Rajeev Kumar Varshney

Rajeev Kumar Varshney

Born 13 July 1973(1973-07-13)
Bahjoi, Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh, India
Residence India
Citizenship India
Fields Agriculture
Institutions

ICRISAT

Hyderabad, India
CIMMYT, Mexico
The University of Western Australia
IPK-Gatersleben, Germany
Chaudhary Charan Singh University
Alma mater Aligarh Muslim University
Chaudhary Charan Singh University
Doctoral advisor P K Gupta and P C Sharma
Known for Plant genomics, Crop biotechnology, Applied genomics, Molecular biology,
Genomics assisted breeding for semi arid tropic crops

Rajeev Kumar Varshney is a geneticist currently working as Principal Scientist- Applied Genomics at International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Patancheru, India and also Theme Leader - Comparative and Applied Genomics (CAG), Generation Challenge Programme (GCP), hosted at CIMMYT, Mexico.

Rajeev Varshney has over 10 years research experience in the area of plant genomics and crop biotechnology. He has interest in development and application of genomic tools and strategies for applied breeding of the legume and cereal crops of the semi-arid tropics.

Contents

Education and Professional career

He received his Bachelor degree (B.Sc. Honours) in Botany and Masters degree in Botany (Genetics, Plant Breeding and Molecular Biology) from the Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh in 1993 and 1995 respectively. Subsequently, he joined the laboratory of Professor P K Gupta at Chaudhary Charan Singh University, Meerut, to work on a Wheat Biotechnology Project sponsored by Department of Biotechnology, Government of India. Based on his work done on the project, he earned his doctoral degree (PhD) in Agricultural Botany (Molecular biology) in 2001.

After receiving PhD degree, Rajeev Varshney took up an assignment of Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter (Research Scientist) at Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics & Crop Plant Research (IPK), Gatersleben, Germany. He worked there for five years in the area of structural and functional genomics of barley and comparative genomics of cereals. Subsequently he accepted the assignment of Senior Scientist for Applied Genomics at ICRISAT in late 2005. While working at ICRISAT, he took up a half time appointment with Generation Challenge Programme, hosted at CGIAR CIMMYT, as SubProgramme Leader for SubProgramme 2- Genomics towards Gene Discovery. In 2008, he was promoted to the position of Principal Scientist (Applied Genomics) at ICRISAT. Since then he has a dual appointment with ICRISAT as Principal Scientist and GCP as SubProgramme Leader. In 2010, he has been designated as Adjunct Professor in School of Plant Biology at The University of Western Australia.

Notable awards

Based on his research contribution, he has received several awards/ fellowships such as:

Significant contribution to crop genetics and breeding

While working in strategic collaboration with several partners around the world, he has made significant contribution including following:

His efforts are greatly appreciated that have converted so-called ‘orphan legume crops’ in the genomics resource rich crops[12][31].

International activities

Scientific contribution of Rajeev Varshney has been recognized at international level. For instance, at an early age, he started to serve Editorial Board of several journals like Theoretical and Applied Genetics, BMC Plant Biology, BMC Genetics, Molecular Breeding, Euphytica, Plant Breeding, Crop and Pasture Science(2009 onwards),Plant Genetic Resources: Characterization and Utilization (2005 onwards), Journal of Plant Biochemistry and Biotechnology (2008 onwards), The Plant Genome (2011 onwards). He has been a Guest Editor for Special Issue for several journals like Current Opinion in Plant Biology and Molecular Breeding.

Rajeev has served Steering Committee/ Organizing Committee/ Progarmme Committee for several international conferences including FAO Conference on Application of Biotechnologies in Developing Countries (ABDC-10). He is Chair of VI International Congress on Legume Genetics and Genomics.

Research projects and grants

Rajeev’s research has been funded by research grants from several international funding agencies like Generation Challenge Programme, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, US National Science Foundation, Indo-German Science and Technology Centre and leading Indian funding organizations like Indian Council of Agricultural Research, Department of Biotechnology, and Department of Science & Technology.

Research publications

Rajeev has been a prolific author and published > 150 research papers/articles in the reputed journals. Some of these journals include Nature Biotechnology, PNAS, USA, Trends in Plant Sciences, Current Opinion in Plant Biology, Trends in Biotechnology, The Plant Journal, Plant Cell & Environment, DNA Research, Plant Biotechnology Journal, Molecular Plant, Functional Integrative Genomics, Theoretical and Applied Genetics, Plant Breeding, Euphytica.

Many of his papers are available at ICRISAT's open access institutional repository: - open access papers or can be accessed by clicking GoogleScholar.

