With simple genetic make-up bacteria are the most intelligent and successful organisms on the earth. This simplicity is the key to their greatest fitness in the most complex environment. Under a given stress bacteria rewire its metabolic circuitry to adapt in the environment. If adaptation fails, bacteria evolve quite easily through mutations in its own genome. With this theme, my laboratory focuses on the following ongoing projects: 1. Replisome and RNA polymerase collision on the DNA track 2. Beta-clamp of replisome in DNA repair 3. Rho dependent termination and stress response 4. Unraveling manganese stress management in E. coli.

• Kaur, G., Sengupta, S., Kumar, V., Kumari, A., Ghosh, A., Parrack, P. and Dutta, D.*(2014) Novel MntR-independent mechanism of manganese homeostasis in Escherichia coli by the ribosome-associated protein HflX. J. Bacteriol. 196, 2587-2597. (Cover illustration). *correspondence
• Dutta, D., Shatalin, K., Epshtein, V., Gottesman, M.E., and Nudler E. (2011) Linking RNA Polymerase Backtracking to Genomic Instability. Cell 146, 533-543.
• Ephstein, V.*, Dutta, D.*, Wade, J., Nudler, E. (2010) An allosteric mechanism of Rho-dependent termination. Nature 463, 245-249. (*Equal contribution).
• Dutta, D., Bandyopadhyay, K., Datta, A.B., Sardesai, A., Parrack, P. (2009) Properties of HflX, an enigmatic protein from Escherichia coli. J. Bacteriol 191, 2307-2314.
• Dutta, D., Chalissery, J., Sen, R. (2008). Transcription termination factor Rho prefers catalytically active elongation complexes for releasing RNA. J. Biol. Chem. 283, 20243-51.