Recognizing Plant Cell first authors: Rahul Bhosale
Rahul Arvind Bhosale, first author of A spatiotemporal DNA endoploidy map of the Arabidopsis root reveals roles for the endocycle in root development and stress adaptation
Current Position: Research Fellow at Department of Plant Sciences, University of Nottingham, UK.
Education: PhD in Biochemistry and Biotechnology, VIB-University of Ghent, Belgium. M.Sc. in Biotechnology, University of Pune, India.
Non-scientific Interests: Reading novels, watching movies, hiking, playing badminton and cooking
Brief bio: I am passionate about root biology and my prime research interest lies in utilizing experimental and computational approaches to understand how plant root adaptive traits confer stress resilience and utilise this knowledge towards improving crop performance and therefore contribute to global food security efforts.
I did my integrated masters in Biotechnology from Pune University in India. During this time, I gained multidisciplinary training in molecular and cell biology, physics, chemistry, bioinformatics, mathematics, etc. Subsequently, I completed a Doctorate in Biochemistry and Biotechnology from VIB, University of Ghent, Belgium, where I studied the role of somatic polyploidy in the growth and development of the plant root under environmental conditions. I also studied expression variation due to subtle micro-environmental perturbations across individual wild-type Arabidopsis plants and determined gene functions for several biological processes.
With this professional background, I joined University of Nottingham for my post-doctoral training. First as a Newton International Fellow, I investigated the molecular networks underlying auxin dependent root hair elongation in response to low external phosphate in Arabidopsis and rice. Later as a Royal Society GCRF project Research Fellow, I used a novel approach termed “Anatomics” combined with Genome Wide Associations Studies (GWAS) to identify key regulators of several root anatomical traits. Additionally, I was involved in several national and international collaborative projects determining spatio-temporal gene regulatory networks underlying root gravitropism, lateral root organogenesis, etc. Currently, as an independent group leader at University of Nottingham, I am exploiting genetic diversity of crop varieties to study plant root traits at multiple scales and using functional genomics approaches to understand molecular mechanisms underlying such traits.
