Designation
Scientist
Educational qualification
M.Sc (Agril.Biotechnology)
Division
Crop Improvement
Contact Address
Indian Institute of Oilseeds Research
Rajendranagar, Hyderabad 500 030
Tel No
040-24598123
E-mail
ushakirandor@gmail.com
ushakiran.b@icar.gov.in
Projects completed
- QTL mapping for Fusarium wilt resistance in castor –PI (Institute Project)
- Improvement of oil content in safflower- Co-PI (Institute Project)
- Genetic enhancement through biotechnological approaches in castor- Co-PI (Institute Project)
- Identification of molecular markers associated with disease resistance in castor- Co-PI (Institute Project)
- Diversification of pistillate base and development of improved varieties and hybrids in castor- Co-PI (Institute Project)
- Development of protocol for marker-assisted selection of high oleic trait in safflower Co-PI (MARICO funded)
- Development of genetic and genomic resources and identification of genes/markers for agronomic traits in safflower- PI (Institute Project)
On-going Projects
- Optimization of regeneration and transformation protocols to realize grey mold resistant transgenic castor (Ricinus communis L.)- Co-PI (Institute Project)
- Improvement of safflower for high oil, biotic and abiotic stress resistance coupled with high seed yield through recombination and heterosis breeding.- Co-PI (Institute Project)
- Exploitation of linseed genetic resources for development of elite breeding lines with high seed yield, oil and quality- Co-PI (Institute Project)
Trainings undertaken (National & International)
- Centre for organization development (COD) training program on “Emotional Intelligence at Workplace for Women Scientists/Technologists” (Sponsored by Department of Science and Technology) held from November 23 - 27, 2020 at Hyderabad.
- CAFT training programme on "Computational Tools and Techniques for Molecular Data Analysis in Agriculture" organized at IASRI, New Delhi during February-11th to March 02nd, 2016.
- Training of "NGS analysis" in Genotypic technology Pvt Ltd. In Bangalore during April 28th to 30th, 2015.
- Training workshop on "Monitoring Confined Filed Trails of Regulated GE plants held on June 3-4th, 2015 at NAARM, Hyderabad.
- "Modern genomics for crop improvement" in ICRISAT, Hyderabad from 29th July to 9th August, 2013.
- Management Development programme: "Biotechnology and Intellectual Property Rights" at NAARM from 8th to 12th July, 2013.
- "Data analysis using SAS" in NAARM, Hyderabad from December 13th to 18th, 2010.
- "Application of Molecular markers in crop Improvement" in ICRISAT, Hyderabad from November 8th to 19th, 2010.
- "Training workshop Biosafety for State Agricultural Universities" at Acharya NG Ranga Agricultural University, Hyderabad, India. 26th to 27th. 2007.
- Training at international exposure programme "International Agriculture and Rural Development, (IARD)" at Cornell University, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Ithaca, USA from November 2006 to January 2007.
Recent Publications (best papers in past 5 years )
- Pandey BB, Ratnakumar P, B UshaKiran, Dudhe MY, Lakshmi GS, Ramesh K and Guhey A (2021) Identifying Traits Associated With Terminal Drought Tolerance in Sesame (Sesamum indicum L.) Genotypes. Front. Plant Sci. 12:739896. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2021.739896
- Jegadeeswaran M, Kadirvel P, Srinivas PS, Senthilvel S, Selvaraj VM, Mobeen S, Rushwanth Reddy Y, Usha Kiran B and Mukta N (2021) Genetic mapping reveals a major QTL associated with tolerance to the aphid, Uroleucon compositae (Theobald) in safflower (Carthamus tinctorius). Plant Breeding 00:1–11. https://doi.org/10.1111/pbr.12891.
- Lavanya, C., Ushakiran, B., Sarada, C., Manjunatha, T., Senthilvel, S., Ramya, K.T., Santhala Lakshmi, M.P. 2020. Use of single seed descent versus pedigree selection for development of elite parental lines in castor (Ricinus communis L.). Genetic resources and crop Evolution. DOI 10.1007/s10722-020-00985-6.
- Usha Kiran B, Dinesh Kumar V, Kumaraswamy HH, Sujatha M 2020. In vitro regeneration of castor (Ricinus communis L.). Journal of Oilseeds Research 37 (Special Issue): 18.
- Kadirvel P, Veerraju C, Senthilvel S, Yadav P, Ushakiran B, Shaik M, Shaw R, Mani SV, Reddy YR, Mohanrao MD, Mukta N. 2020. Marker-assisted selection for fast-track breeding of high oleic lines in safflower (Carthamus tinctorious L.). Industrial Crops & Products 158: 112983.
