Dr. Kirtikumar Kondhare

Bio

Dr. Kirtikumar Ramesh Kondhare is working as an Assistant Professor at the Department of Biosciences and Technology, MIT-WPU from 22nd Sept. 2025. He completed Ph.D. in 2012 from Harper Adams University in collaboration with Rothamsted Research, United Kingdom. After returning to India in 2013, he worked as a Post-doc Fellow at IISER Pune for 6 years. From 2019 onwards, he worked as a DST Inspire Faculty and Assistant Professor, AcSIR at CSIR-National Chemical Laboratory Pune. During his DST Inspire Faculty tenure, he also worked as a Visiting Scientist at the Plant & Environmental Sciences Department of Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel for five months (May-Oct 2023). Dr. Kondhare has published 26 research articles / review papers in Peer-reviewed international journals and wrote 3 book chapters. From 2019 until 2025, he served as an independent PI for DST Inspire Faculty grant (35 Lakhs) on investigating the role of two phytohormones auxin and strigolactone on storage root development and sprouting in sweetpotato. He also contributed a Co-PI for five CSIR research grants (~550 lakhs) focused on Crop improvement and crop protection in various plants, such as tomato, potato, and a medicinal plant - Glory lily. In 2022, Dr. Kondhare was elected with two prestigious Young Scientist awards: (i) NASI Young Scientist Platinum Jubilee Award from National Academy of Sciences, Allahabad and (ii) Young Associate from Maharashtra Academy of Sciences, Pune, for his significant research contribution on tuber formation mechanisms and yield enhancement in potato and storage root development in sweetpotato. Dr. Kondhare is also serving as Young Scientist Editorial Board Member for Plant Hormones journal, Maximum Academic Press Journal (Term: 2 years from April 1, 2025, to March 31, 2027). He also serves as a peer reviewer for several reputed International journals, such as Nature Plants, Current Opinion in Plant Biology, New Phytologist, The Plant Journal, Physiology of Plantarum, Plant Physiology and Biochemistry, Physiology and Molecular Biology of Plants, International Journal of Biological Macromolecules, Scientific Reports, BMC Plant Biology, Genomics, International Journal of Molecular Sciences, Molecules, Plant Science, Journal of Cereal Science, Agriculture, Plant Biology, Horticulturae, Plant Signaling and Behavior.

Research Interests :
Understanding the molecular mechanism of storage root development and sprouting in sweetpotato (Ipomoea batatas) and allied storage root crops utilizing transcriptomics, metabolomics, molecular tools, genome-editing approaches, and plant transformation techniques. Overall focus is to enhance the yield, shelf-life, nutritional quality and bioactive compounds in important tuber, rhizome, and storage root crops/plants for societal benefits.

Research Papers :

1. Kondhare KR, Bhide AJ, Banerjee AK (2025) Mobile RNAs and proteins: Impacts on plant growth and productivity. Journal of Experimental Botany (https://doi.org/10.1093/jxb/eraf185) IF= 5.8

2. Dayama BR, Somani D, Shinde BA, Kondhare KR*, Karthikeyan M, Kadoo NY* (2025) Transcriptome and transcription factor analyses reveal WRKY41 as a potential candidate governing spot blotch resistance in wheat. Physiology and Molecular Biology of Plants 31(4):591-608 (https://doi.org/10.1007/s12298-025- 01583-5). IF= 3.4 (*Corresponding authors)

3. Bhatt PA, Gurav TP, Kondhare KR*, Giri AP* (2024) MYB proteins: Versatile regulators of plant development, stress responses, and specialized metabolite biosynthetic pathways. International Journal of Biological Macromolecules 288, 138588. (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2024.138588) IF= 7.7 (*Corresponding authors)

4. Lavhale SG, Kondhare KR*, Sinthadurai VS, Barvkar V, Joshi RS, Giri AP* (2024) Ocimum kilimandscharicum 4CL11 negatively regulates adventitious root development via accumulation of flavonoid glycosides. The Plant Journal 119(1), 176-196 (https://doi.org/10.1111/tpj.16752) IF= 6.2 (*Corresponding authors)

