Jyoti Shah

Jyoti Shah, PhD. completed a B.Sc. degree in microbiology and biochemistry (1983) and his M.Sc. degree in microbiology (1985) from the University of Bombay (India). After two years conducting research in an industrial setting at Hindustan Lever Ltd in Bombay, he traveled to South Bend, Indiana where he earned a Ph.D. degree (1991) in biology at the University of Notre Dame under the supervision of Mary J. Clancy for his work on genetic factors regulating meiosis and sporulation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. After completion of his doctoral degree, Shah joined Daniel Klessig's group as a postdoctoral fellow to study plant defense signaling at the Waksman Institute (Rutgers University) in Piscataway, NJ. In 1998, he accepted a tenure-track position as Assistant Professor in the Division of Biological Sciences at Kansas State University where he rose to the rank of Associate Professor. In 2007, Shah was recruited by the University of North Texas, where he rose to the rank of Professor and was subsequently honored with the title of University Distinguished Research Professor. Over the past 20 years, Shah has developed an internationally acclaimed program in the area of plant defense signaling and the role of lipids in stress response. His lab pioneered work on developing tools to develop a model system for studying plant defense against aphids. In addition, his group discovered a novel signaling role for the diterpenoid dehydroabietinal in plant defense and the transition to reproductive development. Shah has applied these discoveries to develop strategies for enhancing resistance in wheat to the Fusarium head blight disease. He has also contributed to more than 100 publications that have over 8000 citations. Shah's research has been supported by the National Science Foundation, the US Department of Agriculture and the US Wheat and Barley Scab Initiative.

CURRENT RESEARCH INTERESTS

• Plant-pathogen interactions: Plant defense against pathogens; signaling mechanisms in plant defense; Secondary metabolites in plant defense signaling as well as susceptibility to diseases.
• Plant-insect interaction: Plant response to phloem feeding insects; physiological changes in plants during aphid infestation; Signaling mechanisms contributing to resistance as well as susceptibility to insect infestation.
• Plant Lipids: Involvement of lipids and lipid oxidation in plant stress response.
• Applied interests: Engineering disease resistance in agronomically important plants against important diseases, e.g. Fusarium head blight resistance in wheat.

FOR PROSPECTIVE GRADUATE STUDENTS

Apply to the Graduate Program in Biochemistry & Molecular Biology

CURRENT GRANT-FUNDED PROJECTS

• US Department of Agriculture. Developing New Technologies for Improving Resistance to Fusarium Head Blight. PI: Steve Scofield (USDA-ARS): UNT PI: Jyoti Shah; Co-PI: Brian Meckes. $221,256. August 1, 2021 - July 31, 2024.
• US Department of Agriculture- National Institute of Food and Agriculture (Award # 2021-67013-33573). Facilitation of Fusarium graminearum invasiveness by plant 9-lipoxygenase. $ 493,867. November 15, 2020 - November 14, 2023.
• US Department of Agriculture- National Institute of Food and Agriculture. Generating pathogen-/pest-resistant non-GMO cotton through targeted genome editing of oxylipin signaling pathways. PI: Brian Ayre; Co-PI: Roisin McGarry and Jyoti Shah. $296,000, 01/15/2021-12/31/2024.
• Developing New Technologies for Improving Resistance to Fusarium Head Blight. US Department of Agriculture Research Service. August 1, 2023 - July 31, 2024. PI: Jyoti Shah; Co-PI: Brian Meckes. $128,575

