American Journal of Biochemistry

American Journal of Biochemistry is a peer-reviewed international journal dedicated to provide an active forum to the global scientific community for publishing and disseminating high quality research work in the field of biochemistry.


Basuthkar Rao

Editorial Board Member of American Journal of Biochemistry

Professor, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, India

Research Areas

Protein-Dna Interactions; Dna Repair; Computational Genomics; Cell Biology of Single Celled Organisms

Education

1984Ph.DIndian Institute of Science, Bangalore

Experience

2011-prsentSenior Professor (I), Dept. Biol. Sciences, TIFR, Mumbai-5
2006-2010Chair-person, Dept. Biol. Sciences, TIFR, Mumbai-5
2004-prsentProf (H+) in Dept. Biol. Sciences, TIFR
2001-2004Assoc. Prof-G in Dept. Biol. Sciences, TIFR
1999-2001Assoc. Prof-F in Dept. Biol. Sciences, TIFR
1994-1999Reader in Molecular Biology Unit, TIFR, Mumbai
1991-1993Res. Scientist (Assoc. Prof. in Research Track) Yale medical School
1987-1991Assoc. Res. Scientist (Asst. Prof. in Research Track) Yale Medical School
1984-1987Postdoctoral Research Associate, Yale Medical School

Membership

Elected member, Guha Research Society (Dec, 2000)
Member of editorial board of Indian journal of Biotechnology, CSIR, New Delhi. (2002-2004)
Member Board of Studies, M.S.University, Baroda (2006-current)
Elected Fellow National Academy of Sciences, India (Allahabad) (2002)
Elected Fellow of Andhra Pradesh Academy of Sciences (Hyderabad) (2006)
Elected Fellow Indian National Science Academy, India (New Delhi) (2010)
Awarded J.C. Bose Fellowship (DST) (Feb, 2010)
Awarded Lifesciences award-2009 by Bhramara Trust (YT Thathachari Award)
Executive Committee Member, Indian Society of Cell Biology (2005-2007)
Member of Advanced Centre for Training Research in Cancer (Former Cancer Research Institute) (Mumbai) Scientific Review Committee (2004-2008)
Secretary, Indian Biophysical society (2005-08)
Member Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) National Institute for Research in Reproductive Health (ICMR), Parel, Mumbai (2004-current)
Task-force member for establishing an M.Sc (5yr-integrated) (Biotechnology) course at Nirma Institute of Science and Technology, Ahmedabad. (2007)
Task-force member, Basic Biology Programme, Department of Biotechnology, New Delhi (2006-current)
Member Management Board for Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education, TIFR, Mumbai-5 (2008-current)
Expert member in BRNS-basic Sciences project committee in Department of Atomic Energy (2007-current)
Member, Board of studies for Life Sciences, Homi Bhabha National Institute (Deemed university initiative for Department of atomic Energy), Mumbai
Member Specialist Group for Biology programmes in Department of atomic Energy (11th & 12th plan period)
Member Biology research initiative committee at Indian Institute of Technology, Gandhinagar, Ahmedabad
Member Institute of Science Advisory Committee, Nirma University, Ahmedabad
Member, National Organizing Committee, 4th Asian Science Camp, HBCSE, Mumbai (17-22 Aug, 2010)
Member Editorial board, Journal of Biosciences (Indian academy of Sciences, Bangalore)
Niche Area Committee member on "Basic, Disciplinary and Interdisciplinary Sciences for vision 2025" of DBT (meeting held on 31st May, 2011)
Member Academic Core Committee at Centre For Excellence in Basic Sciences (University of Mumbai & Department of atomic Energy), University of Mumbai, Kalina campus, Mumbai
Member Institutional Committee for Stem Cell Research and Therapy
Meeting, National Institute for Research in Reproductive Health, Parel, Mumbai
Advisory Board Member, ACTON Biotech (a Pharmacogenomics company), KEM Hospital, Rastapeth, Pune-411011

