Gautam Chaudhuri
Professor
Divisions of Cancer Biology and of
Microbial Pathogenesis & Immune Response,
Department of Biomedical Sciences

615-327-6499
Meharry Medical College
1005 Dr. D.B. Todd Boulevard
Nashville, TN  37208

gchaudhuri@mmc.edu

Lab URL

CV or Bio (PDF)

Ph.D., Biochemistry, Calcutta University, India
Postdoc, Molecular Parasitology, Chicago Medical School

The breast cancer research in Dr. Chaudhuri’s lab emphasizes the role of the SLUG family of transcriptional repressors on human BRCA2 gene expression and metastasis of breast tumor cells.  SLUG binds to a transcriptional silencer upstream of human BRCA2 gene and silences expression of this gene by chromatin remodeling through the recruitment of histone deacetylase and subsequent histone deacetylation.  SLUG also regulates E-cadherin and cytokeratin gene expression, perhaps aiding metastasis of human breast tumor cells. 

The Leischmania research in Dr. Chaudhuri’s laboratory focuses on the regulation of 7SL RNA gene expression in macrophages by the parasitic protozoan Leishmania during the early stages of infection.  The parasite seems to sedate the macrophages by down regulation of 7SL RNA, an integral component of the signal recognition particle, which thus inhibits the vesicular transport of proteins in the macrophages; over-expression of 7SL RNA in macrophages transforms them to Leishmania-resistant cells.  A variety of approaches are underway to delineate the mechanisms of macrophage “sedation” as a prelude to identifying novel drug targets in treatment of Leishamania.

Dr. Chaudhuri’s lab also is interested in DNA recombination and repair in the nucleus and the mitochondrion in Leishmania and in African trypanosomes. They are evaluating the interactions of a parasite-specific ribonuclease H essential for parasite survival with the Rad51 and BRCA2 homologues of the parasite, again with the intent of identifying novel anti-parasitic drug targets.

Cancer Biology

Tripathi, M.K., Misra, S., Khedkar, S.V., Hamilto, N., Irvin-Wilson C., Sharan, C., Sealy, L., and Chaudhuri, G. (2005) Regulation of CRCA2 gene expression by the SLUG repressor protein in human breast cells. J. Biol. Chem. 280, 17163-17171.

Irvin-Wilson, C. V., and Chaudhuri, G. (2005) Alternative initiation and splicing in dicer gene expression in human breast cells.  Breast Cancer Res. 7, 563-569.

Tripathi, M. K., Misra, S. and Chaudhuri, G. (2005) Negative regulation of the expressions of cytokeratins 8 and 19 by SLUG repressor protein in human breast cells.  Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 329, 508-515.

Bailey, C. K., Misra, S., Mittal, M.K., and Chaudhuri, G. (2007) Human SLUG does not directly bind to CtBP1. Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 353, 661-664.

Microbiology

Misra, S., Tripathi, M. K. and Chaudhuri, G. (2005)  leishmania infection of macrophages; down regulation of 7SL RNA expression and impairment of vesicular protein transport pathways. J. Biol. Chem. 280, 29364-29373.

Misra, S., Bennett, J., Friew, Y. N., Abdulghani, J., Irvin-Wilson, C.W., Tripathi, M. K., Williams, S., Chaudhri, M. and Chaudhuri, G. (2005) A type II ribonuclease H from Leishmania mitochondria: An enzyme essential for the growth of the parasite.  Mol. Biochem. Parasitol. 143, 135-145.

Misra, S., Hall, M. III and Chaudhuri, G. (2005) Molecular characterization of a human brca2 homolog in Leishmania donovani. J. Parasitol 91, 1492-1495.

Ueda, Y. and Chaudhuri, G. (200) Differential expression of B1-containing transcripts in Leishmania-exprosed macrophages. J. Biol. Chem. 275, 19428-19432.