Dhanyalakshmi K H

Dr. Dhanyalakshmi K H completed her BSc (Agriculture) from College of Agriculture, Padannakkad, Kerala Agricultural University, MSc (Ag) in Crop Physiology from Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (ICAR-JRF), and PhD in Crop Physiology from University of Agricultural Sciences Bangalore (DST-INSPIRE Fellowship). She has over two years of research experience as Post-doctoral Research Associate at the Plant Molecular Biology Laboratory, Department of Crop Physiology, University of Agricultural Sciences, Bengaluru, and as Senior Research Fellow at the Indian Institute of Horticultural Research (ICAR-IIHR), Bangalore.

Research Interest

Her major research interest is to understand the molecular basis of growth, development, and abiotic stress responses in crop plants. She is also exploring the options to manipulate growth and stress-specific traits in crop plants using endophytes.

Projects – Sanctioned and Completed

1. Endophyte-Based Strategies to Enhance Crop Performance Under Climate Change-Induced Stress funded by the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Government of India (Collaborative & PI from KAU; Duration 2 years) – Sanctioned
2. Boosting growth and climate resilience in brinjal (Solanum melongena L.) and tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) using habitat-adapted endophyte(s) funded by the Kerala State Council for Science Technology and Environment (KSCSTE) (PI; Duration: 3 years) – Sanctioned
3. The extended genotype: The role microbial genome in plant growth and development by the Joined Science Education Panel, Indian Academy of Sciences Bangalore (Workshop; completed)

Awards/ Achievements

• ICAR Junior Research Fellowship (ICAR-JRF) 2009: For pursuing Masters degree in Plant Physiology by Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi
• JNU Junior Research Fellowship (2009-2010) by Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) Combined Entrance Examination 2009-2010 for pursuing M.Sc. education
• ICAR Senior Research Fellowship (ICAR-SRF) 2012: For pursuing Ph.D. in Plant Physiology by Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi
• DST- INSPIRE Fellowship 2012: Awarded by the Department of Science and Technology, Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India, for Doctoral research
• Best poster award from Journal of Cell Science at the Next Generation Bioinformatics Technology Conference, November 2014, NIMHANS, Bangalore, India
• Best paper award in Crop Improvement group at “PG Science Week” 4-7th May 2015 - First Oral Conference of Doctoral Degree Research Programme held at University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore
• “100 Fellowship Award” by INTERDROUGHT V team, Hyderabad, 2017
• Best poster award at 3rd International Plant Physiology Conference, 2018, CSIR-NBRI, Lucknow
• Co-ordinated the Science Academies’ Lecture workshop on “The extended genotype: The role microbial genome in plant growth and development“ at COA Padannakkad, Kerala Agricultural University, from 15-17th May 2024

