Profile
Dr. Majee is a scientist and a group leader at National Institute of Plant Genome Research, New Delhi. He obtained his Master degree (Botany) from Visva Bharati, Santiniketan and Ph.D. (Plant Biology) from Bose Institute/ Jadavpur University, Kolkata, WB. He did his postdoctoral research at University of Kentucky, USA. His research group at NIPGR primarily investigates to understand intriguing biology of seeds, particularly mechanisms and intricacies of seed vigor, viability as well as plant survivability under stressful environment. His research work has been published in highly reputed Journals like Plant Cell; PNAS, USA; JBC, New Phytologist; Plant Physiology; Plant Journal etc, He also has a patent on the novel application of PIMT gene in improving seed vigor and longevity. He is the recipient of several awards including S Ramachandran National Bioscience Award (2017-18) and fellow of Indian Science Academy, Bangalore (FASc), National Academy of Science, Prayagraj (FNASc) and West Bengal Academy of Science and Technology (WAST).
Current Focus Areas
Studying molecular, biochemical mechanisms and intricacies of seed maturation, desiccation tolerance, longevity, germination vigor and plant adaptation to environmental stresses
Protein damage and repair system in seeds: Protein Repairing Enzymes [Protein L ISO-ASPARTYL METHYLTRANSFERASE (PIMT), Methionine Sulfoxide Reductase (MSR)]
Role of 26S Proteasome Pathway [E3 Ligase, F box proteins] in Seed maturation, vigor and seedling establishment
Selected Publications
Kamble NU, Ghosh S, Petla BP, Achary RK, Gautam S, Rao V, Salvi P, Hazra A, Varshney V & Majee M (2024) PROTEIN L-ISOASPARTYL METHYLTRANSFERASE protect enolase dysfunction by repairing isoaspartyl induced damage and is positively implicated in agronomically important seed traits. Plant Journal (Published, early view)
Varshney V, Hazra A, Rao V, Ghosh S, Kamble NU, Achary RK, Gautam S & Majee M (2023) The Arabidopsis F-box protein SKP1-INTERACTING PARTNER 31 modulates seed maturation and seed vigor by targeting JASMONATE ZIM DOMAIN proteins independently of jasmonic acid-isoleucine. The Plant Cell 35: 3712–3738
Hazra A, Varshney V, Verma P, Kamble NU, Ghosh S, Acharay RK, Goutma S and Majee M (2022) “Methionine Sulfoxide Reductase B5 plays a key role in preserving seed vigor and longevity in rice (Oryza sativa). New Phytologist 236: 1042–1060.
Ghosh S, Kamble NU, Verma P, Salvi P, Petla BP, Roy S, Roy V, Hazra A, Varshney V Kaur H, and Majee M (2020) Arabidopsis PROTEIN L ISOASPARTYL METHYLTRANSFERASE repairs isoaspartyl damage to antioxidant enzymes and increases heat and oxidative stress tolerance. Journal of Biological Chemistry 295: 783-799
Verma P, Kaur H, Petla BP, Rao V, Saxena SC and Majee M (2013) PROTEIN L- ISOASPARTYL METHYLTRANSFERASE2 gene is differentially expressed in chickpea and enhances seed vigor and longevity by reducing abnormal isoaspartyl accumulation predominantly in seed nuclear proteins. Plant Physiology 161:1141-1157.