Publications: Conferences/Workshops/Symposiums/Journals/Books

[1]  Localization of testis variant histones in rat testis chromatin. M.R.S. Rao, B.J.Rao & J.Ganguly. Biochem. J. (1982) 205, 15-21.
[2]  Structural organization of the meiotic prophase chromatin in the rat testis. B.J.Rao, S.K.Brahmachari & M.R.S.Rao. J.Biol.Chem. (1983) 258, 13478-13485.
[3]  DNase I site mapping of nucleosome core particles and MNase digestion of pachytene chromatin reveal novel structural features. B.J.Rao & M.R.S.Rao. J.Biol.Chem. (1987) 262, 4472-4476.
[4]  Ability of RecA protein to promote a search for rare sequences in duplex DNA. S.M.Honigberg, B.J.Rao & C.M.Radding. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA (1986) 83, 9586-9590.
[5]  Reversibility of strand invasion promoted by RecA protein and its inhibition by E.coli. S.S.B. or phage T4 gene32 protein. S.A.Chow, B.J.Rao & C.M.Radding. J.Biol.Chem. (1988) 263, 200-209.
[6]  A three-stranded DNA complex remains after strand exchange mediated by RecA protein. B.J. Rao, B.Jwang & C.M.Radding. In Molecular Mechanisms in DNA Replication and Recombination (Eds. C.C. Richardson & I.R. Lehman) 387-398, UCLA Symposia on Molecular & Cellular Biology (1989).
[7]  RecA protein reinitiates strand exchange on isolated protein-free DNA intermediates: An ADP-resistant process. B.J. Rao, B. Jwang & C.M. Radding. J. Mol. Biol. (1990) 213, 789-809.
[8]  A stable three-stranded DNA intermediate made by RecA protein. B.J. Rao, M. Dutriex & C.M. Radding. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA (1991) 88, 2984-2988.
[9]  The effects on strand exchange of 5' versus 3' ends of single-stranded DNA in RecA nucleoprotein filaments. M. Dutriex, B.J. Rao & C.M. Radding. J. Mol. Biol. (1991) 219, 645-654.
[10]  Production of triple-stranded recombination intermediates by RecA protein, in vitro. B.J. Rao, B.Jwang & M. Dutriex. Biochimie (1991) 73, 363-370.
[11]  Homologous recognition and triplex formation promoted by RecA protein between duplex oligonucleotides and ss-DNA. B.J. Rao, S.K. Chiu & C.M. Radding. J. Mol. Biol. (1993) 229, 328-343.
[12]  RNA-DNA hybridization promoted by E.coli RecA protein. D. Kirkpatrick, B.J. Rao & C.M.Radding. Nucleic Acids Res. (1992) 20, 4339-4346.
[13]  Homologous recognition promoted by RecA protein via non-Watson-Crick bonds between identical DNA strands. B.J. Rao & C.M. Radding. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., USA (1993) 90, 6646-6651.
[14]  Interactions of three strands in joints made by RecA protein. S.K. Chiu, B.J. Rao, R.M. Story & C.M. Radding. Biochemistry (1993) 32, 13146-13155.
[15]  Resolution of Three-stranded Recombination Intermediate made by RecA Protein; An essential role of ATP hydrolysis. B. Burnett, B.J. Rao, B. Jwang, G. Reddy & C.M. Radding. J. Mol. Biol. (1994) 238, 540-554.
[16]  A base-triplet model for homologous recognition promoted by RecA protein. B.J. Rao, S.K. Chiu & C.M. Radding. In Structural Biology: State of the art 1993, Proceedings of the eighth conversation, Eds., R.H. Sarma & M.H. Sarma, Adenine Press, (1994) 21-41.
[17]  A chimeric RecA protein that implicates non-Watson-Crick interactions in homologous pairing. H.Kurumizaka, B.J. Rao, T. Ogawa, C.M. Radding & T. Shibata. Nucleic Acids Res. (1994) 22, 3387-3391.
[18]  Formation of Base triplets by non-Watson-Crick bonds mediates homologous recognition in RecA recombination filaments. B.J. Rao & C.M. Radding. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., USA (1994) 91, 6161-6165.
