Sanjeev Kumar Sharma
Current research interests
Dr Sanjeev Kumar Sharma is a member of the Potato Genetics and Breeding group at the James Hutton Institute in Dundee. He earned his Bachelor’s in Forestry and Master’s in Biotechnology, with a minor in Forestry, from CCS Haryana Agricultural University, India; and pursued his PhD at the University of Dundee, UK under a prestigious Commonwealth Scholarship award.
Dr Sharma’s specialism is in potato applied and basic research covering a wide spectrum of expertise from novel methods of propagation and seed production, through to genetics, genomics, marker development, next-generation sequencing and bioinformatics. He has developed a prototype for advanced and accelerated propagation system in potato using somatic embryo-derived synthetic seeds. More recently, he was involved in the international potato genome sequencing project where he co-planned and co-coordinated the project genetic anchoring part which led to the construction of the reference potato chromosome-scale pseudomolecules (G3: Genes, Genomes, Genetics 2013; 3:2031-2047). He also chaired and coordinated regular meetings of the international potato genome sequencing consortium. He has been actively involved in several other potato related projects including Innovate UK project on potato breeding and genomics, BBSRC-HAPI project on tuber dormancy, EU H2020 G2PSOL and ADAPT projects as well as other industrially funded projects. He is exploiting novel genetic and sequence-based genotyping approaches for trait analyses and allele mining in potato targeting important agronomic and processing as well as disease resistance traits. These include genome-wide association studies (GWAS), sequence-based bulk-segregant analysis (BSA), genomic selection, genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS), whole-exome capture (WEC) sequencing and single-primer enrichment technology (SPET). Overall, here his broader focus of research is to exploit genetic, genomic, and biotechnological approaches for furthering potato research and accelerate breeding efficiencies in potato.
He has served as an advisory board panel member for Plant Genomics Congress Europe (2015-2016) and is also serving as reviewer for British Council Newton Fund grants (2018-2022) and KAPPA Programme grants 2020 TACR Czech Republic.
Past research
Before relocating to the UK, Dr Sharma acquired considerable experience in commercial plant tissue culture notably managing technical operations in a large micropropagation facility (Sheel Biotech Ltd, India - established in collaboration with Cultiss, Holland B.V.) with an annual capacity of >5 million plants. He also established an R&D-cum-pilot scale tissue culture laboratory at Thapar Centre for Industrial Research, Patiala, India along with developing indigenous protocols for large-scale production of potato microtubers and upscaled it for generating over 0.5 million microtubers and 1.2 million minitubers per annum. There, he also worked on the selection and micropropagation of elite Eucalyptus trees for the pulp and paper industry including establishment of a clonal demonstration plantation using tissue culture raised Eucalypt saplings.
Employment history
2011 (April) - present: Molecular Geneticist, James Hutton Institute, Dundee, UK
2009 (February) - April 2011: Molecular Geneticist, SCRI, Dundee, UK
2007 (November) to 2009 (January): Scientist E-I, National Botanical Research Institute, Lucknow, India
2006 (June) to 2007 (November): Molecular Geneticist, SCRI, Dundee, UK
2002 (October) to 2006 (June): Commonwealth Doctoral Scholar, University of Dundee, UK
1995 (November) to 2002 (September): Research Scientist (Apr 2000 to Sep 2002); Assistant Research Scientist (Apr 1999 to Mar 2000); Senior Scientific Assistant (Nov 1995 to Mar 1999); Thapar Centre for Industrial R&D, Patiala, India
1994 (November) to 1995 (November): Senior Scientific Officer, M/s Sheel Biotech Ltd (Established in collaboration with Cultiss, Holland B.V.), Gurgaon, India
1994 (July) to 1994 (November): Research Associate, Department of Genetics, CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar, India
Bibliography
- Gartner, U.; Hein, I.; Brown, L.H.; Chen, X.; Mantelin, S.; Sharma, S.K.; Dandurand, L.-M.; Kuhl, J.C.; Jones, J.T.; Bryan, G.J.; Blok, V.C. (2021) Resisting potato cyst nematodes with resistance., Frontiers in Plant Science, 12, Article no. 661194.
