P.B.

Kirti, Professor, Department of plant Sciences

Prof. Kirti obtained his PhD degree from the Andhra University, Visakhapatnam in 1979.
He joined the Indian Council of Agricultural Scientist in 1978 and has been associated
with the Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, primarily working at the
National Research Centre for Plant Biotechnology till December 1998. He has joined
the Department of Plant Sciences as a Professor in January 1999 and headed it from
February 2004 to February 2007. He has worked as a Fellow of the Alexander von
Humboldt Foundation in the University Goettingen (1985-1987), as a Visiting FAO
Fellow at the Ohio State Biotechnology Center, Columbus USA (1993). He was a
Visiting Principal Fellow at the University of Melbourne, Australia. He has been an
elected Member, Plant Tissue Culture Association of India, and a Fellow of the National
Academy of Agricultural Sciences, New Delhi.
Telephone: +914023134545, Fax: +914023010120, E Mail: pbksl@uohyd.ernet.in;
pbkirti@yahoo.com

Research Interests: Crop genetic manipulation with respect to legumes, Development of cytoplasmic
genetic male sterility systems and transgenic plants in mustard

Prof. Kirti’s group has been trying to establish regeneration and transformation protocols for legumes like
groundnut, pigeon pea, green gram, and other crops like cotton and sesame. They have developed transgenic
pigeon pea with a synthetic cry protein and showed that the transgenic plants were resistant to Spodoptera.
Similar observations were made with transgenic groundnut, in which Spodoptera is a major pest. His lab has also
been involved in characterizing defensins, proteinase inhibitors from diverse plant species with respect to their
antifungal and insecticidal activities.
His group has also characterized several annexin genes from mustard and demonstrated that the over
expression of Bj-annexin1 confers resistance to drought and other stresses in transgenic tobacco. Annexin1
protein has peroxidase activity and is able to control ROS. They have also demonstrated that the defensin of
mustard is able to impart abiotic stress tolerance apart from the expected fungal resistance in transgenic tobacco
They have also demonstrated that the over expression of At-NPR1 In transgenic tobacco resulted in enhanced
resistance to early instars of Spodoptera litura

Publications

Madhusudan B., Meur G., Kirti, P.B., Dutta Gupta, A. (2007). Characterization of Bacillus thuringiensis Cry toxin
binidng novel GPI anchored aminopeptidase from fat body of the moth Spodoptera litura. Biotechnology
Letters (Appeared On Line)
Meur B, Madhusudhan B, Dutta Gupta A, Prakash S and P. B. Kirti (2006). Differential induction of NPR1 during
defense responses in Brassica juncea. Physiol. Molec. Plant Pathol. 68:128-137
Gaikwad K, Baldev A, Kirti PB, Mohapatra T, Bhat SR, Chopra V, Prakash S (2006). Organization and
expression of the mitochondrial genome in CMS (Moricandia) Brassica juncea: nuclear-mitochondrial
incompatibility results in differential expression of the mitochondrial atp α gene. Plant Breeding 125:623-
628
Venkateswari J, Kanrar S, Dureja P, Kirti PB, Chopra VL (2006). Modification of erucic acid content in Brassica
juncea oil by up- and down-regulation of FATTY ACID ELONGATION 1 (FAE 1) gene. Plant Cell Rep.
25:148-155
Swathi Anuradha T, Jami SK, Datla RS, Kirti PB (2006). Genetic transformation of peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.)
using cotyledonary node as explant and a promoterless gus::npt II fusion vector. Jou.r Biosci. 31:235-246
Surekha, Ch, Beena MR, Arundhati A, Singh PK, Tuli R, Dutta Gupta A, Kirti PB (2005) Agrobacterium-
mediated genetic transformation of pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan (L.) Millsp.) using embryonal segments and
development of transgenic plants for resistance against Spodoptera. Plant Science 169:1074-1080
Bhat S.R., Prakash S, Kirti P.B., Dinesh Kumar V and Chopra V.L. (2005) A unique introgression from
Moricandia arvensis confers male fertility to two different cytoplasmic male sterile lines of Brasscia juncea
in different ways. Plant Breeding 124: 117-120.
Baladev, A., Gaikwad, K., Kirti P.B., Mohapatra, T., Prakash, S., Chopra, V.L., (1998). Recombination between
chloroplast genomes of Trachystoma ballii and Brassica juncea following protoplast fusion. Molec. Gen.
Genet. 260: 357-361
Kirti, P.B., Gaikwad, K., Bhat, S.R., Dinesh Kumar, V., Prakash, S., Chopra V.L (1998) Chloroplast substitution
overcomes leaf chlorosis in Moricandia arvensis based cytoplasmic male sterility in Brassica juncea.
Theor. Appl. Genet 97: 1179-1182
Prakash, S., Kirti, P.B., Gaikwad, K., Bhat, S.R., Dinesh Kumar V., Chopra, V.L.(1998). A Moricandia arvensis
based CMS and fertility restoration in Brassica juncea through protoplast fusion. Theor. Appl. Genet 97:
488-492

Book edited:
“Handbook of New Technologies for Genetic Improvement of Legumes” (In Press), The Haworth Press,
New York 2008.