[19]  Joints made by RecA protein in the interior of linear duplex DNA: Effects of single-stranded ends, length of homology, and dynamic state. G. Reddy, B. Jwang, B.J. Rao & C.M. Radding. Biochemistry (1994) 33, 11486-11492.
[20]  How specific is the first recognition step of homologous recombination? B.J. Rao, S.K. Chiu, L.R.Bazemore, G. Reddy & C.M. Radding. Trends in Biochem.Sciences 20, 109-113, 1995.
[21]  RecA protein mediates homologous recognition via non-Watson-Crick bonds in base triplets. B.J.Rao & C.M. Radding Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B. (1995) 347, 5-12.
[22]  Transition metal saccharide chemistry and biology: Synthesis, characterization, electrochemistry and EPR studies of oxovanadium complexes of saccharides and their derivatives and in vitro interaction of some of these with RNase and DNase. A. Sreedhara, C.P. Rao & B.J. Rao. Carbohydrate Chemistry (1996) 289, 39-53.
[23]  Non-Watson-Crick basepairs modulate homologous alignments in RecA pairing reactions. G. Karthikeyan, Mahendra D. Wagle & B.J.Rao. FEBS Letters (1998) 425, 45-51.
[24]  Sequences that facilitate high fidelity of pairing by RecA: a model. Karthikeyan, G. & B.J.Rao. Current Science (1999) 76, 577-580.
[25]  RecA interacts with Klenow and enhances fidelity of DNA synthesis in vitro. Karthikeyan. G., Lakshmikant. G.S., Mahendra D Wagle, Krishnamoorthy. G. & B.J.Rao. Journal of Molecular Microbiology & Biotechnology (1999) 1, 149-156.
[26]  Fold-back structures at the distal end influence DNA slippage at the proximal end during mononucleotide repeat expansions. Karthikeyan. G., K.V.R. Chary & B.J.Rao. Nucleic Acids Res. (1999) 27, 3851-3858.
[27]  ATP-hydrolysis-dependent conformational switch modulates the stability of MutS-mismatch complexes. Amita Joshi, Subhojit Sen & Basuthkar J Rao. Nucleic Acids Res. (2000) 28, 853-861.
[28]  RecA realigns sub-optimally paired frames of DNA-repeats through a process that requires ATP hydrolysis. Subhojit Sen, G.Karthikeyan & Basuthkar J Rao. Biochemistry (2000) 39, 10196-10206.
[29]  Real time fluorescence analysis of the RecA filament: implications of base pair fluidity in repeat realignment. Subhojit Sen, G. Krishnamoorthy & Basuthkar J Rao. FEBS Letters (March-2001) 491, 289-298.
[30]  Incoming nucleotide binds to Klenow ternary complex leading to stable physical sequestration of preceding dNTP on DNA. Sunita Ramanathan, K.V.R. Chary & Basuthkar J. Rao. Nucleic Acids Res. (May-2001) 29, 2097-2105.
[31]  MutS recognition: Multiple mismatches and sequence context effects Amita Joshi & Basuthkar J. Rao. J. BioSciences. (Dec-2001) 26, 595-606.
[32]  Local repeat sequence organization in the intergenic spacer in the chloroplast genome of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii leads to DNA expansion and sequence scrambling: a complex mode of "copy-choice replication"? Mahendra D. Wagle, Subhojit Sen & Basuthkar J. Rao. J. BioSciences. (Dec-2001) 26, 583-594.
[33]  Linkage Disequilibrium maps in Human Genome: A new power to map complex disease genes. B.J.Rao, Cell Biology News Letter 22, 4-5 (Nov-2001).
[34]  Genomewide scanning versus other methods of mapping infectious disease susceptibility loci: a recent study of Leprosy. B.J.Rao & Krishna Jhaveri. News, Current Science (Aug-2001) 81, 338-339.
