References:
- Methylphosphate cap structure in small RNAs reduces the affinity of RNAs to La protein. Rajat Bhattacharya, Kartika Perumal, Krishna Sinha, Richard Maraia and Ram Reddy. Gene Expression, 10: 243-253, 2002.
- A Ubiquitous b-tubulin Disrupts Microtubule Assembly and Inhibits Cell Proliferation. Rajat Bhattacharya and Fernando Cabral. Molecular Biology of the Cell, 15: 3123- 3131, 2004.
- HJ Datta, P Mandal P, R Bhattacharya, N Das, S Sau, NC Mandal. The G23 and G25 genes of temperate mycobacteriophage L1 are essential for the transcription of its late genes. J Biochem Mol Biol. 31;40(2):156-62. 2007.
Rajat Bhattacharya, Ph.D.
Instructor
UTHSC, Medical School, (713) 500 - 7486
Rajat.Bhattacharya@uth.tmc.edu
Microtubules, Its Interacting proteins and Cell proliferation
Microtubules are a part of the cytoskeleton that are coplymers of α- and ß-tubulin heterodimers. These cylindrical structures are essential in important events like cell division, cell motility and vesicular transport. Studies in our lab focuses on the role of microtubule and its’ associated proteins in cell division. One major goal is to understand how alterations in composition of tubulin isotypes and mutations in tubulin genes affect mitosis and cellular response to chemotherapeutic drugs that target microtubules. Using molecular biological and genetic manipulation approaches our recent work has shown that different b-tubulin isotypes have distinct effects on microtubule function, quite contrary to previous belief. Recent work has focused on analysis of a minor ubiquitous isotype that is essential for cell proliferation. Our other area of interest is to understand interaction of microtubules with kinesins. Kinesins are motor molecules involved in various important cellular processes. We are focusing on interaction of microtubules with kinesin proteins that are involved in cell division. We have generated tubulin mutations with defects in spindle formation and are in the process of determining the molecular interactions with kinesins like Eg5 using those variants.
