Abdul Kareem Valiya Kadavu

Plants have a remarkable ability to regenerate tissues, organs, or even embryos from ordinary somatic cells. This regenerative capacity is central to horticulture and agricultural biotechnology, for example, when shoots or roots grow from stem cuttings in clonal propagation, or when tissue culture enables large-scale plant production and genetic transformation, including genome editing. Yet many economically important species, including major crops and trees, remain resistant to regeneration, highlighting the need for a deeper understanding of this process to improve propagation and breeding efficiency. Despite recent progress, the molecular mechanisms controlling regeneration are still not fully understood. My research focuses on how genetic programs, hormones, and environmental cues regulate different types of plant regeneration.

1      Kareem A*, Wüllen AV, Zhang A, Walckiers G, Fasth E, Melnyk CW* Water availability positions auxin response maxima to determine plant regeneration fates. Nature Plants (2025) 11, 1367–1379. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-025-02029-2 (*shared corresponding authors)

2      Serivichyaswat PT, Kareem A, Feng M, Melnyk CW, Auxin signaling in the cambium promotes tissue adhesion and vascular formation during Arabidopsis graft healing. Plant Physiology. 2024, https://doi.org/10.1093/plphys/kiae257

3      Feng M, Augstein F, Kareem A, Melnyk CW. Plant Grafting: Molecular Mechanisms and Applications. Molecular Plant, 2024, 17(1): 75-91, ISSN 1674-2052. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molp.2023.12.006

4      Kareem A, Bhatia N, Ohno C, Heisler MG, PIN-FORMED1 polarity in the plant shoot epidermis is insensitive to the polarity of neighbouring cells, iScience, 2022, Vol. 25, Issue 10, 105062, ISSN 2589-0042, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2022.105062 

5      Varapparambath V, Mathew MM, Shanmukhan AP, Radhakrishnan D, Kareem A, Verma S, et al. Mechanical conflict caused by a cell-wall-loosening enzyme activates de novo shoot regeneration. Developmental Cell. 2022 Sep 12;57(17):2063-2080.e10. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.devcel.2022.07.017

6      Zhang A, Matsuoka K, Kareem A, Robert M, Roszak P, Blob B, Bisht A, De Veylder L, Voiniciuc C, Asahina M, Melnyk CW, Cell-wall damage activates DOF transcription factors to promote wound healing and tissue regeneration in Arabidopsis thaliana, Current Biology, 2022, 32(9):1883-1894.e7. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2022.02.069

7      Shanmukhan AP, Mathew MM, Aiyaz M, Varaparambathu V, Kareem A, Radhakrishnan D, Prasad K. Regulation of touch-stimulated de novo root regeneration from Arabidopsis leaves. Plant Physiology. 2021, Sep 4;187(1):52-58. https://academic.oup.com/plphys/article/187/1/52/6306041

8      #Radhakrishnan D, #Shanmukhan AP, #Kareem A, Mathew MM, Varaparambathu V, Aiyaz M, Radha RK, Mekala KR, Shaji A, Prasad K. Age, Wound Size, and Position of Injury - Dependent Vascular Regeneration Assay in Growing Leaves. Bio Protocol. 2021, May 5;11(9):e4010. doi: 10.21769/BioProtoc.4010. (#joint first author)

9    #Radhakrishnan D, #Shanmukhan AP, #Kareem A, #Aiyaz M, Varapparambathu V, Toms A, et al., A coherent feed-forward loop drives vascular regeneration in damaged aerial organs growing in normal developmental-context, Development, 2020, pp. dev.185710, https://doi.org/10.1242/dev.185710 (#joint first author), Cover article 

10    Durgaprasad K, Roy MV, Venugopal M A, Kareem A, Raj K, Willemsen V, Mähönen AP, Scheres B, Prasad K, Gradient Expression of Transcription Factor Imposes a Boundary on Organ Regeneration Potential in Plants, Cell Reports, 2019, vol. 29, no. 2, pp. 453– 463.e3, doi:10.1016/j.celrep.2019.08.099 Cover article 

11    Kareem A, Radhakrishnan D, Wang X, Bagavathiappan S, Trivedi ZB, Sugimoto K, Xu J, Mähönen AP, Prasad K. Protocol: a method to study the direct reprogramming of lateral root primordia to fertile shoots, Plant Methods, 2016, vol. 12, no. 1, doi:10.1186/s13007- 016-0127-5 

12    Kareem A, Radhakrishnan D, Sondhi Y, Aiyaz M, Roy MV, Sugimoto K, Prasad K, De novo assembly of plant body plan: a step ahead of Deadpool, Regeneration, 2016, vol. 3, no. 4, pp. 182–197, doi:10.1002/reg2.68 Cover article

13    Kareem A, Durgaprasad K, Sugimoto K, Du Y, Pulianmackal AJ, Trivedi ZB, Abhayadev PV, Pinon V, Meyerowitz EM, Scheres B, Prasad K. PLETHORA Genes Control Regeneration by a Two-Step Mechanism, Current Biology, 2015, vol. 25, no. 8, pp. 1017–1030, doi:10.1016/j.cub.2015.02.022. Cover article 

14    #Pulianmackal AJ, #Kareem AV, #Durgaprasad K, Trivedi ZB, Prasad K. Competence and regulatory interactions during regeneration in plants. Front Plant Sci. 2014, Apr 11;5:142. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2014.00142. (#joint first author)