Assistant Professor
Department of Biological Sciences
📍 5F5 AB1
✉️
 |
 |
 |
 |
Research Area
Plant Sex Determination, Genetics and Molecular Biology, Flower Development, Fruit Set
Research Interests
My primary research interest lies in understanding and exploiting sex determination mechanisms in plants for crop engineering. Historically, advancements such as high-yielding F1-hybrids, mechanization, and irrigation have driven increased crop yields. However, in the post-genomic era, the discovery and optimization of gene networks controlling crucial agronomic traits hold the promise of further elevating productivity.
During my doctoral research, I focused on unravelling sex determination mechanisms in dioecious Coccinia grandis through an integrated transcriptomics and proteomics approach. As a postdoctoral researcher, I studied sex determination and fruit shape determination in melon as well as fruit set control in tomato employing a range of molecular biology, genetics, and -omics technologies.
Looking ahead, I plan to identify crucial sex-determining regulators in orphan cucurbits cultivated in India, such as bottle gourd, bitter gourd, ivy gourd, sponge gourd. For instance, in crops that develop low number of pistillate flowers, such as bottle gourd and other orphan crops of the Cucurbitaceae family, gynoecy could practically increase the yield and greatly help in F1 hybrid seed production. Also, engineering hermaphrodite or parthenocarpic lines has the potential to substantially boost yield by eliminating the need for pollinators. This work has the potential to play a vital role in ensuring food security and income generation for underprivileged farmers in developing nations.
Since 2025 : Assistant Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, IISER Mohali, Punjab, India
2024 - 2025 : Assistant Professor, School of Biology, IISER Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India
2019 - 2024 : Postdoctoral Researcher, Institute of Plant Sciences-Paris-Saclay (IPS2-INRAE), France
2018 - 2019 : Project Assistant, Biology Department, IISER Pune, Maharashtra, India
2012 - 2018 : PhD Scholar, Biology Department, IISER Pune, Maharashtra, India
2010 - 2012 : MSc Biotechnology, Department of Biotechnology, University of Pune, Maharashtra, India
2007 - 2010 : BSc Biotechnology, Department of Biotechnology, Shree M. & N. Virani Science College (Saurashtra University), Gujarat, India
Ramalingaswami Re-entry Fellowship, Dept. of Biotechnology, India (2023-24)
CSIR-SPM (Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Fellowship - 2012)
CSIR-NET JRF - All India Rank '2' (June 2012)
DBT-BET JRF (Biotechnology Eligibility Test - 2012)
GATE (Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering - 2012) - Rank '43’
Gujarat SET (Gujarat State Eligibility Test for Lectureship - 2013)
JNU-CEEB (Combined Entrance Examination for Biotechnology - 2010) Rank '103'
Ying Huang, Jing An, Sanchari Sircar, Clara Bergis, Chloé Dias Lopes, Xiaoning He, Barbara Da Costa, Feng-Quan Tan, Jeremie Bazin, Javier Antunez-Sanchez, Maria Florencia Mammarella, Ravi-sureshbhai Devani, Rim Brik-Chaouche, Abdelhafid Bendahmane, Florian Frugier, Chongjing Xia, Christophe Rothan, Aline V Probst, Zouine Mohamed, Catherine Bergounioux, Marianne Delarue, Yijing Zhang, Shaojian Zheng, Martin Crespi, Sotirios Fragkostefanakis, Magdy M Mahfouz, Federico Ariel, Jose Gutierrez-Marcos, Cécile Raynaud, David Latrasse and Moussa Benhamed. HSFA1a modulates plant heat stress responses and alters the 3D chromatin organization of enhancer-promoter interactions. Nature Communications 14(1), January 2023. URL, DOI
Dali Rashid, Ravi Sureshbhai Devani, Natalia Yaneth Rodriguez-Granados, Fadi Abou-Choucha, Christelle Troadec, Halima Morin, Feng-Quan Tan, Fabien Marcel, Hsin-Ya Huang, Melissa Hanique, Siqi Zhang, Marion Verdenaud, Clement Pichot, Vincent Rittener, Ying Huang, Moussa Benhamed, Catherine Dogimont, Adnane Boualem and Abdelhafid Bendahmane. Ethylene produced in carpel primordia controls CmHB40 expression to inhibit stamen development. Nature Plants 9(10):1675–1687, 2023. URL, DOI
Adnane Boualem, Serge Berthet, Ravi Sureshbhai Devani, Celine Camps, Sebastien Fleurier, Halima Morin, Christelle Troadec, Nathalie Giovinazzo, Nebahat Sari, Catherine Dogimont and Abdelhafid Bendahmane. Ethylene plays a dual role in sex determination and fruit shape in cucurbits. Current Biology, May 2022. URL, DOI
Christian Clepet, Ravi Sureshbhai Devani, Rachid Boumlik, Yanwei Hao, Halima Morin, Fabien Marcel, Marion Verdenaud, Brahim Mania, Gwilherm Brisou, Sylvie Citerne, Gregory Mouille, Jean-Christophe Lepeltier, Shai Koussevitzky, Adnane Boualem and Abdelhafid Bendahmane. The miR166\textendashSlHB15A regulatory module controls ovule development and parthenocarpic fruit set under adverse temperatures in tomato. Molecular Plant 14(7):1185–1198, July 2021. URL, DOI
Pierre Jacob, Gwilherm Brisou, Marion Dalmais, Johanne Thévenin, Froukje Wal, David Latrasse, Ravi Suresh Devani, Moussa Benhamed, Bertrand Dubreucq, Adnane Boualem, Loic Lepiniec, Richard G H Immink, Heribert Hirt and Abdelhafid Bendahmane. The Seed Development Factors TT2 and MYB5 Regulate Heat Stress Response in Arabidopsis. Genes 12(5):746, May 2021. URL, DOI
Cécile Fruchard, Hélène Badouin, David Latrasse, Ravi S Devani, Aline Muyle, Bénédicte Rhoné, Susanne S Renner, Anjan K Banerjee, Abdelhafid Bendahmane and Gabriel A B Marais. Evidence for Dosage Compensation in Coccinia grandis, a Plant with a Highly Heteromorphic XY System. Genes 11(7):787, July 2020. URL, DOI
Ravi Suresh Devani, Apurva Kute, Sheeba John, Supriya Adhikari, Sangram Sinha and Anjan Kumar Banerjee. Development of a Virus-Induced Gene Silencing System for Dioecious Coccinia grandis. Molecular Biotechnology 62(9):412–422, June 2020. URL, DOI
Ravi Suresh Devani, Tejas Chirmade, Sangram Sinha, Abdelhafid Bendahmane, Bhushan B Dholakia, Anjan Kumar Banerjee and Jayeeta Banerjee. Flower bud proteome reveals modulation of sex-biased proteins potentially associated with sex expression and modification in dioecious Coccinia grandis. BMC Plant Biology 19(1), 2019. URL, DOI
Ravi Suresh Devani, Sangram Sinha, Jayeeta Banerjee, Rabindra Kumar Sinha, Abdelhafid Bendahmane and Anjan Kumar Banerjee. De novo transcriptome assembly from flower buds of dioecious, gynomonoecious and chemically masculinized female Coccinia grandis reveals genes associated with sex expression and modification. BMC Plant Biology 17(1), December 2017. URL, DOI