Profile
Dr. Tushar Kant Beuria obtaining PhD degree (2006) in the field of Microbiology and Biochemistry from School of Biosciences and Bioengineering at IIT Bombay. Then he worked as a postdoctoral fellow at Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, University of Texas, Health Science Centre at Houston, USA for 5 years (2006-2011). He joined as a Scientist/ Principal investigator in the year 2011 at Infectious Disease Biology Group, Institute of Life Sciences, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India. Currently he is working as Scientist F and the group leader at Institute of Life Sciences, Bhubaneswar. His group works to understand how the cell division machinery works in bacteria and to elucidate the mechanism for antibacterial resistance.
Current Focus Areas
Bacterial division: Bacteria rules over us through quick multiplication. In order to prevent bacterial growth it is necessary to understand its division mechanism. We focus to understand the placement and formation of the divisome complex in bacteria, its coordination with other cellular processes and to identify small-molecule-inhibitors of bacterial division.
Antimicrobial resistance: Efflux pumps and the biofilms are the two of the major mechanisms for AMR. We are focusing to understand the molecular mechanisms of efflux pumps and biofilm formation and their inhibition.
Programmed cell death (PCD), a concept in eukaryotes where damaged cells get killed in order to protect others. It is observed that bacteria also work in a group whether in a colony or during pathogenesis. We aim to understand the molecular mechanism involved during the PCD in bacteria.
Selected Publications
Pradhan P, Taviti AC, Beuria TK. The bacterial division protein MinDE has an independent function in flagellation. J Biol Chem. 2024 Feb 23;300(4):107117.
Guru A, Taviti AC, Sethy M, Ray S, Dixit A, Beuria TK. The cell division protein ZapE is targeted by the antibiotic aztreonam to induce cell filamentation in Escherichia coli. FEBS Lett. 2023 Oct 19. doi: 10.1002/1873-3468.14759. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 37857499.
Mallik S, Dodia H, Ghosh A, Srinivasan R, Good L, Raghav SK, Beuria TK. FtsE, the Nucleotide Binding Domain of the ABC Transporter Homolog FtsEX, Regulates Septal PG Synthesis in E. coli. Microbiol Spectr. 2023 Jun 15;11(3):e0286322. doi: 10.1128/spectrum.02863-22. Epub 2023 Apr 4. PMID: 37014250; PMCID: PMC10269673.
De S, Ghosh S, Keshry SS, Mahish C, Mohapatra C, Guru A, Mamidi P, Datey A, Pani SS, Vasudevan D, Beuria TK, Chattopadhyay S, Subudhi BB, Chattopadhyay S. MBZM-N-IBT, a Novel Small Molecule, Restricts Chikungunya Virus Infection by Targeting nsP2 Protease Activity In Vitro, In Vivo, and Ex Vivo. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2022 Jul 19;66(7):e0046322. doi: 10.1128/aac.00463-22. Epub 2022 Jun 29. PMID: 35766508; PMCID: PMC9295557.
Pradhan P, Margolin W, Beuria TK. Targeting the Achilles Heel of FtsZ: The Interdomain Cleft. Front Microbiol. 2021 Sep 8;12:732796. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2021.732796. PMID: 34566937; PMCID: PMC8456036.
Mallick S, Kumar A, Dodia H, Alexander C, Vasudevan D, Beuria TK. Biochemical characterization of an E. coli cell division factor FtsE shows ATPase cycles similar to the NBDs of ABC-transporters. Biosci Rep. 2021 Jan 29;41(1):BSR20203034.doi: 10.1042/BSR20203034. PMID: 33320186.
Alexander C, Guru A, Pradhan P, Mallick S, Mahanandia NC, Subudhi BB, Beuria TK*. MazEF-rifampicin interaction suggests a mechanism for rifampicin induced inhibition of persisters. BMC Mol Cell Biol. 2020 Oct 27;21(1):73. doi: 10.1186/s12860-020-00316-8. PMID: 33109090; PMCID: PMC7590665.
Taviti AC, Beuria TK*, Bacterial Min proteins beyond the cell division, Crit Rev Microbiol. 2018, 45(1):22-32, doi: 10.1080/1040841X.2018.1538932.
Taviti AC and Beuria TK*, MinD directly interacts with FtsZ at H10 helix suggests a model for robust activation of MinC to destabilize FtsZ polymers, Biochem J. Biochem J. 2017 Sep 7;474(18):3189-3205.