- Sharma, S. K.; McLean, K.; Colgan, R. J.; Rees, D.; Young, S.; Sønderkær, M.; Terry, L. A.; Turnbull, C.; Taylor, M. A.; Bryan, G. J. (2021) Combining conventional QTL analysis and wholeexome capturebased bulksegregant analysis provides new genetic insights into tuber sprout elongation and dormancy release in a diploid potato population., Heredity, 127, 253-265.
- Morris, W.L.; Alamar, M.C.; Lopez-Cobollo, R.M.; Cañete Castillo, J.; Bennett, M.; Van der Kaay, J.; Stephens, J.; Sharma, S.K.; Thompson, A.J.; Terry, L.A.; Turnbull, C.G.N.; Bryan, G.J.; Taylor, M.A. (2019) A member of the TERMINAL FLOWER 1/CENTRORADIALIS gene family controls sprout growth in potato tubers., Journal of Experimental Botany, 70, 835-843.
- Sharma, S.K.; MacKenzie, K.; McLean, K.; Dale, F.; Daniels, S.; Bryan, G.J. (2018) Linkage disequilibrium and evaluation of genome-wide association mapping models in tetraploid potato., G3: Genes, Genomes, Genetics, 8, 3185-3202.
- Sharma, S.K.; Bryan, G.J. (2017) Genome sequence-based marker development and genotyping in potato., In: Kumar Chakrabarti S., Xie C. & Kumar Tiwari,J. (eds.) The Potato Genome. Compendium of Plant Genomes. Springer, Cham., Chapter 17, pp307-316.
- Dale, M.F.B.; Sharma, S.K.; Bryan, G.J. (2016) Potato breeding now and into the genomics era., Acta Horticulturae, 1118, 1-10.
- Campbell, R.; Pont, S.D.A.; Morris, J.A.; McKenzie, G.; Sharma, S.K.; Hedley, P.E.; Ramsay, G.; Bryan, G.J.; Taylor, M.A. (2014) Genome-wide QTL and bulked transcriptomic analysis reveals new candidate genes for the control of tuber carotenoid content in potato (Solanum tuberosum L.)., Theoretical and Applied Genetics, 127, 1917-1933.
- Amar, D.; Frades, I.; Danek, A.; Goldberg, T.; Sharma, S.K.; Hedley, P.; Proux-Wera, E.; Andreasson, E.; Shamir, R.; Tzfadia, O.; Alexandersson, E. (2014) Evaluation and integration of functional annotation pipelines for newly sequenced organisms: the potato genome as a test case., BMC Plant Biology, 14, 329.
- Morris, W.L.; Hancock, R.D.; Ducreux, L.J.M.; Morris, J.A.; Usman, M.; Verrall, S.R.; Sharma, S.K.; Bryan, G.J.; McNicol, J.W.; Hedley, P.E.; Taylor, M.A. (2014) Day length dependent restructuring of the leaf transcriptome and metabolome in potato genotypes with contrasting tuberisation phenotypes., Plant Cell and Environment, 37, 1351-1363.
- Prashar, A.; Hornyik, C.; Young, V.; McLean, K.; Sharma, S.K.; Dale, M.F.B.; Bryan, G.J. (2014) Construction of a dense SNP map of a highly heterozygous diploid potato population and QTL analysis of tuber shape and eye depth., Theoretical and Applied Genetics, 127, 2159-2171.
- Pasare, S.A.; Ducreux, L.J.M.; Morris, W.L.; Campbell, R.; Sharma, S.K.; Roumeliotis, E.; Kohlen, W.; van der Krol, S.; Bramley, P.M.; Roberts, A.G.; Fraser, P.D.; Taylor, M.A. (2013) The role of the potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) CCD8 gene in stolon and tuber development., New Phytologist, 198, 1108-1120.