Selected publications

1. Dhanyalakshmi KH, Patil SS, Chaitra HV, Bidari P, Nataraja KN (2025) Transcriptomic study reveals metabolic rearrangement and energy conservation under drought stress in mulberry. Plant Physiology Reports, pp.1-10.
2. Sarkar T, Nataraja KN, Sajeevan RS, Dhanyalakshmi KH, Doss SG, Raghunath MK, Sivaprasad V (2025) Co-expression of AtDREB2A and AtSHN1 in transgenic mulberry (Morus spp.) confers tolerance to drought and salinity and reduces post-harvest water loss. Plant Growth Regulation, 105(3):773-786.
3. Dhanyalakshmi KH, Pawar RK, Aishwarya G, Ayesha MS, Nataraja KN (2024) Shaping root system architecture: holobiont-based phenotyping for root traits. Plant Physiology Reports, 29(4):716-725.
4. Dhanyalakshmi KH, Mohan R, Behera S, Jha UC, Moharana D, Behera A, Thomas S, Soumya PR, Sah RP, Beena R (2024) Next generation nutrition: Genomic and molecular breeding innovations for iron and zinc biofortification in rice. Rice Science, 31(5):526-544.
5. Bangari MS, Meena HS, Dhanyalakshmi KH, Patil SS, Chaitra HV, Thomas T, Jacob J, Nataraja KN (2023) Overexpression of mulberry gene MaUSP1-like in tobacco reduces photosynthetic limitations and enhances biomass. Journal of Plant Biochemistry and Biotechnology, 32:407-411
6. Nataraja KN, Dhanyalakshmi KH, Govind G, Oelmuller R (2022) Activation of drought tolerant traits in crops: endophytes as elicitors. Plant Signaling & Behavior, 17(1):e2120300
7. Dhanyalakshmi KH, Nataraja KN (2021) Universal stress protein‐like gene from mulberry enhances abiotic stress tolerance in Escherichia coli and transgenic tobacco cells. Plant Biology, 23(6):1190-1194
8. Manjunatha, SR, Manjunath Gowda, Narayanaswamy KC, Jagadish KS, Dhanyalakshmi KH, Paramjit Khurana, Nataraja KN (2021) Assessing the life cycle of pests, Diaphania pulverulentalis (Hampson) and Maconellicoccus hirsutus green, reared on transgenic mulberry. 3 Biotech 11(2):1-4
9. Dhanyalakshmi KH, Sajeevan RS, Nataraja KN (2020) Rehydration induces early and rapid bud break in drought stressed mulberry plants. Current Science 119(7):1085-1086
10. Dhanyalakshmi KH, Mounashree DC, Vidyashree DN, Earanna, N, Nataraja KN (2019) Options and opportunities for manipulation of drought traits using endophytes in crops. Plant Physiology Reports, 24:555-562
11. Dhanyalakshmi KH and Nataraja KN (2018) Mulberry (Morus spp.) has the features to treat as a potential perennial model system. Plant Signaling and Behavior, 13(8):e1491267
12. Dhanyalakshmi KH, Naika MBN, Sajeevan RS, Mathew OK, Shafi KM, Sowdhamini R, Nataraja KN (2016) An approach to function annotation for Proteins of Unknown Function (PUFs) in the transcriptome of Indian mulberry. PLoS ONE 11(3): e0151323

Book chapters

1. Dhanyalakshmi KH, Patil SS, Thomas T, Chaitra, HV, Singh Meena, H, Savitha M, Nataraja KN (2023) Transcriptomics: Current Status and Future Prospects for Identifying Trait-Specific Genes in Mulberry. The Mulberry Genome, Compendium of Plant Genomes. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-28478-6_6
2. Dhanyalakshmi KH, Pallavi N, Rachana Pawar, Nataraja KN (2022) Endophyte-mediated crop improvement: Manipulation of abiotic stress-specific traits. In: M. H. Masthigowda et al. (Eds.), Translating Physiological Tools to Augment Crop Breeding, Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-7498-4_16
3. Dhanyalakshmi KH, Chaithra HV, Sajeevan RS, Nataraja KN (2021) Transgenics for targeted trait manipulation: The current status of genetically engineered mulberry crop. In: P. B Kavikishore et al. (Eds.), Genetically Modified Crops. Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-5932-7_9
4. Parvathi MS, Dhanyalakshmi KH, Nataraja KN (2020) Molecular mechanisms associated with drought and heat tolerance in plants and options for crop improvement for combined stress tolerance. In: M. Hasanuzzaman (Ed.), Agronomic Crops, Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-0025-1_23
5. Dhanyalakshmi KH, Soolanayakanahally RY, Rahman T, Tanino KK and Nataraja KN (2019) Leaf cuticular wax, a trait for multiple stress resistance in crop plants. In: A. B. de Oliveira (Ed.) Abiotic and Biotic Stress in Plants. IntechOpen. http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.84565

Membership in Scientific Bodies

• Life member, Indian Society for Plant Physiology (ISPP), New Delhi

Collaborating Institutes

• University of Agricultural Sciences (UAS) Bangalore
• Indian Institute of Horticultural Research (ICAR-IIHR) Bengaluru
• Vivekananda Institute of Tropical Mycology (VINSTROM) Chennai

Links to Academic Profiles

ORCiD

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6521-3774

Google scholar 

https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&pli=1&user=TAcvCxYAAAAJ

ResearchGate

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Dhanyalakshmi-Kh

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