Jyoti Kakati

Educational Background

M.Tech Biotechnology
Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Assam, India 2019

B.Tech Biotechnology
KSR College Of Technology, TN, India (Anna University, Chennai, India) 2012

Courses Taught

PES 4960:Creative Inquiry in Crop Science

Profile

Jyoti Kakati is a Ph.D. candidate in the Plant and Environmental Sciences Department at Clemson University, SC, USA, working with Dr. Sruthi Narayanan. Jyoti’s dissertation focuses on improving soybean's drought tolerance during the emergence phase. He utilizes cutting-edge metabolomics techniques and state-of-the-art physiological tools to investigate the mechanisms of drought tolerance in soybeans and formulate seed treatment chemicals that could potentially increase emergence under drought. He is also working on identifying novel traits to enhance soybeans' nutritional quality and economic value.

Jyoti is a recipient of Clemson University’s Graduate Fellowship and Wade Stackhouse Fellowship. He was also selected as an ASA-CSSA-SSSA 2023-24 Encompass Fellow, sponsored by Bayer Crop Science. Jyoti received the Outstanding Graduate Research Assistant award-2023 from the Graduate Student Government at Clemson University. He also received the Gerald O. Mott Award in Crop Science -2023 from the Crop Science Society of America (CSSA).

Jyoti Kakati was the President of the Graduate Student Association of the Plant and Environmental Sciences Department during 2021-2022. Before starting his Ph.D. at Clemson, he completed a Bachelor of Technology (B.Tech) in Biotechnology from K.S.Rangasamy College of Technology (Affiliated with Anna University, Chennai, India) in 2012. He worked as a system engineer for over two years in TCS, Chennai. Jyoti received a Master of Technology (M.Tech) in Biotechnology from IIT Guwahati, Assam, India, in 2019. Upon graduation, he continued at IIT Guwahati as a Senior Research Fellow until joining Clemson University in 2020.

Research Interests

Soybean drought tolerance at the emergence phase:
The soybean crop is most susceptible to drought at two stages: at emergence and from flowering through pod-fill. To date, most of the drought research has been conducted at the latter stage. Drought often occurs during the planting period of soybean in the southeastern U.S. and many other soybean-growing regions around the world. This results in poor emergence, which often necessitates replanting which leads to a significant financial burden. In his dissertation research, Jyoti is investigating mechanisms that improve soybean emergence during drought and traits or biomarkers that can be included in the breeders’ toolkit to develop soybean varieties with better emergence under drought. In this research, he is focusing on the role of root morphology and seed metabolome in the differences in emergence percentages under varied soil moisture levels.

Effect of heat stress on peanut oil composition:
The fatty acid composition of oil is a major seed-quality trait of peanut. Oleic, linoleic, and palmitic fatty acids, together, account for more than 80% of the total fatty acid content in peanut oil. Storage life and nutritional quality of peanut are largely influenced by the relative proportion of the above fatty acids in the oil. The temperature has a significant effect on fatty acid metabolism in plants. Short episodes of high-temperature stress often occur in the early flowering period of peanut in the U.S. peanut belt. In his research, he evaluated whether high-temperature stress that occurs during an early flowering period will have long-lasting effects on peanut seed fatty acid composition.

High protein, low oil content soybeans with enhanced nutritional and economic value:
Soybean yield improvement typically increases seed oil content at the expense of protein content in the meal. Today, one of the largest factors for determining the value of U.S. soybean is protein content. Developing germplasm with seed compositions tailored to the nutritional needs of the industry will improve the value of soybean and help it stay competitive with other feedstocks. In this research, he is evaluating 12 HPLO (High Protein, Low Oil) genotypes developed by the Southeastern soybean breeding program to determine how well the HPLO trait expresses under drought and heat stresses and how it combines with other value-adding traits such as high oleic acid and low linolenic acid contents under stress. This research will identify drought-and heat-tolerant HPLO genotypes to be included in the variety development program.

Publications

Peer-reviewed Journal Articles:

8. Rustgi, S., Kakati, J.P., Narayanan, S. Shaping plant architecture for improved productivity: Strigolactones and beyond. Adv. Agron. 2024, 186 (In press)

7. Kakati, J.P.; Fallen, B.; Bridges, W.; Narayanan, S. Characterization of a soybean (Glycine max L. Merr.) population for germination and seedling root traits under water stress. Agronomy 2022, 12, 1944.

6. Kakati, J.P.; Zoong Lwe, Z.S.; Narayanan, S. Heat stress during the early flowering stage did not affect seed fatty acid contents in conventional oleic peanut varieties. Peanut Sci. 2022, 49.

