Tanmay Dutta

Our lab aims to understand how small noncoding RNAs control gene expression in bacteria. The discovery and characterization of small regulatory RNAs (sRNAs) in bacteria has exploded in recent years. These sRNAs act either by modulating protein activity or by base pairing with target mRNAs with which they share limited or extended complementarity. Mechanistic insights into how sRNAs bind mRNAs and proteins, how they compete with each other and how they function to regulate different physiological processes are active areas of our research. Ribonucleases also play an essential regulatory role for the expression of these sRNAs. Three different model bacteria were utilized - Escherichia coli, Mycobacterium sp. and Deinococcus radiodurans.