Bacteria constitute 80% of Earth's biomass. My group is interested in understanding how new genes and new strains originate, evolve and spread in the bacterial world. Towards this we are using and developing advanced genetic, genomic and metagenomic approaches. The bacteria we are focusing on are of importance in agriculture, medicine and industry (Nature India, May 2012; doi:10.1038/nindia.2012.70). We are also studying how bacteria have co-evolved with plants and animals over millions of years. This involves identifying genomic determinants/players and also revealing exact time-scale/nature of such associations. Knowledge of this kind is invaluable for exploitation and management of bacteria in plant and animal health.

• Patil, P.P., Mali, S., Midha, S., Gautam, V., Dash, L., Kumar, S., Shastri, J., Singhal, L. and Patil, P.B. (2017) Genomics Reveals a Unique Clone of Burkholderia cenocepacia Harboring an Actively Excising Novel Genomic Island. Frontiers in Microbiology. 8, 590
• RBansal, K., Midha, S., Kumar, S. and Patil, P.B. (2017) Ecological and Evolutionary Insights into Xanthomonas citri Pathovar Diversity. Applied and Environmental Microbiology. 83, e02993-16.
• Midha, S., Bansal, K., Kumar, S., Girija, A.M., Mishra, D., Brahma, K., Laha, G.S., Sundaram, R.M., Sonti, R.V. and Patil, P.B. (2017) Population genomic insights into variation and evolution of Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae. Scientific reports. 7, 40694.
• Chaudhry, V., and Patil, P. B. (2016) Genomic investigation reveals evolution and lifestyle adaptation of endophytic Staphylococcus epidermidis. Scientific reports. 6, 19263.
• Midha, S., and Patil, P. B. (2014) Genomic Insights into the Evolutionary Origin of Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. citri and Its Ecological Relatives. Applied and Environmental Microbiology. 80, 6266-6279.
• For complete list of publications pl. visit to Google Scholar profile - http://tinyurl.com/zheela5