The Turmeric Genome

Prasath Duraisamy is educated in the field of horticultural sciences and has been working in the field of plant genetics and genomics since 1999. He focused his research on the improvement of horticultural crops through conventional and molecular approaches. He has made significant contributions in the field of vegetable and spice genetic resources, breeding, and applied genomics. He was involved in the release of 11 high‑yielding, disease‑resistant varieties and the registration of five unique germplasm accessions in spices. He was also involved in the identification of promising ginger genotypes through mutation and polyploidy breeding. The heterosis and inheritance of cardamom mosaic virus resistance in cardamom were reported for the first time. This information can be used to evolve strategies for breeding of high–yielding, disease‑resistant cardamom genotypes suitable for various agroecologies. He has also identified basal defence mechanisms against bacterial wilt resistance in mango ginger, which will be helpful in the development of wilt‑resistant ginger varieties. He has also standardized two technologies for quality planting material production in spices. He did his postdoctoral research at the University of Guelph, Canada, under the prestigious BOYSCAST fellowship of DST, Government of India. He is also a recipient of the Endeavour Research Fellow 2017, Government of Australia. He has published over 90 research papers in highly rated journals. He is presently working as Project Coordinator, ICAR‑AICRP on Spices at the ICAR‑Indian Institute of Spices Research, Kozhikode, Kerala. Aarthi Sounderarajan is an aspiring young scientist in the field of horticulture science and has research experience in the field of crop improvement of spices since 2014. She is currently pursuing her research work on the conservation and improvement of Zingiber and Curcuma sp. She has developed expertise in turmeric breeding as a part of genetic improvement in turmeric through seedling selection and hybridization programme. She has explored the variation of curcuminoid fragments in different turmeric genotypes and worked on the environmental interaction on turmeric quality traits. She has contributed to developing one turmeric and one ginger variety. She has published over 25 research articles. She is presently working as Senior Scientist, Division of Crop Improvement and Biotechnology at the ICAR‑Indian Institute of Spices Research, Kozhikode, Kerala. Chittaranjan Kole is an internationally reputed scientist with an illustrious professional career spanning over 40 years and original contributions in the fields of plant genomics, biotechnology, and molecular breeding, leading to the publication of more than 170 quality research articles and reviews. He has edited over 200 books for the leading publishers of the world. His scientific contributions and editing acumen have been appreciated by seven Nobel Laureates, including Profs. Norman Borlaug, Arthur Kornberg, Werner Arber, Phillip Sharp, Gunter Blobel, Lee Hartwell, and Roger Kornberg. He has been honoured with a number of Fellowships, Honorary Fellowships, and national and international awards, including the Outstanding Crop Scientist award conferred by the International Crop Science Society. He has served in all prestigious positions in academia, including as Vice‑Chancellor of BC Agricultural University, Project Coordinator of Indo‑Russian Center of Biotechnology in India, and Director of Research of Institute of Nutraceutical Research of Clemson University in the USA. He also worked at the Pennsylvania State University and Clemson University as Visiting Professor in the USA. He was awarded the Raja Ramanna Fellow by the Department of Energy, Government of India. He is also heading the International Climate‑Resilient Crop Genomics Consortium, International Consortium for Phytomedomics and Nutriomics and the Genome India International as their founder President.