Sivakumar Sukumaran

Research Assistant Professor- Quantitative/Population Genetics
Plant and Environmental Sciences Department

Office: Biosystems Research Complex 100C
Phone: 864-656-9959

Email: ssukuma@clemson.edu
Vita: Download CV

Educational Background

Ph.D. Agronomy (Plant Breeding and Genetics)
Kansas State University 2012

M.S. Plant Breeding and Genetics
Tamil Nadu Agricultural University 2006

B.S. Agriculture
Kerala Agricultural University 2002

Profile

Dr. Sukumaran is a faculty member in the Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, in the College of Agriculture, Forestry, and Life Sciences (CAFLS) at Clemson University and at the Advanced Plant Technology program led by Dr. Stephen Kresovich. Before joining Clemson, Dr. Sukumaran was a research fellow in sorghum genetics and genomics at the Hermitage Research Facility, The University of Queensland, Australia. During his tenure there, he was a member of ARC Centre of Excellence for Plant Success in Nature and Agriculture and researched on the genetics and genomics of sorghum tillering from 2022 to 2024.

From 2015 to 2021, Dr. Sukumaran led the spring wheat physiological pre-breeding pipeline at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) in Mexico. His work aimed to develop high-yielding, rust-resistant, heat- and drought-tolerant wheat lines for distribution to low -and middle- income countries. During his tenure, he contributed to the creation of over 300 improved spring wheat lines, which were distributed to 100 countries through initiatives such as the International Wheat Yield Partnership (IWYP) and the Heat and Drought Improvement Consortium (HedWIC). He also was part of several projects -USDA-NIFA, IWYP, HedWIC, and Seeds of Discovery from Mexican government- to improve spring wheat for yield potential, and drought and heat stress tolerance. Dr. Sukumaran began his career at CIMMYT as a post-doctoral fellow (2013-2014) and advanced through the ranks to Associate Scientist (2015-2017) and Scientist (2018-2021).

Dr. Sukumaran has extensive experience collaborating with international partners to enhance genetic resources for climate resilience through both fundamental and applied research and breeding. In 2018, he was honored with the Early Career Scientist award by the Association of Agricultural Scientists of Indian Origin (AASIO).

Research Interests

Dr. Sukumaran has an interest in fundamental and applied research using approaches in the fields of Quantitative Genetics, Population Genetics, Genomics, Crop Physiology, and Pre-breeding. The specific areas of interest are: (1) genomic and genetic dissection of complex traits through (a) genome-to-phenome and (b) phenome-to-genome studies; (2) population genetics of short-term evolution through artificial selection; (3) predictive approaches to enhance the access and accelerate the utlization of genetic resources; (4) genotype x environment x management (GxExM) interactions; and (5) pre-breeding from genetic resources for climate resilience.

Dr. Sukumaran has collaborated and published on different crops; peanut, sorghum, spring wheat, durum wheat, and synthetic wheat on different aspects ranging from phenotyping to genomics.

Lab Members

Dr. Sukumaran has mentored students and postdocs at various institutions. Further details can be found on the personal webpage.

Publications

Selected 10 publications (For full list see google scholar)

He, F., Wang, W., Rutter, W.B., Jordan, K.W., Ren, J., Taagen, E., DeWitt, N., Sehgal, D., Sukumaran, S., Dreisigacker, S. and Reynolds, M., 2022. Genomic variants affecting homoeologous gene expression dosage contribute to agronomic trait variation in allopolyploid wheat. Nature communications, 13(1), pp.1-15.

Hu, P., Chapman, S.C., Sukumaran, S., Reynolds, M. and Zheng, B., 2022. Phenological optimization of late reproductive phase for raising wheat yield potential in irrigated mega-environments. Journal of Experimental Botany. Volume 73, Issue 12, 24 June 2022, Pages 4236–4249

Sukumaran, S., H. Krishna, K. Singh, Mottaleb, K., M. Reynolds. 2021. Progress and prospects for developing climate resilient wheat in South Asia using modern pre-breeding methods. Current Genomics, special issue: Genes, Genomics and Germplasm for Climate-Smart Agriculture.

Li, X., T. Guo, J. Wang, W. Bekele, S. Sukumaran, A. E. Vanous, J. P. McNellie, L. Cortes, M. Lopes, K. Lamkey, M. Westgate, J. McKay, S. Archontoulis, M. Reynolds, N. Tinker, P. Schnable, J. Yu. 2021. An integrated framework reinstating the environmental dimension for GWAS and genomic selection in crops. Molecular Plant, 14(6), pp.874-887. Cell press

Reynolds, M., S. Chapman, G. Molero, S. Mondal, F. Pinto, F. Pinera-Chavez, J. Poland, C. Rivera-Amado, C. Saint-Pierre, S. Sukumaran, DNL Pequeno, L Crespo. 2020. Breeder friendly phenotyping. Plant Science, p.110396

Liu, C., S. Sukumaran*, E. Claverie, C. Sansaloni, S. Dreisigacker, M. Reynolds. 2019. Genetic dissection of heat and drought stress QTLs in a phenology controlled synthetic derived recombinant inbred lines in spring wheat. Molecular Breeding, 39(34)

Sukumaran, S., D. Jarquin, J. Crossa, M. Reynolds. 2018. Genomic enabled prediction accuracies increased by incorporating genotype by environment interaction in durum wheat. The Plant Genome, July:11(2)

Sukumaran, S*., C. Sansaloni, M. Reynolds. 2018. Genome-wide association analyses identify QTL hotspots for yield and component traits in durum wheat grown under yield potential, drought, and heat stress environments. Frontiers in Plant Science, 9, 81.

Reynolds, M., A. Pask, W. Hoppitt, K. Sonder, S. Sukumaran, et al. 2017. Strategic crossing of biomass and harvest index—source and sink—achieves genetic gains in wheat. Euphytica, 214 (1).

Sukumaran, S*., M. Lopes, S. Dreisigacker, P. Chavez, M. Reynolds. 2015. Genome-wide association study for yield and related traits in an elite spring wheat population grown at temperate irrigated environments. Theoretical and Applied Genetics, 128 (2), 353-363.

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