5. Rustgi, S.; Kakati, J.P.; Jones, Z.T.; Zoong Lwe, Z.S.; Narayanan, S. Heat tolerance as a function of membrane lipid remodeling in the major US oilseed crops (soybean and peanut). J. Plant Biochem. Biotechnol. 2021, 30, 652-667.

4. Ghodke, R.S.; Kakati, J.P.; Tadi, S.R.R.; Mohan, N.; Senthilkumar, S. Kinetic modeling of hyaluronic acid production in palmyra palm (Borassus flabellifer) based medium by Streptococcus zooepidemicus MTCC 3523. Biochem. Eng. J., 2018, 137, 284-293.

3. Mythili, G. B.; Ponmurugan, P.; Jeeva, S.E.; Manjukarunambika, K.; Elango, V.; Hemalatha, K.; Kakati, J.P.; Mohanraj, R.; Prathap, S. Biosynthesised silver and copper nanoformulation as foliar spray to control bird's eye spot disease in tea plantations. IET Nanobiotechnol. 2017, 11, 917-928.

2. Robinson, J.P.; Kakati, J.P.; Sebastinraj, J.; Kumaresan, S. In vitro seed germination of Cymbidium aloifolium (L.) Sw., a potential medicinal orchid from eastern ghats of Tamil Nadu, India. J. Plant Biotechnol. 2017, 44, 343–348.

1. Kakati, J.P.; Ponmurugan, P.; Rajasekaran, N.; Mythili, G. B. Effect of textile effluent treatment plant sludge on the growth metabolism of green gram (Vigna radiata L). Int J Environ Pollut. 2013, 51, 79-90.

Book Chapter:

1. Robinson, J.P.; Kakati, J.P. In vitro seed germination and protocorm development of Cymbidium aloifolium (L.) Sw. from eastern ghats of Tamil Nadu. Current Scenario in Biotechnology. 2012. Bloomsbury Publishing India Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi-110 015 (ISBN 978-93-82563-27-3).

Published Abstracts/Conference Presentations

8. Jyoti Prasad Kakati, Benjamin Fallen, Paul Armstrong, Shuping Yan, Sruthi Narayanan, “Soybeans Maintain the High-Protein Trait Under Heat and Drought Stress,” ASA-CSSA-SSSA International Annual Meetings, St. Louis, Missouri, 29 October- 1 November 2023. (Oral Presentation).

7. Jyoti Prasad Kakati, Benjamin Fallen, William C Bridges, and Sruthi Narayanan, “Characterization of a Soybean (Glycine max L. Merr.) Population for Germination and Seedling Root Traits Under Water Stress,” ASA-CSSA-SSSA International Annual Meetings, Baltimore, Maryland, on 6-9 November 2022. (Oral Presentation).

6. Jyoti Prasad Kakati, Benjamin Fallen, Paul Armstrong, Shuping Yan, and Sruthi Narayanan, “Stability of the High-Protein, Low-Oil (HPLO) Trait of Soybean Under Drought and Heat Stresses,” ASA-CSSA-SSSA International Annual Meetings, Baltimore, Maryland, on 6-9 November 2022. (Poster Presentation).

5. Jyoti Prasad Kakati, Sruthi Narayanan, Benjamin Fallen, Matthew Inman, “Root morphological traits that improve soybean emergence under water stress,” ASA Southern Branch 2022 Annual Meeting, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, 12-14 February 2022 (Oral Presentation).

4. Jyoti Prasad Kakati, Zolian Zoong Lwe, and Sruthi Narayanan, "Heat stress during the early flowering stage will not affect seed fatty acid contents in peanut", ASA-CSSA-SSSA International Annual Meetings, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA, 7-10 November 2021 (Poster Presentation).

3. Jyoti Prasad Kakati, Sruthi Narayanan, Benjamin Fallen, Matthew Inman, "Root morphological traits that improve soybean germination under water stress", ASA-CSSA-SSSA International Annual Meetings, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA, 7-10 November 2021 (Poster Presentation).

2. Jyoti Prasad Kakati, Avishek Dey, Prabin Kumar Sharma, Sanjeev Kumar, G. J. N. Rao and Lingaraj Sahoo “An improved and efficient protocol for transformation of scented rice of Northeast India”, Indian Plant Science Congress, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai, India, 23-25 January 2019 (Poster Presentation).

1. Ponmurugan. P, Jyoti Prasad Kakati, R. Subbaiya and J. Philip Robinson “Production of silver Nanoparticles using Trichoderma atroviride for the biological control of rhiozome rot disease in Turmeric Plants”, Intl. Conference on Nanomaterials and Nanotechnology, K.S.R. College of Technology, Tamilnadu, India, 13–16 December 2010.

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