Maruthi M N Gowda

Biography

Professor Maruthi Gowda is a molecular plant virologist and vector entomologist with 20 years of research experience in plant-virus-insect interactions, especially those involving geminiviruses, potyviruses and their whitefly vector, Bemisia tabaci, infecting cassava, vegetables and other staple food crops in the tropics. He began his research career in India in 1996 when he identified sources of resistance to the economically important tomato leaf curl disease. He then moved to the Natural Resources Institute at the University of Greenwich in 1998 to undertake his PhD on cassava mosaic disease, which has caused devastating losses, famine and food shortages to subsistent farmers in Africa. Following completion of his PhD in 2001, Professor Gowda joined the university as a post-doctoral fellow. He was promoted to research fellow and subsequently senior research fellow. Currently, as a Professor of Molecular Plant Pathology, Professor Gowda leads a core team of researchers (six PhDs, and one research fellow) investigating the reasons for the recent outbreak of cassava brown streak disease (CBSD) in the eastern and southern African region. He employs multi-disciplinary research, from field epidemiology to molecular biology and tissue culture to functional genomics, to better understand plant-virus-vector relationships and mechanisms of disease resistance to enable developing improved disease control strategies. He was the first to identify whitefly B. tabaci as the natural vector of cassava brown streak viruses (CBSVs). He has also developed robust low-cost diagnostic tests for CBSVs and cassava mosaic viruses, which are adapted in several African laboratories. Through a Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation funded multi-partner project (5CP, 2012–16), Professor Gowda was able to develop a highly sensitive virus-indexing programme for cleaning virus-infected cassava landraces and contributed to the conservation of germplasm. Through the Grand Challenges Explorations grant (2011–13), also from the Gates Foundation to work on an innovative idea for controlling whiteflies using endosymbiotic bacteria. Other sources of funding for his research comes from European Union (partner in CassavaGMarkets project, 2012–16), African Union (leading LimitCBSD project, 2012–15) and other sources. He is an active member in the plant virology community, both in the UK and overseas. In the UK, he is the chair of the Plant Virology Committee of the Association of Applied Biologists, responsible for organising international symposia every 18 months. Dr Gowda co-hosted the 2007 AAB symposium and will be hosting the next meeting 7-9 September 2016 at the University of Greenwich.

Research Interest

Professor Gowda is passionate about using advanced molecular technologies to mitigate pest and disease problems in the tropics, especially those of cassava in Africa. He is currently interested in gaining greater understanding of cassava brown streak disease, which is epidemic in eastern Africa, its negative effects on the poor and devising ways to control the disease. He is working to identify natural sources of resistance to viruses and their insect vectors using high throughput sequencing (RNA-Seq) to identify, characterise, map and understand the mechanism of resistance genes with the aim of developing durable resistance to the disease.