Anjan K. Banerjee, Asst. Professor

Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER Pune)

Sai Trinity Building, Sutartwadi, Pashan, Pune- 411021, MH, India.

E:mail- akb[at]iiserpune.ac.in; akbanerjee06[at]gmail.com

Phone: 91-020-25908001, Fax: 91-20-25899790.

Homeobox genes and Plant development 
Homeobox genes, encoding a family of transcription factors, are highly conserved in animals, plants, and yeast and have been implicated in the control of cell fate and development. BEL1-like transcription factors (a class of homeobox genes) are ubiquitous in plants and interact with KNOTTED1- types to regulate numerous developmental processes. In potato, the BEL1-like transcription factor, StBEL5, and its Knox protein partner (POTH1- Potato homeobox I) regulate tuber formation by targeting genes that control growth and development. We are interested to characterize this group of transcription factors  and their cross talk mechanism in plant development with special focus on tuberization pathway. 

Micro RNA (miRNAs) and gene regulations in plants 

Micro RNAs (miRNAs) are a class of small single-stranded non-coding RNAs in plants and animals. They negatively regulate gene expression by degrading target transcripts or repressing translation. In plants, various micro RNAs are known to play regulatory roles in diverse developmental and stress responsive pathways. Understanding the role of micro RNAs in potato tuberization and development is our current interest. A combination of bio-informatic and molecular approach is our strategy to investigate the function of miRNAs in plants.  

Long distance signalling and Plant – Pathogen interactions 
In higher plants, the vascular system provides both mechanical strength and long-distance transport capacity. The phloem, one of the major component of vascular tissues, distributes photo-assimilates from source to sink tissues. Recent evidence suggests that, phloem is not merely a nutrient conduit, but also functions as 'information superhighway'. In addition to carbohydrates, phloem also transports hormones, mRNAs, small RNAs and RNA/protein complexes (RNPs) that may mediate developmental and stress responses in plants. Plant pathogen interaction is one of the intensively studied areas for understanding basic biology of pathogenesis as well as for the generation of disease resistant plant cultivars. Unravelling long distance signalling networks and to decipher the signals involved in these interactions is a primary focus in our lab. We use Potato – Phytophthora as a model system to understand mechanisms of long distance defence signalling in plants.

• Banerjee A.K., Lin T & David J. Hannapel (2009) Untranslated regions of a mobile transcript mediate RNA metabolism Plant Physiology, 151, 1831-1843.     
• Chatterjee M, Banerjee A.K & David J. Hannapel (2007) A BELL-1 like gene of Potato is light activated and wound inducible. Plant Physiology, 145, 1435-1443.
• Banerjee A.K, Chatterjee M, Yu Y.Y, Suh S, Miller W.A & David J. Hannapel (2006) Dynamics of a mobile RNA of potato involved in a long distance signaling pathway. Plant Cell 18: 3443-3457.
• Banerjee A.K, Salome Prat and Hannapel DJ (2006) Efficient production of transgenic potato S. tuberosum L.ssp andigena) plants via Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated transformation. Plant Science, 170, 4, 732-738.
• Hannapel, D.J and Banerjee, A.K. (2005) Mobile RNA acts as a signal to regulate plant growth and development (U.S. Patent No. 7,579,150).
• Chen, H., Banerjee, A. K and Hannapel, D. J. (2004). The interaction of TALE transcription factors mediates transcriptional repression of their target gene. Plant Journal, 38, 276-284.
• Hannapel, D. J., Chen, H., Rosin, F.M., Banerjee, A.K and Davies, P.J. 2004. Molecular controls of tuberization. American J. of Potato Res. 81, 5-16.
• Margie M. Paz, Huixia Shou, Zibiao Guo, Zhanyuan Zhang, Anjan K. Banerjee and Kan Wang (2004) Assessment of conditions affecting Agrobacterium-mediated soybean transformation using cotyledonary node explant,        Euphytica 136, pp 167-179.