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Research

 Predation is one of the most prevalent and ancient forms of antagonistic interaction which pervades all ecosystems at all levels of biological organization. Studies with higher eukaryotes have demonstrated the significance of predator-prey interactions in speciation events, evolution of virulence, evolution of pathogenesis, evolution of diversity, evolution of cooperation, evolution of multiple levels of selection, and many more important events during the course of evolution of life on our planet. However, unlike the historical interest in the studying predator-prey interactions among higher eukaryotes, the importance of microbial predator-prey interactions has been recognized relatively recently. We study bacterial predator-prey interactions in natural populations of bacteria, and using lab evolution experiments.

We use M. xanthus as a model organism to study bacterial predation. M. xanthus is a predatory bacterium that kills and eats other microbes by secreting antimicrobial compounds and forms spore-filled multicellular fruiting bodies upon starvation. M. xanthus predation is mediated by contact-dependent as well as contact-independent mechanisms such as toxins, antibiotics, lytic enzymes, and secretion systems.

Specifically, we study the influence of translational and transcriptional errors, genetic diversity, environmental fluctuations, complex life-cycle, and ecological conditions on the evolution of mechanisms of bacterial predation. Please contact Samay or any lab member if you want to know about our research.

For more information, please visit our website, www.redqueenlab.com .

Group Members

Bevan Stanley

Bevan Stanley

Int. PhD student

Bhoomika Ashok Bhat

Bhoomika Ashok Bhat

Undergraduate student

Harish N

Harish N

Lab manager

Jyotsna Kalathera

Jyotsna Kalathera

PhD student

jyotsnak@iisc.ac.in

Jyothi BR

Jyothi BR

Graduate Trainee

joyjyothi94@gmail.com

Krithi Nandimath

Krithi Nandimath

Guest researcher

Nived Krishnan S

Nived Krishnan S

Undergraduate student

niveds@iisc.ac.in

Saheli Saha

Saheli Saha

PhD student

sahelisaha@iisc.ac.in

Subrata Mishra

Subrata Mishra

Intern

Sukrit Suresh

Sukrit Suresh

Junior Research Fellow

sukritsuresh@yahoo.co.uk

Vishwa Patel

Vishwa Patel

Intern

Past Members

Suchitha Raghunathan

Suchitha Raghunathan

PhD student co-supervised with Anjana Badrinarayanan at NCBS, Bangalore

Indumathi

Indumathi

Intern

Dr. Samay Pande

Dr. Samay Pande

Assistant professor

Email:  samayp@iisc.ac.in
Website: www.redqueenlab.com