Dr. Jaya R. Soneji

Contact Information

Citrus Research and Education Center
Lake Alfred, Florida
Horticulture - Citrus Breeding and Genetics
Phone: 863.956.1151 ext. 1362
Email: jrs@crec.ifas.ufl.edu

Education

Doctor of Philosophy in Botany (PhD): Nuclear Agriculture & Biotechnology Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC, Place of work), University of Mumbai, Mumbai, India
Thesis title: "Tissue culture studies in pineapple (Ananas comosus L. Merr.) and molecular characterization of variants"

Master of Science in Botany (M.Sc.): Specialization in Cytogenetics, Plant Breeding & Molecular Biology, University of Mumbai, Mumbai, India

Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.): Specialization in Botany with Environmental Sciences as the applied component, University of Mumbai, Mumbai, India
Subsidiary subjects: Chemistry and Zoology.

Positions

2004–Date: Post-Doctoral Research Associate, Department of Horticulture, University of Florida, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, Citrus Research and Education Center, Lake Alfred, USA.

2002–2004: Research Associate, Indian Institute of Horticultural Research, Hessaraghatta, Bangalore, India

1996–1997: Lecturer, Ramnivas Ruia College, Mumbai, India

Specialization

Plant genetic engineering; Plant cell, tissue & organ culture; Plant molecular biology; Plant breeding; Functional genomics

Ongoing Research

• Genetic engineering of citrus for resistance to Citrus tristeza virus
• Triploid hybrid embryo rescue to produce seedless citrus varieties
• Hybrid embryo rescue from pummelo and mandarin crosses at different time intervals to optimize the time of harvest of the fruits for hybrid embryo rescue
• Regeneration from transverse thin cell layers of mature stem segments of citrus
• Production of graft-union chimeras
• Regeneration and Agrobacterium-mediated transformation of Murraya paniculata
• Functional genomics studies for the identification of gene transcripts responsible for apomixis in citrus
• Citrus rootstock genetic improvement project
• Developing genomic resources for the promotion of fundamental and applied research on Coreopsis, the Florida state wildflower.
• Comparison of expression between samples of CTV-challenged and unchallenged resistant trees using Affymetrix citrus microarray gene chips to identify CTV conserved  resistance gene(s)

Refereed Publications

Nageswara Rao, M., Soneji, J. R., Chen, C., Huang, S. and Gmitter, F. G., Jr. (2008)  Characterization of zygotic and nucellar seedlings from citrus rootstock candidates using RAPD and EST-SSR markers, Tree Genetics and Genomes 4: 113-124.

Chen, C., Bowman, K. D., Choi, Y. A., Dang, P. M., Nageswara Rao, M., Huang, S., Soneji, J. R., McCollum, T. G. and Gmitter, F. G., Jr. (2008) EST-SSR Genetic Maps for Citrus sinensis and Poncirus trifoliata. Tree Genetics & Genomes 4: 1-10.

Soneji, J. R., Chen, C., Nageswara Rao, M., Huang, S., Choi, Y. A., and Gmitter, F. G., Jr. (2007) Agrobacterium-mediated Transformation of Citrus Using Two Binary Vectors. Acta Horticulturae 738:261-264.

Chen, C., Zheng, Q., Soneji, J. R., Huang, S., Choi, Y. A., Nageswara Rao, M. and Gmitter, F. G., Jr. (2007) Development of New GFP Vectors for Citrus Agrobacterium-mediated Transformation. Acta Horticulturae 738: 207-211.

Nageswara Rao, M., Soneji, J. R., Chen, C., Choi, Y. A., Huang, S. and Gmitter, F. G., Jr. (2007) Identification of Zygotic and Nucellar Seedlings from Citrus Rootstock Candidates using RAPD. Acta Horticulturae 738: 255-260.

Chen, C., Zheng, Q., Xiang, X., Soneji, J. R., Huang, S., Choi, Y. A., Nageswara Rao, M. and Gmitter, F. G., Jr. (2007) Development of New GFP Binary Ti Vectors and Evaluation on Citrus Agrobacterium-mediated Transformation. HortScience 42(1): 7-10.

Sahijram, L., Bollamma, K. T., Naren, A., Soneji, J. R., Dinesh, M. R. and Halesh, G. K. (2005) In vitro hybrid embryo rescue in mango (Mangifera indica L.) breeding. Indian Journal of Horticulture 62(3): 235-237.

Sahijram, L., Soneji, J. R., and Bollamma, K. T. (2003) Analyzing somaclonal variation in micropropagated bananas (Musa spp.). In Vitro Cellular & Developmental Biology – Plant 39(6): 551-556.

Soneji, J. R., Rao, P. S. and Mhatre, M. (2002) Plantlet regeneration from leaf ex-plants of pineapple (Ananas comosus L., Merr.). Journal of Plant Biochemistry & Biotechnology 11(2): 117-119. 

Soneji, J. R., Rao, P. S. and Mhatre, M. (2002) Suitability of RAPD analysis of “spined” and “spineless” variant regenerants of pineapple (Ananas comosus L., Merr.). Plant Molecular Biology Reporter 20(3): 307a-307i.

Soneji, J. R., Rao, P. S. and Mhatre, M. (2002) Germination from synthetic seeds of pineapple (Ananas comosus L., Merr.). Plant Cell Reports 20: 891-894.

Soneji, J. R., Rao, P. S. and Mhatre, M. (2002) Somaclonal variation in micropropagated dormant axillary buds of pineapple (Ananas comosus L., Merr.). Journal of Horticultural Science & Biotechnology 77(1): 28-32.

Soneji, J. R., Rao, P. S. and Mhatre, M. (2001) Enhanced regeneration of multiple shoots and plantlets in young cotyledons of neem. Azadirachta indica A. Juss. Physiology & Molecular Biology of Plants 7(2): 175-180.

Professional Membership

• 2007–Date: American Society of Plant Biologists (ASPB)
• 2007–Date: The Science Advisory Board (SAB)
• 2007–Date: BIOCLUES: Clues for innovation
• 2007–Date: Bioinformatics.org
• 2006–Date: International Society of Horticultural Sciences: to present (ISHS)
• 2006–Date: Genome India International (GII)
• 2005–2006: Horticultural Society of Indi