MOST SIGNIFICANT PUBLICATIONS

1. Twayana, M., Girija, A.M., Mohan, V., and Shah, J. (2022) Phloem: At the center of action in plant defense against aphids. J. Plant Physiology. 273, 153695. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jplph.2022.153695
2. Lusk, H.J., Neumann, N., Colter, M., Roth, M.R., Tamura, P., Yao, L., Shiva, S., Shah, J., Schrick, K., Durrett, T., and Welti, R. (2022) Lipidomic analysis of Arabidopsis T-DNA insertion lines leads to identification and characterization of C-terminal alterations in FATTY ACID DESATURASE6. Plant Cell and Physiol. https://doi.org/10.1093/pcp/pcac088
3. Vu, H.S., Shiva, S., Samarakoon, T., Li, M., Sarowar, Mary, S., Roth, M.R. Tamura, P., Honey, H., Lowe, K., Porras, H., Prakash, N., Roach, C.A., Stuke, M., Wang, X., Shah, J., Gadbury, G., Wang, H., Welti, R. (2022). Specific changes in Arabidopsis thaliana rosette lipids during freezing can be associated with freezing tolerance. Metabolites. 12, 385.https://doi.org/10.3390/metabo12050385
4. Alam, S.T., Sarowar, S., Mondal, H.A., Makandar, R., Chowdhury, Z., Louis, J. and Shah, J. (2022) Opposing effects of MYZUS PERSICAE- INDUCED LIPASE 1 and jasmonic acid influence the outcome of Arabidopsis thaliana-Fusarium graminearum interaction. Molecular Plant Pathology. 23, 1141-1153. https://doi.org/10.1111/mpp.13216
5. Dongus, J.A., Bhandari, D.D., Penner, E., Lapin, D., Stolze, S.C., Harzen, A., Patel, M., Archer, L., Dijkgraaf, L., Shah, J., Nakagami, H. and Parker, J.E. (2022) Cavity surface residues of PAD4 and SAG101 contribute to EDS1 dimer signaling specificity in plant immunity. Plant J. 110,1415-1432. https://doi.org/10.1111/tpj.15747
6. Archer, L., Mondal, H.A., Behera, S., Twayana, M., Lous, J., Nalam, V.J., Keereetaweep, J., Chowdhury, Z., Shah, J. 2022. Interplay between MYZUS PERSICAE-INDUCED LIPASE 1 and OPDA signaling in controlling green peach aphid infestation on Arabidopsis thaliana. bioRxiv. https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.07.08.499389
7. Goggin, F.L, Shah, J., Gillaspy, G. (2022) Editorial: Lipid metabolism and membrane structure in plant biotic interactions. Frontiers in Plant Science 13: 1096268. https://doi.ort/10.3389/fpls.2022.1096268
8. Chaturvedi, R., Giri, M., Chowdhury, Z., Venables, B.J., Mohanty, D., Petros, R.A., Shah, J. (2020) CYP720A1 function in roots is required for flowering time and systemic acquired resistance in the foliage of Arabidopsis. Journal of Experimental Botany 71, 6612-6622. https://doi.org/10.1093/jxb/eraa374.
9. Shiva, S., Samarakoon, T., Lowe, K.A., Roach, C., Vu, H.S., Colter, M.; Porras, H., Hwang, C., Roth, M.R., Tamura, P., Li, M.; Schrick, K., Shah, J., Wang, X., Wang, H., Welti, R. (2020) Leaf lipid alterations in response to heat stress of Arabidopsis thaliana. Plants 9, 845. https://doi.org/10.3390/plants9070845.
10. Chowdhury, Z., Mohanty, D., Giri, M.K., Venables, B.J., Chaturvedi, R., Chao, A., Petros, R.A., Shah, J. (2020) Dehydrobabietinal promotes flowering time and plant defense via the autonomous pathway genes FLOWERING LOCUS D, FVE, and RELATIVE OF EARLY FLOWERING 6. Journal of Experimental Botany. 71:4903-4913. https://doi.org/10.1093/jxb/eraa232.
11. Dongus, J. A., Bhandari, D., Patel, M., Archer, L., Dijkgraaf, L., Deslandes, L., Shah, J., Parker, J. E. (2020). Arabidopsis PAD4 lipase-like domain is a minimal functional unit in resistance to green peach aphid. Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions 33:328-335. https://doi.org/10.1094/MPMI-08-19-0245-R.
12. Sarowar, S., Alam, S. T., Makandar, R., Lee, H., Trick, H. N., Dong, Y., and Shah, J. (2019). Targeting the pattern-triggered immunity pathway for enhancing resistance to Fusarium graminearum. Mol. Plant Pathology 20, 626-640. https://doi.org/10.1111/mpp.12781.
13. Nalam, V., Louis, J., Shah, J. (2019). Plant defense against aphids, the pest extraordinaire. Plant Science 279, 96-107. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0168945218300128.
14. Nalam, V., Louis, J., Patel, M., Shah, J. (2018). Arabidopsis-green Peach Aphid Interaction: Rearing the Insect, No-choice and Fecundity Assays, and Electrical Penetration Graph Technique to Study Insect Feeding Behavior. Bio-Protocol, 8(15), 1-24. www.bio-protocol.org/e2950.
15. Gallego-Giraldo, L., Pose, S., Pattahil, S., Peralta, A. G., Hahn, M. G., Ayre, B. G., Sunuwar, J., Hernandez, J., Patel, M., Shah, J., Rao, X., Knox, J. P., Dixon, R. (2018). Elicitors and defense gene induction in plants with altered lignin compositions. New Phytologist, 219, 1235-1251.