Pradeep Parrack
Lecturer, Biochemistry
PhD: Indian Institute of Science, Bagalore (1989)

Research interest

We are interested in the study of gene regulation in prokaryotes and protein-DNA interactions. Specifically, our group works in the following areas:

• Mechanism of transcription activation by the cyclic AMP receptor protein (CRP) in several operons of E. coli
• Study of a putative third promoter in the promoter upstream region of the gal operon of E. coli
• Investigations on the three dimensional structure of the CII protein of coliphage lambda and understanding the structural details of the lysis-lysogeny switch. Cloning, expression and purification of proteins derived from bacterial sources, Electrophoretic mobility shift assays (EMSA), footprinting and other common protein chemistrytechniques are routinely done in our laboratory. We have also initiated X-ray crystallographic studies in collaboration with Dr. Pinak Chakrabarti of the department of Biochemistry, and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance in collaboration of Dr. Siddhartha Roy of the department of Biophysics.
  In addition, recently we have started characterisation of an alkaline protease from an alkalophilic Bacillus isolate, and its potential potential industrial applications. We are also collaborating with Dr. Swati Gupta Bhattacharyya of the department of Botany, in a project involving the prodution of recombinant vaccines for hypersensitivity to Parthenium.

Name of group members

• Dr. C. Ganesh Kumar
• Mr. Ajit Bikram Datta
• Ms. Rima Chattopadhyay
• Mr. Jayanta Mukhopadhyay (Nov 1999, 5y 3m) and Ms. Runa Sur (Jan 2000, 4y 11m) have submitted their theses and are awaiting award of PhD degree.

Important publications (six)

1. Jayanta Mukhopadhyay, Runa Sur and Pradeep Parrack (1999). Functional roles of the two cyclic AMP-dependent forms of CRP (cyclic AMP Receptor Protein) from Escherichia coli. FEBS Lett. 453, 215-218.
2. H. E. Choy, S.W. Park, T. Aki, P. Parrack, N. Fujita, A. Ishihama and S. Adhya (1995). Repression and activation of transcription by Gal and Lac repressors: involvement of alpha subunit of RNA polymerase. EMBO J. 14, 4523-4529.
3. Hyon Choy, S.-W. Park, P. Parrack and S. Adhya (1995). Transcription Regulation by Inflexibility of DNA in a Looped Complex. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 92, 7327-7331.
4. Krishnendu Mukhopadhyay, Pradip K. Parrack and B. Bhattacharyya (1990) The Carboxy Terminus of the Alpha Subunit of Tubulin Regulates its Interaction with Colchicine. Biochemistry 29, 6845-6850.
5. Pradipkumar Parrack, Dipak Dasgupta, Jayalekshmy Ayyer and V. Sasisekharan (1987). Interaction of synthetic analogs of distamycin with DNA : Role of the conjugated N-methylpyrrole system in specificity of binding. FEBS Lett. 212, 297-301.
6. Runa Sur, Dipanwita Debnath, Jayanta Mukhopadhyay and Pradeep Parrack (2001) A Novel RNA Polymerase Binding Site Upstream of the Galactose Promoter in Escherichia coli Exhibits Promoter-like Activity. Eur. J. Biochem. 268, 2344-2350.