page_title: Sushil Kumar (biologist)
section_title: Legacy
hierarchical_section_title: Sushil Kumar (biologist) / Legacy
caption_attribution_description: Čeština: Escherichia coli v elektronovém mikroskopu English: Escherichia coli: Scanning electron micrograph of Escherichia coli, grown in culture and adhered to a cover slip. Français&#160;: Escherichia coli: Micrografia d'escombrat electrònic d'un cultiu d'Escherichia coli. Orígen de la imatge: NIAID Crèdits: Rocky Mountain Laboratories, ca:NIAID, ca:NIH
context_page_description: Sushil Kumar is an Indian geneticist and academic, known for his Plant and microbial genetical genomics, especially the studies on Escherichia coli and Lambda phage as well as on the mutants of Rhizobium. He is a former director of the Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research and an elected fellow of the Indian National Science Academy, National Academy of Agricultural Sciences, National Academy of Sciences, India, and Indian Academy of Sciences. The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, the apex agency of the Government of India for scientific research, awarded him the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology, one of the highest Indian science awards, in 1981, for his contributions to biological sciences.
context_section_description: The researches of Sushil Kumar which focused on the fields of plant and microbial genetical genomics are reported to have assisted in a wider understanding of biotechnology and crop breeding. His early researches helped in the discovery of structural arrangement of chromosomes in the interphase nucleus and later, working on Escherichia coli and its bacteriophage Lambda, he described its transcription map. He elucidated the pleiotropic functions of cyclic AMP in Escherichia coli and elaborated on the antitermination and antiparallel transcription and transcription termination sites of Lambda phage. He is known to have discovered new genes in Rhizobium, a nitrogen-fixing soil bacteria and developed its mutants which has higher nitrogen fixing capabilities, thus contributing to augmenting the cultivation of crops such as Pisum sativum (Pea), Catharanthus roseus (Madagascar periwinkle) and Triticum aestivum (Wheat). His work also helped in the genetic improvement which yielded higher levels of artemisinin in Artemisia annua (Sweet wormwood) and essential oil in Mentha arvensis (Wild mint). His researches have been documented by way of over 300 articles and 25 books and he has received 80 international and 52 Indian patents for his work.
  In 1971, Kumar founded the molecular genetics laboratory of the Indian Agricultural Research Institute and later, contributed to the introduction of an academic course in molecular genetics at the institute. During his tenure at the Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants, he established a regional field station of the institute at Uttaranchal and founded a central Genetic Resources and Biotechnology Laboratory. A former president of the Indian Society of Genetics and Plant Breeding (1994–97), he started the Journal of Medicinal and Aromatic Plant Sciences during his tenure as the president. He was associated with several other science journals such as Journal of Genetics, Indian Journal of Genetics and Plant Breeding, Indian Journal of Experimental Biology and Proceedings of Indian National Science Academy and mentored 32 doctoral scholars in their researches.
caption: Escherichia Coli
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