Bio-Data
Particulars of organization, functions and duties
Dr. Channa Chikkaputtaiah
Designation : Scientist F
Education : PhD (Dr. rer. nat.) (Molecular Genetics)
ID. No.: 1261
Contact Details: +91 376 2372951 Ext. 2348 Fax : +91 0376 2370011
Email id :
channa.chikkaputtaiah.neist@csir.res.in
Research Interest
- Cell and molecular level understanding of biotic and abiotic stress tolerance in plants
- CRISPR/Cas-based genome editing and functional genomics for crop improvement and climate-resilience
- Nutritional enhancement and quality trait improvement in crops
- Plant biotechnology and metabolic engineering of aromatic and medicinal plants
List of Publications (Most Significant Ten)
- Saikia B*, Remya S, Debbarma J, Maharana J, Velmurugan N, Sastry GN, Chikkaputtaiah C*. CRISPR/Cas9-based genome editing and functional analysis of SlHyPRP1 and SlDEA1 genes of Solanum lycopersicum L. in imparting genetic tolerance to multiple stress factors. Frontiers in Plant Science. 15, 2024. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2024.1304381
- Saikia B, Debbarma J, Maharana J, Singha DL, Velmurugan N, Dekaboruah H, Arunkumar KP, Chikkaputtaiah C*. SlHyPRP1 and DEA1, the multiple stress responsive eight-cysteine motif family genes of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) are expressed tissue specifically, localize and interact at cytoplasm and plasma membrane in vivo. Physiol Mol Biol Plants. 2020 Dec;26(12):2553 2568. DOI: 10.1007/s12298-020-00913-z. Epub 2020 Dec 7. PMID: 33424164; PMCID: PMC7772121. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12298-020-00913-z
- Singh S#, Sarki YN#, Marwein R#, Singha DL, Singha, Velmurugan N, Chikkaputtaiah C*. Unraveling the role of effector proteins in Bipolaris oryzae infecting North East Indian rice cultivars through time-course transcriptomics analysis. Fungal Biology. British Mycological Society. 127, 2023, 1098e1110. DOI: 10.1016/j.funbio.2023.05.003. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.funbio.2023.05.003
- Muttappagol M, Sharma M, Adhikari DN, Remya S, Borgohain T, Saikia B, Keithellakpam A, Dutt A, Laskar A, Hiremath SS, Chikkaputtaiah C*. Towards climate-resilient crops: Integrative strategies for reproductive stage abiotic stress tolerance. Physiologia Plantarum, 2025. Nov-Dec;177(6):e70635. doi: 10.1111/ppl.70635. PMID: 41219913. https://doi.org/10.1111/ppl.70635
- Sarki YN, Singh HB, Keot A, Marwein R, Singha DL, Dehury B, Chikkaputtaiah C*. Investigating the Role of OsHDT701 and Other Blast-associated Negative Regulatory Genes in Indica Rice Cultivar Ranjit Using Combined Wet Lab and Computational Approaches. Molecular Biotechnology 2024. DOI: 10.1007/s12033-024-01310-7.
- Borgohain T, Remya S, Muttappagol M, Saikia B, Keithellakpam A, Laskar A, Hiremath S, Basu U, Velmurugan N, Reddy SP, Chikkaputtaiah C*. Precision Breeding in a Changing Climate: Unlocking Resilience through Omics and Gene Editing. Functional and Integrative Genomics, 2026. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10142-025-01796-7
- Debbarma J, Sarki YN, Saikia B, Boruah HPD, Singha DL, Chikkaputtaiah C*. Ethylene Response Factor (ERF) Family Proteins in Abiotic Stresses and CRISPR Cas9 Genome Editing of ERFs for Multiple Abiotic Stress Tolerance in Crop Plants: A Review. Molecular Biotechnology, 2019 Feb;61(2):153-172. DOI: 10.1007/s12033-018-0144-x. PMID: 30600447. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12033-018-0144-x
- Marwein R#, Singh S#, Maharana J, Kumar S, Arunkumar KP, Velmurugan N, Chikkaputtaiah C*. Transcriptome-wide analysis of North-East Indian rice cultivars in response to Bipolaris oryzae infection revealed the importance of early response to the pathogen in suppressing the disease progression. Gene. 2022 Jan 30;809:146049. DOI: 10.1016/j.gene.2021.146049. Epub 2021 Oct 29. PMID: 34743920. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gene.2021.146049
