastronomic significance. The bruchid, Callosobruchus maculatus is recognised as the most heinous storage pest of leguminous crops that causes drastic economic loss. Crop breeders may use the nutritional and antinutritional traits of seeds to successfully combat storage pests. Methods: The present investigation has been framed to compare the degree of seed damage and weight loss with the biochemical parameters, viz., starch, sugar, protein, phenol, tannin and alpha-amylase inhibitor, of mungbean seeds from parental and selected lines of F5 populations for bruchid resistance. Result: The resistant parent, V2802BG and seven F5 families (BSR-GG-1-49-2, BSR-GG-1-49-5, BSR-GG-1-56-5, BSR-GG-1-170-5, BSR-GG-1-198-2, BSR-GG-1-198-3, BSR-GG-1-160-1) were completely resistant to bruchid infestation with no seed damage. One of the probable reasons for the stunted development of Callosobr...
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Black gram (Vigna mungo) is an important pulse crop of India. The leaf crinkle disease caused by the urdbean leaf crinkle virus (ULCV) is a severe threat to black gram production. Black gram plants infected by ULCV show a considerable... more
Black gram (Vigna mungo) is an important pulse crop of India. The leaf crinkle disease caused by the urdbean leaf crinkle virus (ULCV) is a severe threat to black gram production. Black gram plants infected by ULCV show a considerable decline in plant growth and yield. However, detailed information about the interactions between the host, black gram, and ULCV is unclear. This study investigated the responses of two cultivars VBN (Bg) 6 and CO 5 to ULCV infection by physiological, biochemical, and transcriptional analyses. Virus symptoms were mild in VBN (Bg) 6 but were serious in CO 5. Upon the viral infection, VBN (Bg) 6 exhibited a low reduction in chlorophyll content than CO 5. The levels of sugar, protein, phenol, hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), and malondialdehyde (MDA) contents were altered by a viral infection in both cultivars. Although, the activities of antioxidant enzymes [Ascorbate peroxidase (APX), superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxidase (POD), and catalase (CAT)] were increas...
Research Interests: Biology, Peroxidase, Catalase, Cultivar, Superoxide Dismutase, and 3 moreVigna, Jasmonic Acid, and APX
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Losses of seed produce in pulses due to seed beetles is a very serious problem faced by farmers and traders during storage. Resistance (or susceptibility) and the degree of damage in legume seeds differ with respect to different bruchid... more
Losses of seed produce in pulses due to seed beetles is a very serious problem faced by farmers and traders during storage. Resistance (or susceptibility) and the degree of damage in legume seeds differ with respect to different bruchid species. The seed beetles, Callosobruchus chinensis and C. maculatus, are the two most widespread bruchid species in Southern India, which is being potentially misidentified. With this perspective, fundamental studies on their morphology are of great importance for correct identification, species specific resistant variety improvement and management. For a reliable and effective resistance evaluation in breeding program, a known, identified species or biotype must be employed. In this study, dissection of striking external morphological characters of both the species was done for comparisons. Type of antennae and hind femur are two common characters used for distinguishing these allied species. However, the most reliable genus and species indicators ...
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Seed beetles, commonly known as bruchids, are serious insect pests of Indian pulses inflicting high damage during storage. Earlier, a bruchid resistant rice bean landrace (TNAU Red) from Manipur and a susceptible mung bean variety... more
Seed beetles, commonly known as bruchids, are serious insect pests of Indian pulses inflicting high damage during storage. Earlier, a bruchid resistant rice bean landrace (TNAU Red) from Manipur and a susceptible mung bean variety (VRMGg1) from Tamil Nadu were reported and their inter-specific cross was made in Tamil Nadu Agricultural University. In the present study, seeds from the segregating populations (recombinant inbred lines, RILs) of VRM (Gg)1 and TNAU Red were evaluated for bruchid Callosobruchus maculatus Fabricius resistance following standard methods under laboratory conditions. Bulked segregant analysis (BSA) is an efficient method for quick identification of molecular markers linked to any specific gene or genomic region. BSA significantly reduces the scale and cost by simplifying the procedure compared to conventional method of analyzing the entire population. BSA was carried out using 3 marker systems with an attempt to identify markers associated with the present tr...
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Sweet corn has dominated the urban market due to its sweetness, tenderness, and ease of digestibility. It's import and export values have dramatically increased during the past 10 years as a fresh, processed, and preserved commodity.... more
Sweet corn has dominated the urban market due to its sweetness, tenderness, and ease of digestibility. It's import and export values have dramatically increased during the past 10 years as a fresh, processed, and preserved commodity. However, the commercially available sweet corns are deficient in β-carotene. In our study, we introgressed the favorable allele of crtRB1 (responsible for high β-carotene) into the recurrent sweet corn inbred SC11-2 from maize donor parent UMI1230β1+ to develop the β-carotene-rich sweet corn genotype by marker aided breeding. The crtRB1 3′TE InDel marker was utilized for foreground selection of favorable genotype. A total of 103 polymorphic SSR markers were employed for background selection, resulting in a 96% recovery of recurrent parent genome (RPG). We recorded high β-carotene content (9.878–10.645 μg/g) in the introgressed lines compared to the recurrent parent, SC11-2 (0.989 μg/g). The sugar content ranged from 18 to 19.10% and was on par with ...
