Dr. Santosh B. Satbhai

Assistant Professor, Biological Sciences

Research Focus

How plant root development and growth is influenced and regulated by environmental signals is a major research question of our group. In particular, we focus on the effects of nutrient starvation, high temperature, cold temperature, salinity and drought on root system architecture (RSA) using Arabidopsis plants. We are applying experimental [forward/reverse genetics approach, transcriptomics approach, biochemical techniques, high-throughput phenotyping, Genome-Wide Association Studies (GWAS) and live imaging] and computational approaches to answer this question. As stress signalling pathways are evolutionary conserved, we also aim to translate knowledge gained from Arabidopsis to wheat, tomato and rice.

Finding genes or regulatory systems that modify root development might have adaptive value and has various implications for biotechnology and agronomy. In particular, the ability to generate plants with different root growth has great potential for adapting plants to specific habitat.

• Ogura T, Goeschl C, Filiault D, Mirea M, Slovak R, Wolhrab B, Santosh B. Satbhai, Busch W “Root System Depth in Arabidopsis Is Shaped by EXOCYST70A3 via the Dynamic Modulation of Auxin Transport”. Cell 2019 doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2019.06.021.
• Nadia Bouain, Santosh B. Satbhai, Arthur Korte, Chorpet Saenchai, Guilhem Desbrosses, Pierre Berthomieu, Wolfgang Busch, Hatem Rouached “Natural allelic variation of the AZI1 gene controls root growth under zinc-limiting condition”. PLoS Genet 2018 14(4): e1007304.
• Smakowska-Luzan E, Mott GA, Parys K, Stegmann M, Howton TC, Layeghifard M, Neuhold J, Lehner A, Kong J, Grünwald K, Weinberger N, Santosh B. Satbhai, Mayer D, Busch W, Madalinski M, Stolt-Bergner P, Provart NJ, Mukhtar MS, Zipfel C, Desveaux D, Guttman DS, Belkhadir Y.“An extracellular network of Arabidopsis leucine-rich repeat receptor kinases.” Nature 2018 Jan 18;553(7688):342-346. doi: 10.1038/nature25184.
• Santosh B. Satbhai, Claudia Setzer, Florentina Freynschlag, Radka Slovak, Envel Kerdaffrec and Wolfgang Busch “Natural allelic variation of FRO2 modulates Arabidopsis root growth under iron deficiency”. Nature Communications 2017, doi:10.1038/ncomms15603.
• Santosh B. Satbhai, Daniela Ristova and Wolfgang Busch “Underground Tuning:Quantitative Regulation of Root Growth” J Exp Bot 66(4):1099-1112, 2015.
• Mónica Meijón, Santosh B. Satbhai, Takashi Tsuchimatsu, Wolfgang Busch “Genome-wide association study using cellular traits identifies a new regulator of root development in Arabidopsis”. Nature Genetics, 46, 77–81, 2014.