Nikhil Job: Plant Physiology First Author

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Nikhil Job, first author of “Transcription factors BBX11 and HY5 interdependently regulate the molecular and metabolic responses to UV-B”

Current position: Ph.D. student, Plant Cell and Developmental Biology lab, Department of Biological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Bhopal, India.

Education: BS-MS (Bachelor of Science- Master of Science) dual degree (2015) in Biological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Bhopal, India.

Non- Scientific Interests: Table tennis, Badminton, traveling

Brief Bio: I did my schooling in Kerala, a small state in the southern part of India, then moved to Madhya Pradesh for an integrated BS-MS degree. After completing my BS-MS degree, I joined Dr. Sourav Datta’s lab as a Ph.D. student at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research in Bhopal. Currently, I am studying the role of the BBX family of transcription factors in modulating light-mediated growth and development. Previously, we found that BBX11, a member of the BBX family of proteins, is involved in optimizing seedling greening and photomorphogenesis. We discovered that BBX11 acts downstream to PIF3 in the dark to control protochlorophyllide levels, a precursor in chlorophyll biosynthesis (Job et al., 2021. New Phytologist).  Besides its role in optimizing seedling responses to light, we identified that BBX11 provides tolerance to UV-B stress in plants. I continue to explore how BBX proteins regulate plants’ molecular responses to light. My future goal is to elaborate understanding on the molecular mechanism of plant-environment interactions.