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Mungbean (Vigna radiata) is an important short-season legume widely cultivated in Asia, particularly India. It is highly susceptible to bruchids and developing bruchid resistance is an important goal in mungbean breeding programs. In the... more
Mungbean (Vigna radiata) is an important short-season legume widely cultivated in Asia, particularly India. It is highly susceptible to bruchids and developing bruchid resistance is an important goal in mungbean breeding programs. In the present study, 52 mungbean genotypes were evaluated for bruchid resistance based on the “no-choice test” and identified two highly resistant genotypes (V2802BG and V2709) with no adult emergence and seed damage. Further, these two resistant genotypes were crossed with six high-yielding bruchid susceptible cultivars (CO 5, CO 6, CO 7, CO 8, VBN 2, and VBN 3), and 12 independent F1 populations were generated. Of these, one population derived from CO 6 × V2802BG was selected (based on the good combining ability of the parents) and forwarded to later generations to trace the bruchid-resistant lines. A total of 159 F2:3 families were screened for bruchid resistance, and the results showed that seven families were highly resistant, whereas the remainder w...
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Mungbean yellow mosaic virus (MYMV) is a whitefly-transmitted major destructive virus affecting urdbean productivity in India. The objective of this research was to identify urdbean genotypes resistant against MYMV based on the phenotypic... more
Mungbean yellow mosaic virus (MYMV) is a whitefly-transmitted major destructive virus affecting urdbean productivity in India. The objective of this research was to identify urdbean genotypes resistant against MYMV based on the phenotypic reaction and genotypic analysis. A total 48 urdbean genotypes were evaluated for resistance to MYMV by visual scoring of symptoms in the field under natural conditions. Disease severity was assessed using 0-9 rating scale, according to the mean disease score, the urdbean genotypes were categorized into five groups resistant (R, 14 genotypes), moderately resistant (MR, 4 genotypes), moderately susceptible (MS, 10 genotypes), susceptible (S, 18 genotypes) and highly susceptible (HS, 2 genotypes). These results were confirmed through genotyping based on MYMV-resistance tagged molecular markers CEDG180, ISSR8111357 and YMV1 FR. In addition, biochemical analysis was carried out in the genotypes of each category (R-HS). Results showed that MYMV resistanc...
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Breeding for increasing β-carotene levels in maize (Zea mays L.) kernel aims to address the dietary vitamin A deficiency. Due to 3’TE polymorphism, the crtRB1gene (that encodes β -carotene hydroxylase 1) exists in the three allelic forms,... more
Breeding for increasing β-carotene levels in maize (Zea mays L.) kernel aims to address the dietary vitamin A deficiency. Due to 3’TE polymorphism, the crtRB1gene (that encodes β -carotene hydroxylase 1) exists in the three allelic forms, viz., 3’TE allele 1 (termed favorable allele, for it favors higher β-carotene accumulation in kernels), 3’TE allele 2 and 3’TE allele 3 (both termed unfavorable alleles, for they do not favor β-carotene accumulation). Here, we aimed to identify maize lines with favorable allele. First, 3’TE polymorphism assay in 210 inbreds revealed that only “UMI 176” had the favorable allele while the rest had the unfavorable alleles, confirming the previous finding that favorable allele is rare in frequency. Second, β-carotene content analysis in 24 inbreds revealed that it varied from 4.5 to 7.92 (μg/g), 0.23 to 2, and 0.42 to 4.22 for lines with allele 1, 2, and 3 respectively, corroborating the previous findings that the presence of favorable allele correlates with higher β-carotene content. In summary, UMI 176 has the favorable allele and had the highest amount of β-carotene content (7.92 μg/g), indicating that it is a promising donor line that can be utilized in β-carotene biofortification breeding.
