Glutathione: From Basic Science to Applications in Plants

Author Biography

Dr. Riddhi Datta is an Assistant Professor in the Post Graduate Department of Botany, Barasat Government College, Kolkata, India. She holds a Ph.D. in Biological Sciences from the CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Biology, Kolkata, India. A distinguished scholar, Dr. Datta was a university gold medalist at both the undergraduate and postgraduate levels at the University of Calcutta. Her primary research explores the molecular mechanisms of how the small metabolite glutathione regulates cellular nutrient homeostasis and environmental stress responses. She has published her research extensively in international journals of high repute, including Plant Physiology, Journal of Experimental Botany, and Plant, Cell & Environment. Her research has been widely recognized with prestigious awards, including the Indian National Science Academy Medal for Young Scientists (2017), the Young Scientist Award from the Indian Society of Plant Physiology (2018), and Women Excellence Award by the Science and Engineering Research Board, Government of India (2020). She is also an elected Member of the National Academy of Sciences, India (NASI), and the Indian National Young Academy of Sciences (INYAS). Beyond her academic contributions, Dr. Datta is deeply committed to science communication, regularly contributing popular science features and newspaper op-eds to public platforms. Dr. Mohammad Anwar Hossain is serving as a professor in the Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, Bangladesh Agricultural University (BAU), Mymensingh, Bangladesh. He received his BSc in Agriculture and MS in Genetics and Plant Breeding from BAU, Bangladesh. He also received an MS in Agriculture from Kagawa University, Japan, in 2008 and a PhD in Abiotic Stress Physiology and Molecular Biology from Ehime University, Japan in 2011 through Monbukagakusho scholarship. As a JSPS postdoctoral researcher, he has worked on isolating low phosphorus stress-tolerant genes from rice at the University of Tokyo, Japan during the period of 2015-17. As an Experienced Georg Forster Research Fellow funded by Alexander von Humboldt foundation, at present he is working at the University of Kiel, Germany. His current research program focuses on understanding physiological, biochemical, and molecular mechanisms underlying abiotic stresses in plants and the generation of stress-tolerant and nutrient-efficient plants through breeding and biotechnology. He has over 100 peer-reviewed publications and has edited 17 books, including this one, published by CRC Press, Springer, Elsevier, Wiley, and CABI. Dr. Maria Müller is an A. O. Professor at the University of Graz, currently based in the Department of Plant Sciences within the Institute of Biology. Demonstrating a strong commitment to academic administration, she has held multiple prominent leadership roles at the university, including serving as the Head of the Institute of Plant Sciences, Head of the Institute of Biology, and Deputy Dean of Studies for the Faculty of Natural Sciences. Dr. Müller’s core research areas center on the cell and stress biology of plants, with a specific focus on the effects of abiotic and biotic stress, as well as the study of secondary metabolites. She completed her biology studies and earned her PhD at the University of Graz, later obtaining her Habilitation in the anatomy and physiology of plants. Her foundational research has extensively explored plant structures and stress indicators, including the genotoxic potential of ozone in tree species. In addition to previously heading the university's Structural Cell Biology working group, Dr. Müller is an active contributor to the global scientific community. She has co-authored notable books and published numerous peer-reviewed journal articles exploring plant functional genomics, cellular stress responses, and metabolic regulations. Dr. Sharmila Chattopadhyay superannuated as a Senior Principal Scientist from CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Biology, Kolkata, India. She also served as Emeritus Scientist from 2020 to 2025 in the same august organization. Dr. Chattopadhyay graduated from the University of Calcutta. She obtained her masters and PhD degrees from Visva Bharati University, Santiniketan, India. As a NUFFIC postdoctoral fellow, Dr. Chattopadhyay was actively engaged for two years in the ATO-DLO, Wageningen, the Netherlands. Her postdoctoral research involved the cloning of tyrosinase from Agaricus bisporus followed by the construction of its anti-sense counterpart to control the browning of mushroom. Since 2000, Dr, Chattopadhya and her group largely focused on the dynamic role of GSH to combat inescapable environmental stress in the plant system. Other than this, she was also involved to explore and scientific validate our traditional knowledge on Indian Medicinal Plants viz. Podophyllum hexandrum, Phyllanthus spp., Nyctanthus arbortristis and so on. Along with her active and vibrant group members she has published several research papers in the journals viz. PLANTA, Plant Physiology, Journal of Plant Physiology, Journal of Experimental Botany, BMC Genomics, Plant Molecular Biology, Journal of Agricultural Food Chemistry, Planta Medica, Journal of Bioscience etc. Dr. Chattopadhyay delivered numerous scientific lectures both at National and international level including GORDON Research Conferences on ‘Plant Metabolic Engineering’ in the years 2009 and 2019. Her current research interest is to reconnoiter the molecular interactions of GSH with other stress modulators in the plant system to alleviate environmental stress.