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Faculty
Asis K. Das
Professor of Molecular, Microbial and Structural Biology
adas@neuron.uchc.edu
Areas of Interest:
Gene Regulation in Bacteria
We study basic gene regulatory mechanisms in prokaryotes by a
combination of biochemistry and classic and molecular genetics. Current
research efforts are devoted in three areas:
- Genetics, genomics and mechanisms of bacterial adaptive response.
- Genetic control of bacteriophage lysogeny and lysis.
- Non-coding RNAs in prokaryotic development.
Lab Rotation Projects:
We are interested in the regulation of gene expression in bacteria with
an emphasis on genetics and genomics. Rotation students are welcome in
one of the following areas under investigation:
1. To elucidate the regulation of stress response in E. coli and
Salmonella by the Gre factors, two conserved RNA polymerase binding
proteins that are induced by several forms of stress.
2. To test the function of Gre factors and various two-component
systems in the pathogenesis of model gram-negative organisms using C.
elegans as a surrogate host.
The basic approach for these studies is to create knock-out mutants
through chromosomal “recombineering”, investigate the patterns of gene
expression using reporter gene fusions and molecular techniques, and
deduce the phenotypic consequences of the mutants by a combination of
physiological experiments and infections of worms as well as human cells
in culture.
Selected Publications:
Das, A., Garcia Mena, J., Jana, N., Lazinski, D., Michaud, G.,
Sengupta, S., and Zhang, Z. (2003). Genetic and biochemical strategies
to elucidate the architecture and targets of a processive transcription
antiterminator from bacteriophage lambda. Methods Enzymol 371: 438-459.
Toulme, F., Mosrin-Huaman, C., Sparkowski, J., Das, A., Leng, M., and
Rahmouni, A. R. (2000). GreA and GreB proteins revive backtracked RNA
polymerase in vivo by promoting transcript trimming, Embo J 19:
6853-6859.
Kulish, D., Lee, J., Lomakin, I., Nowicka, B., Das, A., Darst, S.,
Normet, K., and Borukhov, S. (2000). The functional role of basic patch,
a structural element of Escherichia coli transcript cleavage factors
GreA and GreB. J Biol Chem 275: 12789-12798.
Altieri, A. S., Mazzulla, M. J., Horita, D. A., Coats, R. H.,
Wingfield, P. T., Das, A., Court, D. L., and Byrd, R. A. (2000). The
structure of the transcriptional antiterminator NusB from Escherichia
coli. Nat Struct Biol 7: 470-474.
Garcia-Mena, J., Das, A., Sanchez-Trujillo, A., Portier, C., and
Montanez, C. (1999). A novel mutation in the KH domain of polynucleotide
phosphorylase affects autoregulation and mRNA decay in Escherichia coli.
Mol Microbiol 33: 235-248. |