- Usha Kiran Betha, Mobeen Shaik, Kadirvel P., Mukta N. and Senthilvel S. 2019. Development and characterization of microsatellite markers from enriched genomic libraries in safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.). Research Journal of Biotechnology, 14 (12): 71-87.
- Usha Kiran Betha, Lavanya C. 2019. Molecular Diversity and Population Structure in Breeding Lines of Castor (Ricinus communis L.) Using SSR Markers. International Journal of Current Microbiology and applied Sciences, 8(2):1-15.
- Usha Kiran B, Shivakula Sekara Paandian and Lavanya C. 2017. Diagnostic set of SSR markers for molecular fingerprinting of parental lines and hybrid purity testing in castor (Ricinus communis L.). International Journal of Pure and Applied Biosciences, 5(6):1608-1615
- S. Senthilvel, MobeenShaik, K. Anjani, Ranjan K. Shaw, Poornima Kumari, C. Sarada, B. Usha Kiran . 2016. Genetic variability and population structure in a collection of inbred lines derived from a core germplasm of castor. Journal of Plant Biochemistry and Biotechnology. 26(1): 27-34.
- Usha Kiran B, Lavanya C. 2016. Genetic diversity in castor (Ricinus communis L.) pistillate lines using EST-SSR markers. Journal of Oilseeds Research 33 (3): 189-192.
- Usha Kiran B, Mukta N, Kadirvel P, Alivelu K, Senthilvel S, Kishore P, Varaprasad K S. 2015. Genetic diversity of safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.) germplasm as revealed by SSR markers Plant Genetic Resources: Characterization and Utilization 1–11.
- Kanti Meena, AnjaniKammili, Betha Usha Kiran and Vivekananda. 2015. Agro-morphological and Molecular Diversity in Castor (Ricinuscommunis L.) Germplasm Collected from Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India Czech J. Genet. Plant Breeding 51 (3): 96–109
Book chapters
- H. H. Kumaraswamy, V. Dinesh Kumar, C. Lavanya, B. Ushakiran, S. Senthilvel, M. Sujatha, K. B. Durga Bhavani,Aravind Kumar Konda, G. Lakshmidevi, Ashraf Md. Ashfaq, B. Sai Kumar, P. Soma Sekhar Reddy, and Ch. Anil Kumar. 2022 Biotechnological Approaches for Genetic Improvement of Castor Bean (Ricinus communis L.) In: Accelerated Plant Breeding, Volume 4Oil Crops .359-418
- Kumaraswamy Hanumegowda Hosur, Usha Kiran Betha, Kamlesh K, Yadav Madakka Mekapogu, Brijendra Kumar Kashyap. 2021. Byproduct Valorization of Vegetable Oil Industry Through Biotechnological Approach. In: Waste to Energy: Prospects and Applications pp 167-206.
- B. Usha Kiran and M.Sujatha.2016. Transgenic approaches for abiotic stress tolerance in plants. In: Recent advances in stress physiology by Pradumanyadav, Sunil kumar and Veena Jain. Pp .413-444.
Area of expertise
- Development of molecular markers, QTL mapping, genomics, association mapping and allele mining for crop improvement, tissue culture and transformation
Awards and recognition
- Fellow of The Indian Society of Oilseeds research, Hyderabad, 2020.
- Awarded Best Oral Presentaion, In International Conference on Advances in Biosciences and Biotechnology (ICABB-2022) on “Innovation in Life Sciences and Computational Biology” held at Jaypee Institute of Information Technology, Noida from January 20-22, 2022 for the paper entitled “Oleosin Gene Family of Carthamus Tinctorius: Uncovering of Natural Allelic Variants Associated with High Oil Content Through Sequence-Based Allele Mining”.
- Awarded Best Oral Presentaion, In: International Web Conference (ICAAAS 2021) on “Innovative and Current Advances in Agriculture & Allied Sciences” being organized Society for Scientific Development in Agriculture & Technology (SSDAT), Meerut, India during July 19-21, 2021for the paper entitled. Candidate gene based allele mining for oil content in safflower (Carthamus tinctorious L.).
- Young Scientist award was presented in “International conference for food and agriculture”, ICFA during March 29-31st at Dhanbhad, Jharkhand in 2018.
- Best Research paper award was given by IIOR for the research article. Usha Kiran B, Mukta N, Kadirvel P, Alivelu K, Senthilvel, Kishore K, Varaprasad K S (2015). Genetic diversity of safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.) germplasm revealed by SSR markers. Plant genetic Resources: Characterization and Utilization. 15 (1): 1-11.
- CSIR-JRF fellowship for pursuing Ph.D in 2009.
- Andhra Pradesh Netherland programme (APNL) Gold medal for highest OGPA in M.Sc (Agril. Biotechnology), ANGRAU in 2009.
- Guided 7 M.Sc (Biotechnology) students from different universities.