Ramanjulu Sunkar

After obtaining B.Sc. in Biology from Sri Venkateswara University, I pursued M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Botany from Sri Krishnadevarya University, India. I have conducted postdoctoral research at the Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel (Dr. Hillel Fromm), University of Bonn, Germany (Dr. Dorothea Bartels) and University of California, Riverside (Dr. Jian-Kang Zhu, a Member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences). I joined the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Oklahoma State University as an Assistant Professor in 2006, and promoted to Associate Professor in 2011, and Professor in 2016. I have edited 1st and 2nd editions of Plant Stress Tolerance: Methods and Protocols under the series of Methods in Molecular Biology, and a book entitled "MicroRNAs in Plant Development and Stress Responses". I served as an associate/handling editor for peer-reviewed journals such as Molecular Biotechnology, BMC Plant Biology, BMC Genomics, and Journal of Experimental Botany.

Research Interests:

The transcription of a gene depends not only on the DNA sequence and availability of sequence-specific regulatory factors (transcription factors) but also on the presentation of genes within the complex architecture of the chromosome. Epigenetic modifications (DNA methylation and histone modifications) are known to regulate gene expression by bringing changes in the chromatin state. For instance, methylation at position 5 of cytosines is a major epigenetic modification of genomic DNA, which is frequently associated with silencing gene expression. Similarly, histone modifications such as the methylation/acetylation at specific amino acids has the code for gene expression or silencing. Thus, epigenetic modifications have an essential role in regulating genes, dictating when and where they should be expressed or silenced. Our research is directed to identify specific epigenomic changes that contribute to gene expression/silencing during stress. We are using use genome-wide analysis of cytosine methylation and chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) to identify such epigenetic changes. This knowledge will provide basis for transcriptional gene regulation that is critical for plant survival under stressful conditions.



The microRNAs regulate when, where and how much of a protein needs to be made by degrading certain number of the mRNA molecules of specific genes while leaving the rest for protein production. In other words, microRNAs serve as quantity controllers of protein production, as such understanding microRNA-guided gene regulation broadens our knowledge about posttranscriptional gene regulation. In an effort to identify the role of miRNA-guided gene regulation in response to abiotic stress conditions, we use high-throughput sequencing of small RNAs and their mRNA targets that are cleaved. Overall, our fundamental research can help unravel complex molecular networks that underlie plant stress tolerance mechanisms.