As a microbial interactions and microbiome enthusiast of habitat-forming species, Sujatha’s research focuses on the function and diversity of the seagrass microbiome that contributes to seagrass health and resilience. Currently, her work involves identifying the tipping points of key seagrass species to various climate impacted environmental variables and performing molecular community analysis of the seagrass microbiomes. Her aim is to unravel the microbial interactions that underlie seagrass resilience and manipulate the microbiome to promote seagrass ecosystem stability in the face of environmental challenges.

During her doctorate, Sujatha investigated the functional and ecological significance of secondary metabolites in microbial interactions in the marine environment, using model systems and compounds. She specifically focused on the role of signalling and antimicrobial compounds in bacteria-bacteria as well as bacteria-diatom interactions by studying the impact of the metabolites on the bacterial exometabolome, chemotaxis, biofilm formation and attachment. She also examined the impact of bacterial secondary metabolite on diatoms by analysing the transcriptomic, metabolomic and proteomic responses of the diatom, thus providing insight into a novel cross-kingdom interaction.

Read more about Sujatha’s current research here.