AMU teacher provides training in Khartoum, Sudan

ALIGARH  : Dr. Aamir Raina, Department of Botany, Aligarh Muslim University was appointed as a Technical Corporation Expert and Lecturer by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Vienna, Austria, to conduct a National Training Course entitled “National Training Course on SDS-PAGE Screening for Protein Quality in Mutant Lines” held at Agricultural Research Corporation in Khartoum, Sudan. The training was organized under the project “Enhancing productivity and quality of high value crops through improved varieties and best soil, nutrient and water management practices”.

The IAEA invited Dr Raina as mission expert to provide the minute details of the methodologies followed in their article “Characterization of Induced High Yielding Cowpea Mutant Lines Using Physiological, Biochemical and Molecular Markers” published in Scientific Reports in 2020.

He said that the purpose of the training was to develop skills on SDS-PAGE analysis to identify differences in protein composition between mutant and wildtype lines.

This screening technique could help identify mutant lines that not only have higher total protein content but also a higher variety of proteins that will enrich the nutritional quality of seed crops such as sorghum, millet, and cowpea, he added.

Dr Raina also recently presented a poster, titled, “Can We Make a Future Shift in Agriculture from Climate-Sensitive to Climate-Smart Crops?” during the Plant and Animal Genome Conference held in San Diego, California.