Dr. Priyadarshini Bhorali
Assistant Professor (Stage III), Department of Agricultural Biotechnology
Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat, Assam, India
Dr. Priyadarshini Bhorali is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Agricultural Biotechnology, Assam Agricultural University (AAU), Jorhat. She earned her B.Sc. (Agri.) and M.Sc. (Agri.) degrees from AAU, Jorhat, securing the top rank with Gold Medals in both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. She completed her Ph.D. in Biotechnology from Gauhati University and further enriched her expertise through a post-doctoral fellowship at Mississippi State University, USA.
At Assam Agricultural University, Dr. Bhorali is primarily involved in teaching at undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral levels. Apart from teaching, she is actively involved in research and has made notable contributions to the understanding of plant-pathogen interactions and host defence mechanisms at the molecular level, particularly in the crops relevant to the Northeastern region of India. Her academic journey and scientific endeavours exemplify innovation and relevance in modern agricultural science.
Her work uses advanced functional genomics tools to uncover disease resistance mechanisms in economically important crops such as banana and brassica. She has led and collaborated on multiple DBT, DST and SERB-sponsored research projects, contributing significantly to the knowledge on plant defence. She served as the Principal Investigator in key projects, including ‘Molecular dissection of defence against Sigatoka infection in banana’, ‘Identification of genes contributing resistance to Alternaria blight from nonhost plant and crop wild relatives’ and ‘Characterization of Musa-Cercospora musae interactions’, etc. In addition, she has been involved as a Co-PI in several research projects of the department, highlighting her collaborative and interdisciplinary approach to biotechnology. Previously, during her doctoral research, she carried out extensive studies to explore the tea plant’s defence transcriptome and elucidate host defence responses against blister blight disease.
Dr. Bhorali’s ongoing research at AAU integrates cutting-edge biotechnological tools targeting region-specific challenges. Among the major research works carried out in her lab, conducted in collaboration with the NIPGR, New Delhi, involved screening for resistance in crop wild relatives (CWR) and non-host crops against Alternaria brassicicola and A. brassicae, which revealed Sinapis alba, a CWR of Brassica spp., to be considerably resistant to Alternaria. Her team characterised the S. alba – A. brassicicola interaction and performed transcriptomic studies to dissect the defence responses of the CWR against the pathogen. The study presented new insights into S. alba’s defence machinery in the form of a comprehensive dataset of genes and transcription factors modulated specifically in response to A. brassicicola infection. Currently, research is being carried out to functionally characterize and clone important defence-related genes from S. alba for subsequent transfer to B. rapa. Additionally, her team is carrying out genome-wide in silico characterization studies of important defence-related genes modulated in response to Alternaria blight infection, and identification of effector candidates associated with pathogenicity.
Her group has also been conducting studies to unravel the defence-related transcriptomic changes and identify genes implicated in interactions between stress-tolerant local banana cultivars like Kachkal and Simolu Manohar, with the Sigatoka yellow leaf spot and Eumusae leaf spot pathogens, and with the Pseudostem weevil. Their studies have generated substantial data with respect to genes conferring resistance to the economically important diseases and pests in banana, which could serve as important potential candidates for developing resistant varieties via biotechnological approaches.
Another area of her research involves characterizing the Eri silkworm (Samia ricini) ecoraces of Assam and NE India, and assessing genetic diversity among them using molecular markers, to select superior ecoraces for the generation of new and improved breeds with desirable traits. Studies are also being carried out to analyse the pigment composition of coloured Eri cocoons and to characterise the host plants of the silkworm.
Dr. Bhorali is a recipient of the prestigious Norman E. Borlaug International Agricultural Science and Technology Fellowship, funded by the USDA, awarded to promising agricultural researchers. She has also been awarded the European Union-funded Erasmus+ AdaptNET grant for training on ‘Climate Resilient Agriculture’, DST Fasttrack Young Scientist grant, and the DBT-CTEP International Travel Grant. She has authored over 20 peer-reviewed research papers in reputed international and national journals. Her publications focus on exploring biotic stress resistance in banana and brassica, non-host resistance mechanisms and pathogen-specific gene responses, functional genomics in tea, etc. She has mentored several M.Sc. and Ph.D. scholars in Agricultural Biotechnology and Life Sciences. Her mentees have worked on a diverse array of topics that have contributed significantly to the understanding of disease resistance in plants and the Eri silkworm. Her group continues to explore plant-pathogen interactions at the molecular level for disease resistance in major crops.