- Sharma, S.K.; Bolser, D.; de Boer, J.; Sonderkaer, M.; Amoros, W.; Carboni, M.F.; D'Ambrosio, J.M.; de la Cruz, G.; Di Genova, A.; Douches, D.S.; Eguiluz, M.; Guo, X.; Guzman, F.; Hackett, C.A.; Hamilton, J.P.; Li, G.C.; Li, Y.; Lozano, R.; Maass, A.; Marshall, D.; Martinez, D.; McLean, K.; Mejia, N.; Milne, L.; Munive, S.; Nagy, I.; Ponce, O.; Ramirez, M.; Simon, R.; Thomson, S.J.; Torres, Y.; Waugh, R.; Zhang, Z.H.; Huang, S.W.; Visser, R.G.F.; Bachem, C.W.B.; Sagredo, B.; Feingold, S.E.; Orjeda, G.; Veilleux, R.E.; Bonierbale, M.; Jacobs, J.M.E.; Milbourne, D.; Martin, D.M.A.; Bryan, G.J. (2013) Construction of reference chromosome-scale Pseudomolecules for potato: integrating the potato genome with genetic and physical maps., G3-Genomes Genomes Genetics, 3, 2031-2047.
- Jupe, F.; Pritchard, L.; Etherington, G.; MacKenzie, K.; Cock, P.J.A.; Wright, F.; Sharma, S.K.; Bolser, D.; Bryan, G.J.; Jones, J.; Hein, I. (2012) Identification and localisation of the NB-LRR gene family within the potato genome., BMC Genomics,13, 1-14.
- Xu, X.; Pan, S.K.; Cheng, S.F.; Zhang, B.; Mu, D.S.; Ni, P.X.; Zhang, G.Y.; Yang, S.; Li, R.Q.; Wang, J.; Orjeda, G.; Guzman, F.; Torres, M.; Lozano, R.; Ponce, O.; Martinez, D.; de la Cruz, G.; Chakrabarti, S.K.; Patil, V.U.; Skryabin, K.G.; Kuznetsov, B.B.; Ravin, N.V.; Kolganova, T.V.; Beletsky, A.V.; Mardanov, A.V.; Genovam A.; Bolser, D.M.; Martin, D.M.A.; Guangcun, L.; Hanhui, K.; Qun, H.; Xingya, X.; Bishop, G.J.; Sagredo, B.; Mejia, N.; Zagorski, W.; Gawor, J.; Szczesny, P.; Huang, S.; Zhang, Z.; Liang, C.; He, J.; He, Y.; Xu, J.; Zhang, Y.; Xie, B.; Du, Y.; Qu, D.; Bonierbale, M.; Ghislain, M.; del Rosario Herrera, M.; Giuliano, G.; Pietrella, M.; Perrotta, G.; Facella, P.; O'Brien, K.; Feingold, S.E.; Barreiro, L.E.; Massa, G.A.; Diambra, L.; Whitty, B.R.; Vaillancourt, B.; Lin, H.; Massa, A.N.; Geoffroy, M.; Lundback, S.; DellaPenna, D.; Buell, C.R.; Sharma, S.K.; Marshall, D.F.; Waugh, R.; Bryan, G.J.; Destefanis, M.; Nagy, I.; Milbourne, D.; Thomson, S.J.; Fiers, M.; Jacobs, J.M.E.; Nielsen, K.L.; Sonderkaerz, M.; Lovene, K.; Torres, G.A.; Jiang, J.; Veilleux, R.E.; Bachem, C.W.B.; Boer, J.; Borm, T.; Kloosterman, B.; van Eck, H.; Datema, E.; Hekkert, B.; Goverse, A.; van Ham, R.C.H.J.; Visser, R.G.F. (2011) Genome sequence and analysis of the tuber crop potato., Nature, 475, 189-195.
- Sharma, S.K.; Millam, S.; Hedley, P.E.; McNicol, J.W.; Bryan, G.J. (2008) Molecular regulation of somatic embryogenesis in potato: an auxin led perspective., Plant Molecular Biology, 68, 185-201.
