special interview
“OUR CHEMICAL GENETICS
PROCESS IS FAR RELIABLE
THAN THE GENETICALLY
MODIFIED APPROACH”
In a collaborative research paper published in scientific journal, Nature’s
December 2016 edition, Dr Ram Sagar Misra, Professor of Chemistry, Shiv
Nadar University, claimed to have discovered a new process to increase crop
yields in wheat by up to 50 percent. In an exclusive detailed conversation, Dr
Misra answered questions on the need, novelty, and future of the discovery
based on a signaling molecule that leads to higher starch production
BY RAHUL KOUL
Please explain to our
readers the process
developed by you and
the whole idea behind
it?
Our process radically
increases crop yields
in wheat by up to 50
percent. This will result
in an increase in biomass
as well as starch while
simultaneously making
the crop more resilient
against drought, excessive
rainfall and excessive
cold. This biotechnology
enabled process is called
‘chemical intervention in
plant signaling process’
and is also replicable in
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BioVoiceNews | May 2017
other crops such as rice,
potatoes etc.
Our idea was to identify
the biochemicals
responsible for triggering
this process. Therefore, a
lot of research was going
on with my collaborators,
Dr Matthew Paul and
Dr Benjamin Davis. We
identified the Trehalose-
6-Phosphate (T6P) as a
molecule that triggers
this starch production
process. Then we started
thinking on increasing the
concentration of starch
by feeding the plant with
certain biocompatible and
biosafe compounds, which
could increase the starch
production. Attempt
was to affect Trehalose-
6-Phosphate (T6P), the
signaling molecule. If that
was more, it will trigger
more starch production.
That was the idea.
What has been the
role of your UK based
collaborators?
My collaborators
include Dr Benjamin
Davis, a professor at the
University of Oxford,
and Dr Matthew Paul, a
scientist from Rothamsted
Research, Harpenden,
UK. Apart from that we