[35]  New Challenges in Human Genetics: Modifier Genes, Quantitative Trait Loci etc. B.J.Rao. J. BioSciences. (Dec-2001) 26, 547 (Clipboard article).
[36]  A novel approach for uniform 13C and 15N labeling of DNA for NMR studies. Sunita Ramanathan, Basuthkar J Rao and K.V.R. Chary. Biochem Biophys Research Communications, (Jan-2002) 290, 928-932.
[37]  ATP-hydrolysis induces expansion of MutS contacts on heteroduplex via a mechanism that may not require DNA spooling: a case for MutS treadmilling? Amita Joshi and Basuthkar. J. Rao. Biochemistry (March-2002) 41, 3654-66.
[38]  Klenow exo-, as opposed to exo+, traverses through G-G hairpin structures: A strand displacement activity on G-G:C triplexes. Sunita Ramanathan, K.V.R. Chary & Basuthkar J. Rao. Biochem Biophys Resesrch Communications, (2002) 295, 730-736.
[39]  RecA-promoted sliding of base pairs within DNA repeats: quantitative analysis by a slippage assay. Navadgi V, Sen S, Rao B.J. Biochem Biophys Res Commun. (2002) 296, 983-987.
[40]  Human diseases & genes: A perspective in postgenomic era. Basuthkar J. Rao. Science Letters (Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences, India) (2002) 25, 215-217.
[41]  Translin binding to DNA: recruitment through DNA ends and the consequent conformational transitions. Kundan Sengupta and Basuthkar. J. Rao. Biochemistry (2002) 41, 15315-15326.
[42]  Overexpression and purification of isotopically labeled E. coli MutH for NMR studies. Arnob Dutta, Basuthkar J. Rao and Kandala V.R. Chary. Protein Expression and Purification (Jun 2003) 29, 252-8.
[43]  Human Y-chromosome: a hall of mirrors (A Clipboard Article). B.J.Rao & Kundan Sengupta. J. BioSciences. (Sept-2003) 28, 533-534.
[44]  ATP-hydrolysis modulates DNA Dynamics in RecA-DNA-filaments-Evidence of a novel segmental motion: A Prerequisite for Recombination ? Ram Reddy, Subhojit Sen, Basuthkar J. Rao and G. Krishnamoorthy Biochemistry. 2003 Oct 21;42(41):12085-94.
[45]  Human Rad52 facilitates a three-stranded pairing that follows no strand exchange: A novel pairing function of the protein. Vasundhara M. Navadgi, Arnob Dutta and Basuthkar. J. Rao. Biochemistry. (Dec-2003);42, 15237-15251.
[46]  Genetic transformation of the green alga-Chlamydomonas reinhardtii by Agrobacterium tumefaciens. Sasidharanpillai Vinod Kumar, Rachel William Misquitta, Vanga Siva Reddy, Basuthkar Jagadeeswar Rao and Manchikatla Venkat Rajam. Plant Science 166, 731-738 (Feb-2004).
[47]  Chance in our strands? Q.S. Padiath & B.J.Rao. J. of Genetics (Aug-2004) 83, 117-119.
[48]  Interaction of hRad51 and hRad52 with MCM complex: A cross-talk between recombination and replication proteins. Ashish Shukla, Vasundhara M. Navadgi, K. Mallikarjuna, Basuthkar J. Rao Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications 329 (2005) 1240–1245.
[49]  DNA binding and pairing activity of OsDmc1, a recombinase from rice. Rajani Kant C, Rao, B.J. and Sainis J. K. Plant Molecular Biology 57, 1-11 (2005).
[50]  Optically-controllable, micron-sized motor based on live cells. M. Gudipati, J. S. D'Souza, J. A. Dharmadhikari, A. K. Dharmadhikari, B. J. Rao, and D. Mathur. Optics Express (7 March 2005) Vol. 13, No. 5, 1555-1560.
[51]  ATP hydrolysis induced, mismatch dependent aggregation of MutS: A real-time analysis of the large Protein-DNA complexes. Nabanita Nag, G. Krishnamoorthy, Basuthkar J. Rao (2005) FEBS Journal 272 6228–6243.
