I received my Bachelor of Science degree in Agriculture from Annamalai University, India in 1989 and also a Master's Degree in Plant Breeding and Genetics from Tamil Nadu Agriculutre University, India in 1992. I then joined University of Georgia and obtained a Ph.D. in Genetics in 1998. From 1999-2003, I was a post doctoral fellow in Dr. Daphne Preuss lab at The University of Chicago. Subsequently, I served as a Research Professional between 2004-2005, during which time I was the team leader of the pollen biology research group in Dr. Preuss lab. Since 2006, I have been a faculty at the Dept. of Plant Sciences, University of Arizona.

Long-term goal of my lab is to understand the molecular basis of how cells communicate with each other. We are employing pollen tube guidance during Arabidopsis thaliana reproduction as a model system to achieve this goal. In the immediate future we are focused on identifying and characterizing the guidance signals generated by the A.thaliana pistils to guide pollen tubes to their final target.

A pollen tube's journey to an egg cell within the pistil involves a series of cell-cell interactions such as attraction, repulsion and adhesion (Illustration). While these processes are likely mediated by several guidance signals, only a handful of guidance signals produced by female tissues have been identified. The guidance of pollen tubes into the ovule micropyle is highly reproducible, resembling the polarized migration of axons, yet sharing few genes in common. My lab is undertaking a multidisciplinary approach-Genetics, Cell biology and Biochemistry-to isolate and characterize these guidance signals in A. thaliana.

Characterization of pollen tube guidance in A. thaliana holds enormous potential as it focuses on a process that is (i) very unique to plants, (ii) poorly understood at the molecular level and (iii) amenable to genetic, cell biological and biochemical techniques and (iv) a rapid way to identify novel plant signals that allow communication between cells possible despite their thick extracellular walls. Additionally, we have recently developed an in vitro pollen tube guidance assay for A. thaliana (illustration) that monitors both attractive (see movie file1 and file2) and repulsive (see movie file3 and file4) interactions between pollen tubes and ovules–processes normally difficult to discern by virtue of them occurring within opaque pistils. These attributes therefore make pollen tube guidance in A. thaliana an ideal model system to study cell-cell interaction in plants.