The presence of ribonucleotides in DNA can lead to genomic instability and cellular lethality. To prevent adventitious rNTP incorporation, the majority of the DNA polymerases (dPols) possess a steric filter in the form of a bulky residue that stacks against the ribose sugar and clashes with 2’ -OH of incoming ribonucleotide. MsDpo4 from Mycobacterium smegmatis, […]

Bacteria are versatile organisms that instantly respond to changing environmental signals.Motility in bacteria is mediated by multi-protein complex thread like structure called flagella that allows bacteria to move towards favourable conditions.However, bacteria can also form sessile sedentary surface attached communities embedded in think polysaccharide matrix called biofilms. A research paper published in ACS Chemical Biology […]

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is characterised by chronic inflammation of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract  and includes Chron’s disease and ulcerative colitis. Currently the treatment to this disease mainly involves immune-suppressants that often results in severe side effects.  To overcome poor success rates and challenges associated with current therapeutic strategies, Drs. Bajaj and Srikanth’s group tested  […]