Invited Speaker
Dr. Mohamed A. El-Esawi

Dr. Mohamed A. El-Esawi

Associate Professor of Molecular Genetics
Botany Department, Faculty of Science, Tanta University, Egypt.
Speech Title: Enhancement of Bacillus-Inoculated Soybean Growth and Stress Tolerance Through Modulation of the Biochemical and Molecular Mechanisms

Abstract: Plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria could induce plant growth and tolerance to harmful environmental stresses such as salinity and drought. This induction could occur due to the modulation of antioxidant systems, and physiological, biochemical and molecular responses of plants under such environmental stresses. In this work, the potential role of Bacillus species in improving the growth and stress tolerance of soybean is studied. Moreover, the significant physiological, biochemical and genetic mechanisms regulating such processes in soybean plants inoculated with Bacillus are studied and revealed. The expression levels of stress-responsive genes in soybean plants grown under such abiotic stress were also assessed. Genetic variation among control and Bacillus-inoculated soybean plants grown under normal and stress conditions were evaluated. Taken together, the results of this study provide an interesting strategy to improve soybean growth and yield via the application of plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria.


Biography: Dr. Mohamed A. El-Esawi currently works as Associate Professor of Molecular Genetics at Botany Department, Faculty of Science, Tanta University, Egypt. Dr. El-Esawi received his B.Sc. and M.Sc. from Tanta University, and his PhD degree in Plant Genetics and Molecular Biology from Technological University Dublin in Ireland. Afterwards, Dr. El-Esawi joined the University of Warwick in the United Kingdom, University of Sorbonne (Paris VI) in France, University of Leuven (KU Leuven) in Belgium, and University of Cambridge in the UK as a Visiting Research Fellow. His research focuses on plant genetics, genomics, molecular biology, molecular physiology, developmental biology, plant-microbe interaction, and bioinformatics. He has authored more than 80 international journal articles and book chapters, and participated at more than 60 conferences and workshops worldwide. He is currently leading an international team working on different aspects related to plant genomics and molecular biology.