Profile
Dr. Jitendra Thakur joined ICGEB New Delhi following an eleven years stint as a Scientist at the NIPGR, New Delhi. Earlier, Jitendra was an Assistant Professor at IISER-Kolkata. He earned his M.Phil. and Ph.D. in Plant Molecular Biology from University of Delhi South Campus, and then got postdoctoral training at Harvard Medical School/MGH Cancer Center, Boston, USA. His group focuses on understanding the mechanism of transcriptional regulation of gene expression in plants, with specific focus on structural and functional aspects of Mediator complex. His group is also interested in studying the coordination between epigenetic modulators and Mediator complex. The group has also ventured into purification of antifungal molecules from plants. His works have been published in reputed journals including Nature, Genes & Development and Nucleic Acids Research. Some of the publications from his lab have featured in news media also. He has got several prestigious awards and fellowships including NASI-Reliance Industries Platinum Jubilee Award, INSA Young Scientist Medal, Innovative Young Biotechnologist Award of Department of Biotechnology, Prof Archana Sharma Memorial Award of Indian Science Congress and Fellowship for Medical Discovery from Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston. He has been elected as a Fellow of The National Academy of Sciences, India.
Current Focus Areas
Structure and function of plant Mediator complex; characterization of anticandida activity from plants
Selected Publications
Agrawal R, Singh A, Giri J, Magyar Z and Thakur JK (2023). MEDIATOR SUBUNIT 17 is required for transcriptional optimization of root system architecture in Arabidopsis thaliana. Plant Physiology 192(2): 1548-1568. Doi: 10.1093/plphys/kiad129
Agrawal R, Sharma M, Dwivedi N, Maji S, Thakur P, Junaid A, Fajkus J, Laxmi A and Thakur JK (2022) MEDIATOR SUBUNIT 17 integrates jasmonate and auxin signaling pathways to regulate thermomorphogenesis. Plant Physiol. 189: 2259-2280. doi.org/10.1093/plphys/kiac220
32. Kumar A, Daware A, Kumar A, Kumar V, Krishnan S Gopala, Mondal S, Patra BC, Singh AK, Tyagi AK, Parida SK and Thakur JK (2020). Genome-wide analysis of polymorphisms identified domestication-associated low diversity region carrying important grain size QTL. The Plant Journal 103: 1525-1547.
Maji S, Dahiya P, Waseem M, Dwivedi N, Bhat DS, Dar T and Thakur JK (2019) Interaction map of Arabidopsis Mediator complex expounding its topology. Nucleic Acids Res 47: 3904-3920.
Nagulapalli M, Maji S, Dwivedi N, Dahiya P and Thakur JK (2016) Evolution of disorder in Mediator complex and its functional relevance. Nucleic Acids Res. 44: 1591-1612.