[52]  Co-expressed recombinant human Translin-Trax complex binds DNA. Gagan D. Gupta, Ravi D. Makde, Radhika P. Kamdar, Jacinta S. D'Souza, Meeta G.Kulkarni, Vinay Kumar, Basuthkar J. Rao. FEBS Letters (2005 Jun 6);579(14):3141-6.
[53]  Effect of DNA sequence and nucleotide cofactors on hRad51 binding to ssDNA: Role of hRad52 in recruitment. Navadgi VM, Shukla A, Rao BJ. Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 2005 Aug 26; 334(2): 696-701.
[54]  GTP induced conformational changes in Translin: a comparison between Human and Drosophila proteins. Kundan Sengupta, Jacinta S. D'Souza, Radhika P. Kamdar, Sourajit M. Mustafi and Basuthkar J. Rao. (2006) Biochemistry. 45, 861-870.
[55]  Jayashree A. Dharmadhikari, Jacinta S. D'Souza, Mohanram Gudipati, Aditya K. Dharmadhikari, Basuthkar J. Rao, and Deepak Mathur. (2006) Sensitive, real-time monitoring of UV-induced stress in live plant cells using an optical trap. Journal of Sensors & Actuators-B, 115 439-443.
[56]  Vasundhara M. Navadgi, Ashish Shukla, Rahul Kumar Vempati and Basuthkar. J. Rao. (2006 Jan) DNA mediated disassembly of hRad51 and hRad52 proteins and recruitment of hRad51 to ssDNA by hRad52. FEBS J. 273(1):199-207.
[57]  Swati Moharikar, Jacinta S. D'Souza, Atul B. Kulkarni, and Basuthkar J. Rao. (April 2006) Detection of a UV-C induced apoptosis-like cell death process in the unicellular chlorophyte Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. Journal of Phycology, 42, 2, 423-433.
[58]  Jacinta S. D'Souza, Jayashree A. Dharmadhikari, Aditya K. Dharmadhikari, Vasundhara Navadgi, Deepak Mathur and Basuthkar J. Rao (2006). Human hRad52 binding renders ssDNA unfolded:image and contour length analyses by Atomic Force Microscopy. Current Science 91, 12, 1641-1648.
[59]  Herve Seligmann, Neeraja M Krishnan, Basuthkar J Rao. (2006) Multiple origins of replication in primate mitochondria: alternative role of tRNA sequences. J of Theoretical Biology; 21;241(2):321-32.
[60]  Chittela Rajanikant, Manoj Kumbhakar, Haridas Pal, Basuthkar J. Rao and Jayashree K. Sainis. (2006 April); DNA Strand Exchange Activity of Rice Recombinase OsDmc1 monitored by Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET) and the role of ATP hydrolysis. FEBS J.; 273:1497-1506.
[61]  Herve Seligmann, Neeraja M Krishnan, Basuthkar J Rao. (2006) Mitochondrial tRNA sequences as unusual replication origins: Pathogenic implications for Homo sapiens. J of Theoretical Biology; 243(3):375-85.
[62]  Nabanita Nag, T. Ramreddy, Mamata Kombrabail, P. M. Krishna Mohan, Jacinta D'souza, B. J. Rao, Guy Duportail, Yves Mely and G. Krishnamoorthy (2006) Dynamics of DNA and protein-DNA complexes viewed through time-domain fluorescence. Reviews in Fluorescence, 2006; (vol 3) Edited by: Chris D. Geddes, J R Lakowicz, Springer Publications, USA.
[63]  Swati Moharikar, Jacinta S. D'Souza and Basuthkar J. Rao. (2007) A homolog of the defender against apoptotic death gene (DAD1) in UV-exposed Chlamydomonas cells is down-regulated with the onset of programmed cell death. J. Biosci. 32(2), March 2007, 261–270.
[64]  Suseendranathan K, Sengupta K, Rikhy R, D'Souza JS, Kokkanti M, Kulkarni MG, Kamdar R, Changede R, Sinha R, Subramanian L, Singh K, Rodrigues V, Rao BJ. (2007) Expression pattern of Drosophila translin and behavioral analyses of the mutant. Eur J Cell Biol. 2007 Mar; 86(3):173-86.
[65]  T. Ramreddy, B. J. Rao, G. Krishnamoorthy. (2007) Site-Specific Dynamics of Strands in ss-and ds-DNA as Revealed by Time-Domain Fluorescence of 2-Aminopurine (2007) Journal of Physical Chemistry-B 2007 May 24;111(20):5757-66.