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Sorghum downy mildew (SDM), caused by the biotrophic fungi Peronosclerospora sorghi, threatens maize production worldwide, including India. To identify quantitative trait loci (QTL) associated with resistance to SDM, we used a recombinant... more
Sorghum downy mildew (SDM), caused by the biotrophic fungi Peronosclerospora sorghi, threatens maize production worldwide, including India. To identify quantitative trait loci (QTL) associated with resistance to SDM, we used a recombinant inbred line (RIL) population derived from a cross between resistant inbred line UMI936 (w) and susceptible inbred line UMI79. The RIL population was phenotyped for SDM resistance in three environments [E1-field (Coimbatore), E2-greenhouse (Coimbatore), and E3-field (Mandya)] and also utilized to construct the genetic linkage map by genotyping by sequencing (GBS) approach. The map comprises 1516 SNP markers in 10 linkage groups (LGs) with a total length of 6924.7 cM and an average marker distance of 4.57 cM. The QTL analysis with the phenotype and marker data detected nine QTL on chromosome 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, and 7 across three environments. Of these, QTL namely qDMR1.2, qDMR3.1, qDMR5.1, and qDMR6.1 were notable due to their high phenotypic variance. q...
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Research Interests: Biology and Population
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Maize (Zea mays L.) is the leading cereal crop and staple food in many parts of the world. This study aims to develop nutrient-rich maize genotypes by incorporating crtRB1 and o2 genes associated with increased β-carotene, lysine, and... more
Maize (Zea mays L.) is the leading cereal crop and staple food in many parts of the world. This study aims to develop nutrient-rich maize genotypes by incorporating crtRB1 and o2 genes associated with increased β-carotene, lysine, and tryptophan levels. UMI1200 and UMI1230, high quality maize inbreds, are well-adapted to tropical and semi-arid regions in India. However, they are deficient in β-carotene, lysine, and tryptophan. We used the concurrent stepwise transfer of genes by marker-assisted backcross breeding (MABB) scheme to introgress crtRB1 and o2 genes. In each generation (from F1, BC1F1–BC3F1, and ICF1–ICF3), foreground and background selections were carried out using gene-linked (crtRB1 3′TE and umc1066) and genome-wide simple sequence repeats (SSR) markers. Four independent BC3F1 lines of UMI1200 × CE477 (Cross-1), UMI1200 × VQL1 (Cross-2), UMI1230 × CE477 (Cross-3), and UMI1230 × VQL1 (Cross-4) having crtRB1 and o2 genes and 87.45–88.41% of recurrent parent genome recove...
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Mungbean is a nutritionally and economically important pulse crop cultivated around Asia, mainly in India. The crop is sensitive to drought at various developmental stages of its growing period. However, there is limited or almost no... more
Mungbean is a nutritionally and economically important pulse crop cultivated around Asia, mainly in India. The crop is sensitive to drought at various developmental stages of its growing period. However, there is limited or almost no research on a comparative evaluation of mung-bean plants at the flowering stage under drought conditions. Hence, the aim of this research was to impose the drought stress on two mungbean cultivars VRM (Gg) 1 and CO6 at the flowering stage and assess the physio-biochemical and transcriptional changes. After imposing the drought stress, we found that VRM (Gg) 1 exhibited a low reduction in physiological traits (Chlorophyll, relative water content, and plant dry mass) and high proline content than CO6. Additionally, VRM (Gg) 1 has a low level of H2O2 and MDA contents and higher antioxidant enzymes (SOD, POD, and CAT) activity than CO6 during drought stress. The transcriptional analysis of photosynthesis (PS II-PsbP, PS II-LHC, PS I-PsaG/PsaK, and PEPC 3), ...
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Yellow mosaic disease (YMD), incited by mungbean yellow mosaic virus (MYMV), is a primary viral disease that reduces mungbean production in South Asia, especially in India. There is no detailed knowledge regarding the genes and molecular... more
Yellow mosaic disease (YMD), incited by mungbean yellow mosaic virus (MYMV), is a primary viral disease that reduces mungbean production in South Asia, especially in India. There is no detailed knowledge regarding the genes and molecular mechanisms conferring resistance of mungbean to MYMV. Therefore, disclosing the genetic and molecular bases related to MYMV resistance helps to develop the mungbean genotypes with MYMV resistance. In this study, transcriptomes of mungbean genotypes, VGGRU-1 (resistant) and VRM (Gg) 1 (susceptible) infected with MYMV were compared to those of uninfected controls. The number of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in the resistant and susceptible genotypes was 896 and 506, respectively. Among them, 275 DEGs were common between the resistant and susceptible genotypes. Functional annotation of DEGs revealed that the DEGs belonged to the following categories defense and pathogenesis, receptor-like kinases; serine/threonine protein kinases, hormone signa...
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A web accessible resource for investigating cassava phenomics and genomics information: BIOGEN
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B. Kalyana Babu1, N. Senthil2, S. Michael Gomez1, KR Biji1, NS Rajendraprasad1, S. Satheesh Kumar1 and R. Chandra Babu1,* 1Department of Plant Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Centre for Plant Molecular Biology, Tamil Nadu... more
B. Kalyana Babu1, N. Senthil2, S. Michael Gomez1, KR Biji1, NS Rajendraprasad1, S. Satheesh Kumar1 and R. Chandra Babu1,* 1Department of Plant Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Centre for Plant Molecular Biology, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, ...
