References:
- Rajat Bhattacharya, Kartika Perumal, Krishna Sinha, Richard Maraia and Ram Reddy.Methylphosphate cap structure in small RNAs reduces the affinity of RNAs to La protein. Gene Expression, 10: 243-253, 2002.
- Rajat Bhattacharya and Fernando Cabral. A Ubiquitous b-tubulin Disrupts Microtubule Assembly and Inhibits Cell Proliferation.Molecular Biology of the Cell, 15: 3123-3131, 2004.
- Nitai C. Mandal, Rajat Bhattacharya, Subrata Sau and Biswendu Chaudhuri. Studies on temperate mycobacteriophage L1: It’s physical map, site of deletion in one of its mutants and organization of early, delayed early and late genes. Perspectives in Cytology and Genetics, 11: 81-100, 2004.
- Hirock J Datta, Pragna Mandal, Rajat Bhattacharya, Nilanjan Das, Subrata Sau and Mandal NC. 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, Anthony Frankfurter and Fernando Cabral. A minor ?-tubulin essential for mammalian cell proliferation.Cell Motil Cytoskeleton. 65(9):708-20. 2008.
- Anutosh Ganguly, Rajat Bhattacharya and Fernando Cabral. Degradation of MCAK At Metaphase: Evidence Against a Role In Anaphase Chromosome Movement. Cell Cycle. 7(20): 2008.
- Rajat Bhattacharya and Fernando Cabral. Molecular basis for the ability of Class V -tubulin to disrupt microtuble assembly and confer paclitaxel resistance. J Biol Chem. 284(19):13023-32. 2009
- Hailing Yang , Fernando Cabral and Rajat Bhattacharya*. Tubulin isotype specificity and identification of the epitope for antibody Tub 2.1. Protein Eng Des Sel. 2009 Oct;22(10):625-9.
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 copolymers of a- and ß-tubulin heterodimers. These cylindrical structures are essential for like cell division, cell motility and vesicular transport.
My research focuses on the role of microtubule and its associated proteins in cell division and resistance to anti cancer drugs. 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. Various proteins like Katanin, MCAK, Stathmin etc. interact with microtubules and regulates its assembly. The roles of these proteins in altering microtubule function, role in cell division and in altering sensitivity to different anti-mitotic drugs are the focus of our investigations. 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. Using biochemistry, molecular biology, genetic manipulations and microscopic imaging techniques we hope to get a clear picture about the role of all the components that are responsible for formation, maintenance and function of microtubules and how mutations and altered expressions of these proteins affect cellular functions.