- Sharma, S.K.; Millam, S.; Bryan, G.J.; Hein, I. (2008) Cloning and molecular characterisation of a potato SERK gene transcriptionally induced during initiation of somatic embryogenesis., Planta, 228, 319-330.
- Sharma, S.K.; Millam, S.; Hedley, P.E.; Hein, I.; McNicol, J.W.; Bryan, G.J. (2008) Somatic embryogenesis in potato., Annual Report of the Scottish Crop Research Institute for 2007, pp18-19.
- Sharma, S.K.; Bryan, G.J.; Millam, S. (2007) Auxin pulse treatment holds the potential to enhance efficiency and practicability of somatic embryogenesis in potato., Plant Cell Reports, 26, 945-950.
- Sharma, S.K.; Bryan, G.J.; Winfield, M.O.; Millam, S. (2007) Stability of potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) plants regenerated via somatic embryos, axillary bud proliferated shoots, microtubers and true potato seeds: a comparative phenotypic, cytogenetic and molecular assessment., Planta, 226, 1449-1458.
- Millam, S.; Sharma, S.K. (2007) Soil-free techniques., In: Potato Biology and Biotechnology: Advances and Perspectives (eds. D. Vreugdenhil, J.E. Bradshaw, C. Gebhardt, F. Govers, D.K.L. MacKerron, M.A.Taylor, and H.A. Ross). Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp705-716.
- Sharma, S.K.; Millam, S. (2004) Somatic embryogenesis in Solanum tuberosum L.: A histological examination of key developmental stages., Plant Cell Reports, 23, 115-119.
- Millam, S.; Sharma, S.K.; Bryan, G.J.; Matti-Rokka, V.; Middlefell-Williams, J. (2004) Pathways of vegetative development via embryogenesis in Solanum tuberosum L., Annual Report of the Scottish Crop Research Institute for 2003/2004, pp124-125.
- Gartner, U.; Hein, I.; Brown, L.H.; Chen, X.; Mantelin, S.; Sharma, S.K.; Dandurand, L.-M.; Kuhl, J.C.; Jones, J.T.; Bryan, G.J.; Blok, V.C. (2021) Resisting potato cyst nematodes with resistance., Frontiers in Plant Science, 12, Article no. 661194.
- Sharma, S. K.; McLean, K.; Colgan, R. J.; Rees, D.; Young, S.; Sønderkær, M.; Terry, L. A.; Turnbull, C.; Taylor, M. A.; Bryan, G. J. (2021) Combining conventional QTL analysis and wholeexome capturebased bulksegregant analysis provides new genetic insights into tuber sprout elongation and dormancy release in a diploid potato population., Heredity, 127, 253-265.
- Morris, W.L.; Alamar, M.C.; Lopez-Cobollo, R.M.; Cañete Castillo, J.; Bennett, M.; Van der Kaay, J.; Stephens, J.; Sharma, S.K.; Thompson, A.J.; Terry, L.A.; Turnbull, C.G.N.; Bryan, G.J.; Taylor, M.A. (2019) A member of the TERMINAL FLOWER 1/CENTRORADIALIS gene family controls sprout growth in potato tubers., Journal of Experimental Botany, 70, 835-843.
- Sharma, S.K.; MacKenzie, K.; McLean, K.; Dale, F.; Daniels, S.; Bryan, G.J. (2018) Linkage disequilibrium and evaluation of genome-wide association mapping models in tetraploid potato., G3: Genes, Genomes, Genetics, 8, 3185-3202.
- Dale, M.F.B.; Sharma, S.K.; Bryan, G.J. (2016) Potato breeding now and into the genomics era., Acta Horticulturae, 1118, 1-10.
- Campbell, R.; Pont, S.D.A.; Morris, J.A.; McKenzie, G.; Sharma, S.K.; Hedley, P.E.; Ramsay, G.; Bryan, G.J.; Taylor, M.A. (2014) Genome-wide QTL and bulked transcriptomic analysis reveals new candidate genes for the control of tuber carotenoid content in potato (Solanum tuberosum L.)., Theoretical and Applied Genetics, 127, 1917-1933.