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ABSTRACT The aim of this study was to identify the molecular markers (SSR, RAPD and SCAR) associated with Mungbean yellow mosaic virus resistance in an interspecific cross between a mungbean variety, VRM (Gg) 1 X a ricebean variety, TNAU... more
ABSTRACT The aim of this study was to identify the molecular markers (SSR, RAPD and SCAR) associated with Mungbean yellow mosaic virus resistance in an interspecific cross between a mungbean variety, VRM (Gg) 1 X a ricebean variety, TNAU RED. The parental survey was carried out by using 118 markers (including 106 azuki bean primers, seven mungbean primers and five ricebean primers). This study revealed that 42 azuki bean markers (39.62%) and four mungbean markers (54.07%) showed parental polymorphism. These polymorphic markers were surveyed among the 187 F2 plants and the results showed distorted segregation or chromosomal elimination at all the marker loci (thus, deviating from the expected 1:2:1 segregation). None of the plants harboured the homozygous ricebean allele for the markers surveyed and all of them were skewed towards mungbean, VRM (Gg) 1, allele, except a few plants which were found to be heterozygous for few markers. Among the 42 azuki bean SSR markers surveyed, only 10 markers produced heterozygotic pattern in six F2 lines viz. 3, 121, 122, 123, 185 and 186. These markers were surveyed in the corresponding F3 individuals, which too skewed towards the mungbean allele. In this study, one species-specific SCAR marker was developed for ricebean by designing primers from the sequenced putatively species-specific RAPD bands. A single, distinct and brightly resolved band of 400 bp was found amplified only in the resistant parent, TNAU RED, and not in any other six species or in the resistant or the susceptible bulks of the mapping population clearly indicated the identification of SCAR marker specific to the ricebean.
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Genetic variability, heritability and genetic advance are the important factors which provides the knowledge about the nature of traits in breeding programme. The aim of this study is to estimate the genetic variability, heritability, and... more
Genetic variability, heritability and genetic advance are the important factors which provides the knowledge about the nature of traits in breeding programme. The aim of this study is to estimate the genetic variability, heritability, and genetic advance in the backcross population of UMI1200β × HKI163 and UMI1230β × HKI163 to identify the individuals in the population with superior agronomic traits. Fourteen biometrical traits were analysed and thus revealed that all the backcross (BC1F1, BC2F1) and selfed (BC2F2) generations, phenotypic coeffiecient of variation is higher than the genotypic coefficient of variation. Highest heritability combined with genetic advance as percent of mean was observed in BC2F2 generation for 100 kernel weight (UMI1200β × HKI163) and single plant yield (UMI1230β × HKI163). Hence, the genetic gain of the individuals in the population are controlled by additive gene action. Keyword Maize, genetic variability, heritability, genetic advance, marker assiste...
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A high yielding and early maturing panivaragu culture TNAU 143 was developed at Department of Millets, Centre for Plant Breeding and Genetics, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore and released as CO(PV) 5. It is a derivative of... more
A high yielding and early maturing panivaragu culture TNAU 143 was developed at Department of Millets, Centre for Plant Breeding and Genetics, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore and released as CO(PV) 5. It is a derivative of the cross involving PV 1403 x GPUP 21. It yields on an average 2381 kg/ha of grain and 6675 kg/ha of straw under rainfed condition. Being a short duration variety (70 days), it fits well in the existing double cropped rainfed situation of Coimbatore, Erode, Salem, Namakkal and Villupuram districts where panivaragu is grown in about 5000 ha. This culture has registered 24.4 and 35 per cent increased grain yield over the standard varieties CO 4 and GPUP 21 (National check) in station trials, multilocation trials, All India Coordinated trials, adaptive research trials and on farm trials respectively.
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DNA fingerprinting of varieties is mandatory for registration of germplasm and notification of newly released varieties. The present study attempted to develop a DNA fingerprinting profile of newly released varieties of sorghum using... more
DNA fingerprinting of varieties is mandatory for registration of germplasm and notification of newly released varieties. The present study attempted to develop a DNA fingerprinting profile of newly released varieties of sorghum using publically available SSR markers along with morphological DUS descriptors. Twenty-one SSR markers were used for the identification of unique variety-specific fingerprints in nine varieties/cultures. Of them, 14 primers (66.7%) showed clear and unambiguous amplification which is good enough to identify unique banding patterns for specific cultivars (77.8%). The SSR markers Xtxp024, Xtxp231, Xtxp075 produced unique alleles in CO 32 whereas Xtxp354 produced an unique alleles in K12. The SSR marker Xtxp003, Xtxp201 produced unique alleles in CSV 33 MF which could serve as valid genotype-specific SSR markers in varietal purity test program. The varietal-specific SSR marker will supplement the DUS test and could play a major role in varietal identification, t...