5. Kondhare KR#, Patil NS#, Siddappa S, Banerjee AK, Hannapel DJ (2023) Utilizing a mobile RNA and its RNA-binding partner(s) in stacked DNA constructs of transgenic lines for enhancing tuber yield in potato. International Journal of Molecular Sciences 24(21), 15754 (https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms242115754). IF= 4.9 (#Equal authors)

6. Malankar NN, Kondhare KR, Saha K, Mantri M, Banerjee AK (2023) Novel phasiRNA siRD29(-) regulates a gibberellin biosynthesis gene StGA3ox1 during stolon-to-tuber transitions in potato. Plant Physiology 193(4), 2555-2572 (https://doi.org/10.1093/plphys/kiad493). IF= 6.5

7. Kondhare KR#, Kumar A#, Patil NS, Malankar NN, Saha K, Banerjee AK (2021) Development of aerial and belowground tubers in potato is governed by photoperiod and epigenetic mechanism. Plant Physiology 187(3), 1071-1086 (https://doi.org/10.1093/plphys/kiab409). IF= 6.5 (#Equal authors)

8. Kondhare KR, Patil NS, Banerjee AK (2021) A historical overview of long-distance signalling in plants. Journal of Experimental Botany 72(12), 4218-4236. (https://doi.org/10.1093/jxb/erab048) IF= 5.8

9. Kondhare KR*, Patil AB, Giri AP (2021) Auxin: An emerging regulator of tuber and storage root development. Plant Science 306, 110854. (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.plantsci.2021.110854) IF= 4.2 (*Corresponding author)

10. Bhambhani S, Kondhare KR*, Giri AP* (2021) Advanced genome editing strategies for manipulation of plant specialized metabolites pertaining to biofortification. Phytochemistry Reviews 21, 81-99 (https://doi.org/10.1007/s11101-021-09749-1). IF= 7.3 (*Corresponding authors)

11. Bhambhani S, Kondhare KR, Giri AP (2021) Diversity in chemical structures and biological properties of plant alkaloids. In a special issue of the section ‘Natural products chemistry, therapeutic properties and beyond’. Molecules 26, 3374. (https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules26113374) IF= 4.2

12. Kumar A, Kondhare KR, Malankar NM, Banerjee AK (2021) StE(z)2, a Polycomb group methyltransferase and deposition of H3K27me3 and H3K4me3 regulate the expression of tuberization genes in potato. Journal of Experimental Botany 72(2), 426-444. (https://doi.org/10.1093/jxb/eraa468) IF= 5.8

13. Kumar A#, Kondhare KR#, Vetal PV, Banerjee AK (2020). PcG proteins MSI1 and BMI1 function upstream of miR156 to regulate aerial tuber formation in potato. Plant Physiology 182(1), 185-203. (https://doi.org/10.1104/pp.19.00416) IF= 6.5 (#Equal authors)

14. Kondhare KR, Natarajan B, Banerjee AK (2020) Molecular signals that govern tuber development in potato. International Journal of Developmental Biology 64, 133-140. (http://doi.org/10.1387/ijdb.190132ab) IF= 1.0

15. Kondhare KR, Vetal PV, Kalsi HS, Banerjee AK (2019b) BEL1-like protein (StBEL5) regulates CYCLING DOF FACTOR1 (StCDF1) through tandem TGAC core motifs in potato. Journal of Plant Physiology 241, 153014. (http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jplph.2019.153014) IF= 4.0

16. Kondhare KR, Natarajan B, Banerjee AK (2019a) How are storage organs of root and tuber crops made? Mobile RNAs and proteins hold the promise! Current Science 116, 10. (Cover page illustration). (https://www.currentscience.ac.in/Volumes/116/10/1625.pdf) IF= 1.1

17. Natarajan B, Kondhare KR, Hannapel DJ, Banerjee AK (2019) Mobile RNAs and proteins: Prospects in storage organ development in tuber and root crops. Plant Science 284, 73-81. (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.plantsci.2019.03.019) IF= 4.2

18. Kondhare KR, Malankar N, Devani RS, Banerjee AK (2018b) Genome-wide transcriptome analysis reveals small RNA profiles involved in early stages of stolon- to-tuber transitions in potato under photoperiodic conditions. BMC Plant Biology 18, 284. (https://doi.org/10.1186/s12870-018-1501-4) IF= 4.3