- Amar, D.; Frades, I.; Danek, A.; Goldberg, T.; Sharma, S.K.; Hedley, P.; Proux-Wera, E.; Andreasson, E.; Shamir, R.; Tzfadia, O.; Alexandersson, E. (2014) Evaluation and integration of functional annotation pipelines for newly sequenced organisms: the potato genome as a test case., BMC Plant Biology, 14, 329.
- Morris, W.L.; Hancock, R.D.; Ducreux, L.J.M.; Morris, J.A.; Usman, M.; Verrall, S.R.; Sharma, S.K.; Bryan, G.J.; McNicol, J.W.; Hedley, P.E.; Taylor, M.A. (2014) Day length dependent restructuring of the leaf transcriptome and metabolome in potato genotypes with contrasting tuberisation phenotypes., Plant Cell and Environment, 37, 1351-1363.
- Prashar, A.; Hornyik, C.; Young, V.; McLean, K.; Sharma, S.K.; Dale, M.F.B.; Bryan, G.J. (2014) Construction of a dense SNP map of a highly heterozygous diploid potato population and QTL analysis of tuber shape and eye depth., Theoretical and Applied Genetics, 127, 2159-2171.
- Pasare, S.A.; Ducreux, L.J.M.; Morris, W.L.; Campbell, R.; Sharma, S.K.; Roumeliotis, E.; Kohlen, W.; van der Krol, S.; Bramley, P.M.; Roberts, A.G.; Fraser, P.D.; Taylor, M.A. (2013) The role of the potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) CCD8 gene in stolon and tuber development., New Phytologist, 198, 1108-1120.
- Sharma, S.K.; Bolser, D.; de Boer, J.; Sonderkaer, M.; Amoros, W.; Carboni, M.F.; D'Ambrosio, J.M.; de la Cruz, G.; Di Genova, A.; Douches, D.S.; Eguiluz, M.; Guo, X.; Guzman, F.; Hackett, C.A.; Hamilton, J.P.; Li, G.C.; Li, Y.; Lozano, R.; Maass, A.; Marshall, D.; Martinez, D.; McLean, K.; Mejia, N.; Milne, L.; Munive, S.; Nagy, I.; Ponce, O.; Ramirez, M.; Simon, R.; Thomson, S.J.; Torres, Y.; Waugh, R.; Zhang, Z.H.; Huang, S.W.; Visser, R.G.F.; Bachem, C.W.B.; Sagredo, B.; Feingold, S.E.; Orjeda, G.; Veilleux, R.E.; Bonierbale, M.; Jacobs, J.M.E.; Milbourne, D.; Martin, D.M.A.; Bryan, G.J. (2013) Construction of reference chromosome-scale Pseudomolecules for potato: integrating the potato genome with genetic and physical maps., G3-Genomes Genomes Genetics, 3, 2031-2047.
- Jupe, F.; Pritchard, L.; Etherington, G.; MacKenzie, K.; Cock, P.J.A.; Wright, F.; Sharma, S.K.; Bolser, D.; Bryan, G.J.; Jones, J.; Hein, I. (2012) Identification and localisation of the NB-LRR gene family within the potato genome., BMC Genomics,13, 1-14.
