Pious Thomas

Biography

Currently he is a Professor in Department of Biotechnology at ICAR-Indian Institute of Horticultural Research

Research Interest

Demonstration of abundant bacterial colonization in the peri-space between cell wall and plasma membrane in banana, and revelation of cytoplasmic peri-space as a niche for endophytic bacteria;  Description of ''Cytobacts' and 'Peribacts, the intracellular colonizing endophytic bacteria TECHNOLOGIES DEVELOPED:  Micropropagation technology for (i) papaya, (ii) triploid seedless watermelon, (iii) grapes and (iv) chrysanthemum;  Sachet technique for the small-scale acclimatization of micropropagated plants of different crops;  Diagnostics for the detection of covert and endophytic bacteria in tissue cultures; METHODOLOGIES:  Spotting-and-tilt-spreading (SATS) as a simple and efficient method for bacterial cfu estimation over spread plating;  Use of cotton with high hydrophilicity for Bacillus spore surveillance over foam, nylon, or polyester swabs and high spore recovery efficiency;  Optimization of seedling root-injury-inoculation technique for the screening of tomato against Ralstonia solanacearum at seedling stage;  Development of single-plate-serial-dilution-spotting (SP-SDS) as an assured tool for bacterial cfu estimation; CONCEPTS:  Role of leaf in promotion of adventitious rooting; Identification and cloning of genes involved in regulation of rooting in stem cuttings  Identification of covert and unsuspecting association of diverse bacteria as the cause for the decline in the performance or degeneration of micropropagated cultures  Cleansing the established in vitro cultures from covert microbial contaminants through a combination of surface disinfection, antibiotic challenge followed by recurrent tissue indexing  Identification of normally unsuspected routes of microbial entry in plant tissue cultures including deep seated endophytes, alcohol resistant bacteria and autoclaving defying spore-formers, and identification of 90% ethanol as a universally adoptable better bacteri/sporicidal level of alcohol  Establishing the ubiquitous and integral association of endophytes with plant tissue in no-cultivable form through molecular and microscopic techniques  Isolation and characterization of a series of bacterial endophytes from different plant hosts including field grown plants and in vitro stocks;  Elucidation of the chances of bacterial cell injury due to the inoculum spreader during spread plating and development of a simple spotting-and-tilt-spreading (SATS) to maximize CFU and to avoid CFU inconsistencies during bacterial sampling.