Plants adapt to drought conditions by limiting water loss through stomatal regulation & prevent tissue dehydration as a survival mechanism. Stomatal regulation usually limits the uptake of CO₂ and thus growth and productivity. The stomatal aperture is regulated by ion flux through channels in guard cells. The phytohormone Abscisic acid (ABA) regulates stomatal movement under water limited conditions.

We propose to regulate ABA mediated stomatal movement, but maintain ABA induced gene expression that is associated with cellular tolerance mechanisms. The emphasis is to characterize ion transporters involved in stomatal closure and opening in rice using gene editing CRISPR-Cas9 technology and chemical genomic approach. Further, a few plant E3 ligases are known to be involved in ABA induced stomatal regulation under drought. However, their precise mechanisms of regulation are not known. From this context, identifying guard cell specific E3 ligase from cell specific transcriptome data may provide leads in narrowing down the targets in regulating ABA induced stomatal movement. The goal is to provide biotechnological solutions by identifying small molecules and their utilization in agriculture to improve yield.

• Y.C. Panchal Gold Medal in MSc. (Agri), 2006, University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad.
• University Gold Medal, 2006, University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad
• Merit scholarship during Post graduation at University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad.

• File No. No.154/CHE/2012 is applied to Indian patent agency. ‘Selectable marker system’ Ramu.S.V, Babitha K.C, Nataraja N Karaba, Udayakumar M.
• File No. 2646/CHE/2014, Indian patent, ‘An expression construct and its use for increasing abiotic stress tolerance in a plant cell’, Ramu S.V, Babitha K.C, Sheela. H.S, Prasad, T.G, Tuteja N, Udayakumar M.

1. Nisarga K N, RS Vemanna, BK Chandrashekar, H Rao, AR Vennapusa, A Narashima, U Makarla, Mohan Raju B. Aldo-ketoreductase 1 (AKR1) improves seed longevity in tobacco and rice by detoxifying reactive cytotoxic compounds generated during ageing. 2017, Rice, 10:19.
2. RS Vemanna, KC Babitha, JK Solanki, VA Reddy, SK Sarangi, M Udayakumar. Aldo-keto reductase-1 (AKR1) protect cellular enzymes from salt stress by detoxifying reactive cytotoxic compounds. 2017, Plant Physiology and Biochemistry, 113, 177-186.
3. RS Vemanna, AR Vennapusa, M Easwaran, BK Chandrashekar, H Rao Kirankumar Ghanti, Chinta Sudhakar, Kirankumar S Mysore, Udayakumar Makarla. Aldo‐keto reductase enzymes detoxify glyphosate and improve herbicide resistance in plants. 2017, Plant Biotechnology Journal 15 (7), 794-804.
4. V.S. Ramu, Swetha, T.N, H.S.Sheela, K. C. Babitha, P.Chandrashekar reddy, T.G. Prasad, M. Udayakumar. Simultaneous expression of regulatory genes associated with specific drought-adaptive traits improves drought adaptation in peanut. 2016, Plant Biotechnology Journal, 14 (3), 1008-1020.
5. AR Vennapusa, RS Vemanna, RBH Rajashekar, K Babitha, K Kiranmai, A Nareshkumar, Chinta Sudhakar. An efficient callus induction and regeneration protocol for a drought tolerant rice indica genotype AC39020. 2015, Journal of Plant Sciences, 3, 248-254.
6. K. C. Babitha, S. V. Ramu, Karaba N. Nataraja, M. Udayakumar. Overexpression of EcbHLH57 transcription factor from Eleusine coracana L. in tobacco confers tolerance to salt, oxidative and drought stress, 2015, Plos One, 10 (9), e0137098.
7. K. C. Babitha, S. V. Ramu, Karaba N. Nataraja, Sheshshayee, M.S, M. Udayakumar. EcbZIP60, a basic leucine zipper transcription factor from Eleusine coracana L. improves abiotic stress tolerance in tobacco by activating unfolded protein response pathway, 2015, Molecular Breeding, 35 (9), 181.
8. K. C. Babitha, S. V. Ramu, V. Pruthvi, Patil Mahesh, Karaba N. Nataraja, M. Udayakumar. Co-expression of AtbHLH17 and AtWRKY28 confers resistance to several abiotic stresses in Arabidopsis. 2013, Transgenic Research, 22(2):327-41.
9. Ramu S Vemanna, Babitha K Chandrashekar, Hanumantha Rao H M, Shailesh K Sathyanarayanagupta, Sarangi S K, Karaba N Nataraja, Udayakumar Makarla. A modified MultiSite gateway cloning strategy for consolidation of genes in plants. 2013, Molecular Biotechnology, 53:129–138.
10. S.V. Ramu, K.C. Babitha, K.S. Shailesh, Karaba N Nataraja and M. Udayakumar. Modification of alkaline lysis method for rapid plasmid DNA isolation. 2011. Current biotica, Vol 4 Issue 3, ISSN 0973-4031
11. K.C. Babitha, B.T. Ninganur, M.B.Chetti, D.I. Jirali and S.I Harlapur. Effect of post harvest treatments and storage conditions on physio-chemical parameters in extending shelf life in tomato. 2010. Plant Archives, 10(1): 37-47.