Chemical Ecology of Plant Interactions

Broadly, the following research topics are addressed:

1. Identification of chemical compounds involved in plant interactions
2. Regulation of plant defences by the phytohormonal network
3. Changes in plant responses with varying environment
4. Detoxification mechanisms in insects adapted to plant secondary metabolites
5. Role of endosymbionts in insect adaptations
6. Heavy-metal tolerance in plants.
7. Early signaling events during plant-insect interactions.

Publications (selected)

(In press: 2; In Review: 2)

Md. Shakilur Kabir, Venkatesan R, Maria Thaker (2020) Multiple sensory modalities in diurnal geckos is associated with the signalling environment and evolutionary constraints. Integrative Organismal Biology. Volume 2, Issue 1, 2020, obaa027

Kalmankar N, Venkatesan R, Balaram P, Sowdhamini R (2020) Transcriptomic Profiling of the Medicinal Plant, Clitoria ternatea: Identification of Potential Genes in Cyclotide Biosynthesis. Scientific Reports. 10: 12658.

Sanjenbam P, Buddidathi R, Venkatesan R, Shivaprasad PV, Agashe D* (2020) Phenotypic diversity of Methylobacterium associated with rice landraces in North-East India. PlosOne 15: e0228550.

Sasidharan A, Venkatesan R*. Olfactory cues as functional traits in plant reproduction. In Reproductive ecology of flowering plants: patterns and processes. Ed. Tandon R et al. Springer Nature Singapore. (In Press)

Ghosh E, Venkatesan R*. (2019) Plant volatiles regulate immune responses in Spodoptera litura. Journal of Chemical Ecology 45:715-724

Sasidharan R, Venkatesan R*. (2019) Seed elaiosome mediates dispersal by ants and impacts germination in Ricinus communis. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution 7:246

Md. Shakilur Kabir, Venkatesan R, Maria Thaker. (2019) Mismatch in receiver responses to multimodal signals in the diurnal gecko, Cnemaspis mysoriensis. Animal Behavior, 147: 115-123.

Agarwal K, Haldar S, Boland W, Radhika V*. (2018) Chemical Ecology of bracken ferns. In. Ferns, Eds. Nowicki L et.al, Nova Science Publishers Inc. p57-96.

Khan I, Prakash A, Issar S, Umarani M, Sasidharan R, Jagadeesh NM, Lama P, Venkatesan R, Agashe D. (2018) Female density-dependent chemical warfare underlies fitness effects of group sex ratio in flour beetles. The American Naturalist, 191(3), 306-317.

Radhika V, Ueda N, Tsuboi Y, Kojima M, Kikuchi J, Kudo T, Sakakibara H. (2015) Methylated cytokinins from the phytopathogen Rhodococcus fascians mimic plant hormone activity.  Plant Physiology 169: 1118-1126.

Radhika V, Kost C, Boland W, Heil M. (2010) The role of jasmonate signaling in floral nectar secretion. PlosOne, 5, e9265.

Radhika V, Kost C, Boland W, Heil M. (2010) Towards elucidating the differential regulation of floral and extrafloral nectar secretion. Plant signalling and Behavior, Invited article, Vol. 7, Issue 5.

Radhika V, Kost C, Mithöfer A, Boland W. (2010) Regulation of extrafloral nectar secretion by jasmonates is light dependent. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, (PNAS) 107 (40): 17228-17233.