Kumari Billakurthi

The paper shows that altering the cell cycle of rice bundle sheath cells affects chloroplast occupancy and leaf growth, but does not fully replicate C4 bundle sheath traits.

The paper identifies a window of active chloroplast proliferation in rice and shows functional divergence of chloroplast division regulators compared to Arabidopsis.

The paper identifies a conserved transcription factor quintet that drives bundle sheath-specific gene expression in rice and shows its functionality in Arabidopsis.