19. Kondhare KR, Kumar A, Hannapel DJ, Banerjee AK (2018a) Conservation of polypyrimidine tract binding proteins and their putative target RNAs in several storage root crops. BMC Genomics 19, 124. (https://doi.org/10.1186/s12864-018- 4502-7) IF= 3.5

20. Ghate TH#, Sharma P#, Kondhare KR, Hannapel DJ, Banerjee AK (2017) The mobile RNAs, StBEL11 and StBEL29, suppress growth of tubers in potato. Plant Molecular Biology 93(6), 563-578. (http://doi.org/10.1007/s11103-016-0582-4) IF= 3.9 (#Equal authors)

21. Mahajan AS, Kondhare KR, Rajabhoj MP, Kumar A, Ghate T, Ravindran N, Habib F, Siddappa S, Banerjee AK (2016) Regulation, over-expression and target gene identification of Potato Homeobox 15 (POTH15) - a class-I KNOX gene in potato. Journal of Experimental Botany 67 (14), 4255-4272. (https://doi.org/10.1093/jxb/erw205) IF= 5.8

22. Kondhare KR, Farrell AD, Hedden P, Kettlewell PS, Monaghan JM (2015) Pre- maturity α-amylase in wheat: the role of abscisic acid and gibberellins. Journal of Cereal Science 63, 95-108. (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcs.2015.03.004) IF= 3.9

23. Kondhare KR, Hedden P, Kettlewell PS, Farrell AD, Monaghan JM (2014b) Quantifying the impact of exogenous abscisic acid and gibberellins on pre-maturity α- amylase formation in developing wheat grains. Scientific Reports 19 (4), 5355. (https://doi.org/10.1038/srep05355) IF= 4.379

24. Kondhare KR, Hedden P, Kettlewell PS, Farrell AD, Monaghan JM (2014a) Use of the hormone-biosynthesis inhibitors fluridone and paclobutrazol to determine the effects of altered abscisic acid and gibberellin levels on pre-maturity α-amylase formation in wheat grains. Journal of Cereal Science 60, 210-216. (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcs.2014.03.001) IF= 3.9

25. Kondhare KR, Kettlewell PS, Farrell AD, Hedden P, Monaghan JM (2013) The role of sensitivity to abscisic acid and gibberellin in pre-maturity α-amylase formation in wheat. Journal of Cereal Science 58 (3), 472-478. (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcs.2013.09.009) IF= 3.9

26. Kondhare KR, Kettlewell PS, Farrell AD, Hedden P, Monaghan JM (2012) Effects of exogenous abscisic acid and gibberellic acid on pre-maturity α-amylase formation in wheat grains. Euphytica188 (1), 51-60. (https://doi.org/10.1007/s10681-012-0706-0) IF= 1.8

Book chapters

1. Kondhare KR (2022) Phytohormone-mediated regulation of sprouting in tuber and storage root crops. In: Auxins, cytokinins and gibberellins signaling in plants. Signaling and Communication in Plants (Ed. by Aftab T). Chapter 13, Pages 285-311. Springer, Cham, ISSN: 978-3-031-05427-3 (https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-05427-3_13)

2. Tanpure RS, Kondhare KR, Venkatesh V, Gupta VS, Joshi RS, Giri AP (2020) Non-host armor against insect: Characterization and application of Capsicum annuum protease inhibitors in developing insect tolerant plants. Genetically Modified Crops (Ed. by Kishor PB Kavi, Rajam MV, Pullaiah T), Springer Singapore. eBook ISBN: 978-981-15-5897-9

3. Kondhare KR, Kumar A, Banerjee AK (2018) Photoperiod-mediated regulation of tuberization in potato (S. tuberosum spp. andigena). Trends in Frontal Areas of Plant Science Research (Ed. by Sinha S and Sinha RK), Narosa Publishing Group. ISBN: 978-81- 8487-605-5

Patents

Giri AP, Lavhale S, Kondhare KR, Joshi RS (2022) A recombinant vector comprising 4CL11 ORF from Ocimum kilimandscharicum, and implementations thereof (Submitted; Patent number: 0130NF2022 / INV-2022-0015; Application number: 202211074379).

LinkedIn Profile :
https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-kirtikumar-ramesh-kondhare-251a2b1a

Google Scholar :
https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=YYT2bNUAAAAJ&hl=en

ORCiD ID :
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0762-3767