- Debbarma J#, Saikia B#, Singha DL, Das D, Keot AK, Maharana J, Velmurugan N, Arunkumar KP, Reddy PS, Chikkaputtaiah C*. CRISPR/Cas9-Mediated Mutation in XSP10 and SlSAMT Genes Impart Genetic Tolerance to Fusarium Wilt Disease of Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.). Genes (Basel). 2023 Feb 14;14(2):488. DOI: 10.3390/genes14020488. PMID: 36833415; PMCID: PMC9956927. https://doi.org/10.3390/genes14020488
- Debbarma J, Saikia B, Singha DL, Maharana J, Velmurugan N, Dekaboruah H, Arunkumar KP, Chikkaputtaiah C*. XSP10 and SlSAMT, Fusarium wilt disease responsive genes of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) express tissue specifically and interact with each other at cytoplasm in vivo. Physiol Mol Biol Plants. 2021 Jul;27(7):1559-1575. DOI: 10.1007/s12298-021-01025-y. Epub 2021 Jun 28. PMID: 34366597; PMCID: PMC8295444. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12298-021-01025-y
R&D Related Activities
- PhDs as Major Advisor: Awarded: 6; On-going: 6
- PhDs as Co-Advisor: Awarded: 2
- R&D Projects as Principal Investigator: Completed: 6; On-going: 3
- R&D Projects as Co-Investigator: Completed: 8; On-going: 3
- Organizing Secretary & Convenor of International Conference on CRISPR/Cas-based Plant Functional Genomics and Computational Modeling, CSIR-NEIST Jorhat (17-21, Jan 2023)
- Research Advisor Council (RAC) Member, Central Muga Eri Research & Training Institute, Central Silk Board, Jorhat, Assam (Feb 2024- present)
- Member of Technical Evaluation Committee (TEC), DBT, Govt. of India (Dec 2023-present)
- Member of Institutional Biosafety Committee, CSIR-NEIST, Jorhat (Jan 2021-present)
- Member of Society for Ethnopharmacology, Jorhat Chapter (Jan 2022- present)
- Review Editor, Frontiers Editorial Board, Frontiers in Plant Science (IF: 5.60)(April 2022-present)
- Regular Reviewer of Peer-Reviewed SCI Journals such as Trends in Genetics, The Plant Journal, Planta, Frontiers in Plant Science, Frontiers Journals, Scientific Reports, Molecular Biotech, etc.
- Regular reviewer of research grant applications received from SERB, DBT, DST, NMPB, ICAR, CSIR, CSB, etc.
Awards , Fellowships and Recognitions(selected only):
- Ramanujan Fellowship: SERB, Govt. of India as PI (2015-2020)
- Selected for Young Investigator Meet: IndiaBioSciences, Govt. of India (2019)
- Postdoctoral Research Fellowship: Science Foundation Ireland, Ireland (2009-2012)
- SFI-TIDA Entrepreneurship & Career Development Award: SFI, Dublin, Ireland (2011)
- International PhD Fellowship: International Graduate School in Genetics and Functional Genomics (IGS-GFG), University of Cologne, Germany (2004-2008)
- Joint CSIR-UGC Junior Research Fellowship: CSIR New Delhi, India (2003)
- Institute of Agricultural Technologists (IAT) Fellowship: Bangalore, India (2002)
PhDs awarded under the AcSIR Program as Major Advisor:
- Dr Banashree Saikia (2023)
- Dr Riwandahun Marwein (2024)
Lab Members (Present)
- Dr Banashree Saikia: DST-Woman Scientist (WISE-PDF Life Sciences) (2025-present)
- Dr Mantesh Muttappagol: CSIR-Senior Project Associate (2024-present)
- Dr Dipen N Adhikari:CSIR-Senior Project Associate (2024-present)
- Dr Tarinee Phukan:CSIR-Senior Project Associate (2025-present)
- Dr Yogita N. Sarki:ANRF-Senior Project Associate (2025-present)
- Mr Ajay Kumar Keot: UGC-Senior Research Fellow&AcSIR PhD Student (2021-Present)
- Ms Tarali Borgohain: CSIR-Senior Research Fellow&AcSIR PhD Student (2022-present)
- Ms Monica Sharma: UGC-Senior Research Fellow &AcSIR PhD Student(2022-present)
- Mr Dhrubo J. Gogoi: UGC-Junior Research Fellow&AcSIR PhD Student(2023-present)
- Ms Remya S: DBT-Project Associate&AcSIR PhD Student (2023-present)
