Profile
Dr. Majee is a scientist at the National Institute of Plant Genome Research (NIPGR), New Delhi. He obtained his Master’s degree in Botany from Visva-Bharati, Santiniketan, and his Ph.D. in Plant Biology from Bose Institute/Jadavpur University, Kolkata, West Bengal. He carried out his postdoctoral research at the University of Kentucky, USA. At NIPGR, his research group focuses on understanding the intriguing biology of seeds, particularly the mechanisms underlying seed vigor, seed viability, and plant survivability under stressful environmental conditions. His research has been published in several highly reputed journals, including Plant Cell, PNAS (USA), JBC, New Phytologist, Plant Physiology, Plant Journal, etc. Dr. Majee is the recipient of several awards, including the S. Ramachandran National Bioscience Award (2017–18). He is an elected Fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore (FASc); Fellow of Indian National Science Academy (FNA), New Delhi; the National Academy of Sciences, Prayagraj (FNASc), and the 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
Achary RK, Kamble NU, Gautam S, Hazra A, Ghosh S, Varshney V, Mahawar S, Laha S & Majee M (2025) The Rice Heat Shock Transcription Factor OsHSFC1b increases seed weight, size and vigor, but its function is disrupted by isoaspartyl modification. Plant Journal 123, e70365
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.
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)
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)
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)