List of Books

Rajeev has edited several books like 'CEREAL GENOMICS, ''MODEL PLANTS, CROP IMPROVEMENT' ' two volumes of Genomics- Assisted Crop Improvement namely Genomics Approaches and Platforms, Genomics Applications in Crops and 'ROOT GENOMICS'

References

  1. ^ Varshney et al. (2011) Draft genome sequence of pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan), an orphan legume crop of resource-poor farmers. Nature Biotechnology doi:10.1038/nbt.2022
  2. ^ Gujaria et al. (2011) Development and use of genic molecular markers (GMMs) for construction of a transcript map of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L. Theor Appl Genet. 122:1577–1589.
  3. ^ a b Thudi et al. (2011) Novel SSR Markers from BAC-End Sequences, DArT Arrays and a Comprehensive Genetic Map with 1,291 Marker Loci for Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) PLoS ONE doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0027275
  4. ^ a b Bohra et al. (2011) Analysis of BAC-end sequences (BESs) and development of BES-SSR markers for genetic mapping and hybrid purity assessment in pigeonpea (Cajanus spp.). BMC Plant Biology 11:56
  5. ^ Pandey et al. (2011) Advances in Arachis genomics for peanut improvement. Biotechnology Advance doi:10.1016/j.biotechadv.2011.11.001.
  6. ^ Cuc et al. (2008) Isolation and characterization of novel microsatellite markers and their application for diversity assessment in cultivated groundnut (Arachis hypogaea). BMC Plant Biology 8: 55
  7. ^ Close et al. (2009). Development and implementation of high-throughput SNP genotyping in barley. BMC Genomics 10:582
  8. ^ a b Kota et al. (2008) EST-derived single nucleotide polymorphism markers for assembling genetic and physical maps of the barley genome. Functional and Integrative Genomics 8: 223-233
  9. ^ Varshney et al. (2006). Genetic mapping and physical mapping (BAC-identification) of EST-derived microsatellite markers in barley (Hordeum vulgare L.). Theor Appl Genet 113: 239-250
  10. ^ Thiel et al. (2003) Exploiting EST databases for the development and characterization of gene-derived SSR-markers in barley (Hordeum vulgare L.). Theor Appl Genet 106: 411-422
  11. ^ Gupta et al. (1999) Molecular markers and their applications in wheat breeding. Plant Breeding 118: 369-390
  12. ^ a b Nayak et al. (2010) Integration of novel SSR and gene-based SNP marker loci in the chickpea genetic map and establishment of new anchor points with Medicago truncatula genome. Theor Appl Genet 120:1415–1441
  13. ^ Yang et al. (2011) First genetic map of pigeonpea based on Diversity Array Technology (DArT) markers. J Genet 90:103-109
  14. ^ Varshney et al. (2009) The first SSR-based genetic linkage map for cultivated groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.). Theor Appl Genet 118: 729-739
  15. ^ Stein et al. (2007) A 1000 loci transcript map of the barley genome- new anchoring points for integrative grass genomics. Theor Appl Genet 114: 823-839
  16. ^ Varshney et al. (2007) A high density barley microsatellite map with 775 SSR loci. Theor Appl Genet 114: 1091-1103
  17. ^ Hiremath et al. (2011) Large-scale transcriptome analysis in chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.), an orphan legume crop of the semi-arid tropics of Asia and Africa. Plant Biotech Jour 9:922–931
  18. ^ Varshney et al. (2009) A comprehensive resource of drought- and salinity- responsive ESTs for gene discovery and marker development in chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) BMC Genomics 10:523
  19. ^ Dubey et al.(2011) Defining the transcriptome assembly and its use for genome dynamics and transcriptome profiling studies in pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan L.). DNA Research, doi:10.1093/dnares/dsr007
  20. ^ Raju et al. (2010). The first set of EST resource for gene discovery and marker development in pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan L.). BMC Plant Biology 10:45
  21. ^ Guo et al.(2009)Differentially expressed genes between drought-tolerant and drought-sensitive barley genotypes in response to drought stress during the reproductive stage. Jour Experimental Botany 60:3531-3544
  22. ^ Zhang et al.(2004) Large-scale analysis of the barley transcriptome based on expressed sequence tags. The Plant Journal 40: 276-290
  23. ^ Sujay et al. (2011) Quantitative trait locus analysis and construction of consensus genetic map for foliar disease resistance based on two recombinant inbred line populations in cultivated groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.). Molecular Breeding doi:10.1007/s11032-011-9661-z
  24. ^ Singh et al.(2001) STMS markers for grain protein content and their validation using near isogenic lines in bread wheat. Plant Breeding 120: 273-278
  25. ^ Prasad et al. (1999) A microsatellite marker associated with a QTL for grain protein content on chromosome arm 2DL of bread wheat. Theor Appl Genet 99: 341-345
  26. ^ Varshney et al. (2000) Identification of eight chromosomes and a microsatellite marker on 1AS associated with QTL for grain weight in bread wheat. Theor Appl Genet 100: 1290-1294
  27. ^ Varshney et al. (2000) Characterization of microsatellites and development of chromosome specific STMS markers in bread wheat. Plant Molecular Biology Reporter 18: 1-12
  28. ^ Roy et al. (1999) Identification of a microsatellite on chromosome 6B and a STS on 7D of bread wheat showing association with preharvest sprouting tolerance. Theor Appl Genet 99: 336-340
  29. ^ Jayashree et al.(2006) Laboratory Information Management Software for genotyping workflows: applications in high throughput crop genotyping. BMC Bioinformatics 7: 383
  30. ^ Jayashree et al. (2006) A database of simple sequence repeats from cereal and legume expressed sequence tags mined in silico: survey and evaluation. In Silico Biol 6: 0054
  31. ^ Varshney et al. (2009) Orphan legume crops enter the genomics era! Curr Opin Plant Biol 12: 202–210