- Ms Aditi Dutt: CSIR-Project Associate (2024-present)
- Ms Arnika Keithellakpam: CSIR-Project Associate (2024-present)
- Ms Adity Laskar: CSIR-Project Associate (2024-present)
- Mr Debojit Saikia: CSIR-Project Assistant (2024-present)
Ongoing Research Projects
- Genome Editing for Crop Improvement (Role: PI, Funding: CSIR-Mission Project, Govt. of India)
- CRISPR/Cpf1-based dual-gene editing of OsEBP89 and OsCRK10 genes, and molecular genetic analysis for dual-stress tolerance to brown spot disease-drought in Indica rice (North East Indian) cultivar (Role: PI; Funding: SERB-Core Research Grant, Govt. of India)
- To improve the efficiency of genome editing with CRISPR-Cas9 and- to create novel sources of epigenetic variation in plants (Role: PI; Funding: DBT, Govt. of India (Multi-institutional Project with ICAR-IIRR Hyderabad & BITS Pilani Hyderabad)
- Nutritionally Enriched Indigenous Fruit Peel Waste as Aquaculture Feed (Role: Co-PI; Funding: CSIR-FTT Project, Govt. of India)
- Evaluation of Bacterial Endophytes for Medicinal Plants & Crop Productivity (Role: Co-PI; Funding: State Horticultural Research & Development Dept., Govt. of Arunachal Pradesh)
- Biomedical Genomics Advancement Program for North Eastern Researchers (Role: Co-PI; Funding: DHR-ICMR, Govt. of India)
- Transcriptome-wide identification of early blight disease (Alternaria solani) regulatory genes and CRISPR/Cas-based genome editing system for dual-stress (early and late blight) in tomato cv Arka Vikas (Role: Mentor & Co-PI; Funding: DST-ANRF, Govt. of India)
Completed Projects (Last 5 years)
- Elucidation of the genetic mechanism of brown spot disease-drought stress and development of sustainable dual-stress tolerance in North East Indian rice cultivar through CRISPR-Cas9/Cpf1 mediated active genetics (Role: PI; Funding: CSIR-FBR, Govt. of India; 2020-2023)
- DEAD-box RNA helicases, STRS1 and STRS2 in regulating responses to multiple abiotic stresses (Role: PI; Funding: SERB-Ramanujan Fellowship, Govt. of India; 2015-2020)
- Development of multiple abiotic and biotic stress resistance in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) through dual-gene multiplex CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing (Role: PI; Funding: SERB-Early Career Research Grant, Govt. of India; 2017-2020)
- Development of sustainable brown leaf spot (Drechslera oryzae) disease resistance in rice through multiplex CRISPR-Cas9/Cpf1 genome editing system (Role: PI; Funding: CSIR-FBR Project, Govt. of India; 2018-2020)
- Biofertilizer for yield enhancement in normal to water stress conditions for entrepreneurship development (Role: Co-PI; Funding: DBT, Govt. of India; 2021-2025)
- Deciphering the mechanism(s) of host–endophyte coevolution, enhanced secondary metabolite production and crop productivity (Role: Co-PI; Funding: CSIR-FBR Project, Govt. of India; 2020-2023)
- Characterization and chemical composition of high-yielding varieties of Amada Haldi (Curcuma zedoaria Rose) and Kali Haldi (Curcuma caesiaRoxb.): endangered high-value medicinal plants (Role: Co-PI; Funding: NMPB–Ministry of Ayush, Govt. of India; 2017-2020)
- Study of potentially novel carbohydrases from cultivable bacteria and functional metagenomics library obtained from biodiversity hotspot of NE India (Role: Co-PI; Funding: DBT-Twinning Project, Govt. of India; 2017-2020)
- Regional mapping of carbon stock, sequestration and sink potential of reserve forest ecosystem of Assam for improvement of ecosystem health and services (Role: Co-PI; Funding: National Mission on Himalayan Studies, Govt. of India; 2018-2021)
- Improvement of grain filling in inferior spikelet of rice through CRISPR-Cas9/ CRISPR-Cpf1 genome editing system (Role: Mentor & Co-PI, Funding: SERB, Govt. of India; 2019-2021)
CSIR-North East
Institute of Science & Technology