- Xu, X.; Pan, S.K.; Cheng, S.F.; Zhang, B.; Mu, D.S.; Ni, P.X.; Zhang, G.Y.; Yang, S.; Li, R.Q.; Wang, J.; Orjeda, G.; Guzman, F.; Torres, M.; Lozano, R.; Ponce, O.; Martinez, D.; de la Cruz, G.; Chakrabarti, S.K.; Patil, V.U.; Skryabin, K.G.; Kuznetsov, B.B.; Ravin, N.V.; Kolganova, T.V.; Beletsky, A.V.; Mardanov, A.V.; Genovam A.; Bolser, D.M.; Martin, D.M.A.; Guangcun, L.; Hanhui, K.; Qun, H.; Xingya, X.; Bishop, G.J.; Sagredo, B.; Mejia, N.; Zagorski, W.; Gawor, J.; Szczesny, P.; Huang, S.; Zhang, Z.; Liang, C.; He, J.; He, Y.; Xu, J.; Zhang, Y.; Xie, B.; Du, Y.; Qu, D.; Bonierbale, M.; Ghislain, M.; del Rosario Herrera, M.; Giuliano, G.; Pietrella, M.; Perrotta, G.; Facella, P.; O'Brien, K.; Feingold, S.E.; Barreiro, L.E.; Massa, G.A.; Diambra, L.; Whitty, B.R.; Vaillancourt, B.; Lin, H.; Massa, A.N.; Geoffroy, M.; Lundback, S.; DellaPenna, D.; Buell, C.R.; Sharma, S.K.; Marshall, D.F.; Waugh, R.; Bryan, G.J.; Destefanis, M.; Nagy, I.; Milbourne, D.; Thomson, S.J.; Fiers, M.; Jacobs, J.M.E.; Nielsen, K.L.; Sonderkaerz, M.; Lovene, K.; Torres, G.A.; Jiang, J.; Veilleux, R.E.; Bachem, C.W.B.; Boer, J.; Borm, T.; Kloosterman, B.; van Eck, H.; Datema, E.; Hekkert, B.; Goverse, A.; van Ham, R.C.H.J.; Visser, R.G.F. (2011) Genome sequence and analysis of the tuber crop potato., Nature, 475, 189-195.
- Sharma, S.K.; Millam, S.; Hedley, P.E.; McNicol, J.W.; Bryan, G.J. (2008) Molecular regulation of somatic embryogenesis in potato: an auxin led perspective., Plant Molecular Biology, 68, 185-201.
- Sharma, S.K.; Millam, S.; Bryan, G.J.; Hein, I. (2008) Cloning and molecular characterisation of a potato SERK gene transcriptionally induced during initiation of somatic embryogenesis., Planta, 228, 319-330.
- Sharma, S.K.; Bryan, G.J.; Millam, S. (2007) Auxin pulse treatment holds the potential to enhance efficiency and practicability of somatic embryogenesis in potato., Plant Cell Reports, 26, 945-950.
- Sharma, S.K.; Bryan, G.J.; Winfield, M.O.; Millam, S. (2007) Stability of potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) plants regenerated via somatic embryos, axillary bud proliferated shoots, microtubers and true potato seeds: a comparative phenotypic, cytogenetic and molecular assessment., Planta, 226, 1449-1458.
- Sharma, S.K.; Millam, S. (2004) Somatic embryogenesis in Solanum tuberosum L.: A histological examination of key developmental stages., Plant Cell Reports, 23, 115-119.
- Sharma, S.K.; Bryan, G.J. (2017) Genome sequence-based marker development and genotyping in potato., In: Kumar Chakrabarti S., Xie C. & Kumar Tiwari,J. (eds.) The Potato Genome. Compendium of Plant Genomes. Springer, Cham., Chapter 17, pp307-316.
- Millam, S.; Sharma, S.K. (2007) Soil-free techniques., In: Potato Biology and Biotechnology: Advances and Perspectives (eds. D. Vreugdenhil, J.E. Bradshaw, C. Gebhardt, F. Govers, D.K.L. MacKerron, M.A.Taylor, and H.A. Ross). Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp705-716.
- Sharma, S.K.; Millam, S.; Hedley, P.E.; Hein, I.; McNicol, J.W.; Bryan, G.J. (2008) Somatic embryogenesis in potato., Annual Report of the Scottish Crop Research Institute for 2007, pp18-19.
- Millam, S.; Sharma, S.K.; Bryan, G.J.; Matti-Rokka, V.; Middlefell-Williams, J. (2004) Pathways of vegetative development via embryogenesis in Solanum tuberosum L., Annual Report of the Scottish Crop Research Institute for 2003/2004, pp124-125.