[66]  Nabanita Nag, Basuthkar J Rao, Guruswamy Krishnamoorthy. Altered dynamics of DNA bases adjacent to a mismatch: A cue for mismatch recognition by MutS. J. Mol. Biol. 2007 Nov 16;374(1):39-53.
[67]  Rajanikant C, Melzer M, Rao BJ, Sainis JK. Homologous recombination properties of OsRad51, a recombinase from rice. Plant Mol Biol. 2008 Aug 10. [Epub ahead of print]
[68]  Neeraja M. Krishnan, Herve Seligmann, and Basuthkar J. Rao. Relationship between mRNA secondary structure and sequence variability in chloroplast genes: possible life history implications. BMC Genomics (2008) Jan 28;9:48.
[69]  Gupta GD, Makde RD, Rao BJ, Kumar V. Crystal structures of Drosophila mutant translin and characterization of translin variants reveal the structural plasticity of translin proteins. FEBS J. 2008 Aug;275(16):4235-49. Epub 2008 Jul 18.
[70]  Sunil K. Noothi, Mamata Kombrabail, Tapas K. Kundu, Krishnamoorthy G, Basuthkar J. Rao. Enhanced DNA Dynamics due to cationic reagents, topological states of dsDNA and HMGB1 as probed by PicoGreen. FEBS J. 2009 Jan; 276(2):541-51.
[71]  Kamakshi Balakrishnan, Neeraja M. Krishnan, Basuthkar J. Rao. Human Rad52 stimulates Human Rad51 mediated DNA underwinding by co-aggregating with Rad51-dsDNA complexes. BMC Biochem. 2009 Jan 9;10:2.
[72]  D'Souza JS, Gudipati M, Dharmadhikari JA, Dharmadhikari AK, Kashyap A, Aiyer M, Rao U, Mathur D, Rao BJ. Flagella-generated forces reveal gear-type motor in single cells of the green alga, Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications doi:10.1016/j.bbrc.2009.01.049
[73]  Ramreddy T, Kombrabail M, Krishnamoorthy G, Rao BJ. Site-Specific Dynamics in TAT Triplex DNA As Revealed by Time-Domain Fluorescence of 2-Aminopurine. J Phys Chem B. 2009 May 14; 113(19):6840-6.
[74]  Krishnan NM, Rao BJ. A comparative approach to elucidate chloroplast genome replication. BMC Genomics. 2009 May 20;10(1):237. [Epub ahead of print].
[75]  Mitochondrial Molecular Adaptations and Life History Strategies Coevolve in Plants. Neeraja M. Krishnan and Basuthkar J. Rao, Nature Precedings: doi:10.1038/npre.2008.1922.1: Posted 28 May 2008.
[76]  Salt Modulates oligomerization Properties of hRad51 and hRad52 Proteins. Kamakshi Balakrishnan, Neeraja M. Krishnan, Basuthkar J. Rao.
[77]  Sunil K. Noothi and Basuthkar J. Rao. MutS and UvrD proteins stimulate exonuclease action: insights on exonuclease mediated strand repairs. Biochemistry. 2009 Aug 25;48(33):7787-93.
[78]  Sunil K. Noothi, Mamata Kombrabail, Basuthkar J. Rao and Krishnamoorthy G. Euchromatin is more flexible than heterochromatin as observed by fluorescence dynamics of PicoGreen J Fluoresc. 2010 Jan; 20(1):37-41.
[79]  TeenaGoel, T. Mukherjee, B. J. Rao and G. Krishnamoorthy, Fluorescence dynamics of doubleand single-stranded DNA bound to histone and micellar surfaces. J PhysChem B. 2010 Jul 15;114(27):8986-93.
[80]  Ashok Rout, Renu Minda, Dinakar Peri, B.J.Rao and KVR Chary, Sequence Specific 1H, 13C and 15N resonance assignments of UVI31+ from Chlamydomonas reinhardtii Biomol NMR Assign. (2010) 4:171–174.
[81]  Effect of intense, ultrashort laser pulses on DNA plasmids in theirnative state: Strand breakages induced by in situ electrons andradicals. J. S. D'Souza, J. A. Dharmadhikari, A. K.Dharmadhikari, B.J.Rao& Deepak Mathur. Phys. Rev. Lett. 106, 118101 (2011).