I work on a set of genes controlling the rapidity and extent with which Arabidopsis seeds complete germination. Some of these genes were discovered in a mutant screen of activation tagged lines that were capable of completing germination ahead of WT at 10 C (Salaita et al., 2005). One is a Kelch-repeat containing F-BOX gene, encoding a protein responsible for targeting inhibitors of the completion of germination for poly-ubiquitination and subsequent degradation in response to light. Another is a type one protein phosphatase that may be involved in the transition from reserve accumulation (seed development) to reserve mobilization (seed germination).E- mail: majeem@yahoo.co.uk & manoj.majee@uky.edu
Area of research interest: Seed germination:physiology, biochemistry and molecular biology, Abiotic stress.
Academic Qualifications
*Ph.D., 2005 Bose Institute, Kolkata, India. (Plant Biochemistry and Molecular Biology)
*M.Sc., 1998 VisvaBharati. Santiniketan, India (Botany)
*B.Sc., 1995 Burdwan University , India. (Botany as Hons, Chemistry and Zoology as sub)
*Postdoctoral Research Associate, 2004-present University of Kentucky, Lexington. USA.
Awards
*Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) 1998. (percentile score of 87.53).
*State Level Eligibility Test for Lecturership and Research Fellowship. (SLET) West Bengal, India. Dec.2001.
*National Eligibility Test (NET) - Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) for Junior Research Fellowship and Lecturership, India. - Dec.2001.
*National Eligibility Test (NET) - Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) for Lecturership, India.- June 2002.
Patent Taken
Patent application # PCT/IN03/00065 'A salt Tolerant L-myo-Inositol 1 Phosphate Synthase and a process of obtaining the same'(Application made by DBT/Bose Institute, Inventors: A. Lahiri Majumder and M. Majee)
Gene Sequences Submitted
Majumder AL, Majee M., Lohia A, Zhao CS and Bohnert HJ. (2003) Porteresia coarctata myo-Inositol-1-phosphate synthase (PINO1) gene (Gen Bank accession no-AF412340).
Majee M, Majumder A L, Mundree S. (2003) Xerophyta viscosa myo-inositol-1-phosphate synthase complete cds (Gen Bank accession no. AY323824).
Publications
1. Salaita L, Kar RK, Majee M, Downie AB. 2005. Identification and characterization of activation tagged Arabidopsis mutants exhibiting rapid seed germination. J. Exp. Bot. 56:2059-2069.
2. Majee M, Patra B, Mundree S, and Majumder AL. 2005. Molecular cloning, bacterial expression and chracterization of L-myo inositol 1 phosphate synthase from a monocotyledonous resurrection plant Xerophyta Viscosa Baker. J. Pl. Biochem. and Biotechnol. 14: 71-75.
3. Majee M, Maitra S, Ghose Dastidar K, Pattnaik S, Chatterjee A, Hait N, Das KP, and Majumder AL. 2004. A novel salt-tolerant L-myo-inositol 1- phosphate synthase from Porteresia coarctata Tateoka, a halophytic wild rice: Molecular cloning, bacterial overexpression, characterization and functional introgression into tobacco conferring salt tolerance phenotype. J.Biol.Chem. 279: 28539-28552.
4. Bhattacharya J, GhoshDastidar K, Chatterjee A, Majee M, Majumder AL. 2004. Synechocystis Fe superoxide dismutase gene confers oxidative stress tolerance to Escherichia coli. Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 316:540-544.
5. Chatterjee A, Majee M, Ghosh S and Majumder AL. 2004. sll1722, an unassigned ORF of Synechocystis PCC 6803, codes for L-myo-Inositol 1-phosphate synthase. Planta 218: 989-998.
6. Majumder AL, Chatterjee A, Ghosh Dastidar K and Majee M. 2003. Diversification and evolution of L -myo inositol 1- phosphate synthase. FEBS Lett. 553:3-10.
Book Chapters
Majumder A.L., Hait NC, Deb I, Majee M, Chatterjee A, Ghosh Dastidar K, Bhattacharyya S, Ghosh S, Chatterjee A, Maitra S and Pattanaik S. (2003) L-myo Inositol 1-Phosphate Synthase: an ancient protein with diverse function. In Molecular Insight in Plant Biology. P.Nath, A.K. Mattoo, S.A.Ranade and J.H. Weil (Editors), Publishers: Oxford & IBH Publishing Co.Pvt. Ltd; New Delhi. India. Chapter 5, pp 67- 76.
