Recognizing Plant Cell authors: Karnelia Paul
Karnelia Paul, co-first author of A tripartite interaction among the basidiomycete Rhodotorula mucilaginosa, N2-fixing endobacteria, and rice improves nitrogen nutrition in plants
Current Position: PhD student in Department of Biotechnology and Dr. B.C. Guha Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, University of Calcutta, Kolkata, West Bengal, India under the guidance of Dr. Anindita Seal
Education: MSc in Biotechnology, Department of Biotechnology, University of Calcutta, Kolkata, West Bengal, India. BSc (Honours) in Microbiology from Asutosh College, University of Calcutta, Kolkata, West Bengal, India
Non-scientific Interests: internet surfing, travelling, listening to music
Brief bio: I started my PhD, working with heavy metal transporters that play regulatory roles in metal uptake and metal tolerance in plants. Simultaneously, I also started working on another project where I studied beneficial interaction between an endophytic yeast Rhodotorula mucilaginosa and rice. This work demonstrates a novel three kingdom interaction between the yeast having diazotrophic bacteria in its cells and rice. This interaction improves nitrogen nutrition of rice. Therefore, I enjoy studying two projects having completely different scopes which allowed me to get exposed to various scientific concepts and techniques.
