Dr. Adhya received his Ph.D. from the University of Calcutta and also from the University of Wisconsin. He was a Research Associate at University of Rochester and Stanford University. He joined the Laboratory of Molecular Biology in 1971. In 1994, Dr. Adhya was elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences. Dr. Adhya has also been an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Genetics at George Washington University since 1987.
Transcription is the major target of regulation of gene expression.
We have previously demonstrated transcriptional regulation both at the level of initiation by activators and repressors and at the level of elongation by terminators and antiterminators in the gal operon which encodes enzymes of D-galactose metabolism in Escherichia coli . Presumably because of the amphibiotic nature of the biochemical pathway in carbon metabolism, the operon shows a multitude of controls even at the level of transcription initiation and has been a paradigm system for studying control of transcription initiation. The major highlight of our work in the past two years is the revelation that GalR alone exerts control on the two promoters in a multivalent way. I encompassing the promoters, P 1 and P 2, creates a DNA loop which inhibits transcription initiation from the gal promoters. A topologically closed loop of 11 helical turns, which is inflexible to torsional changes, disables the promoters by resisting DNA unwinding by RNA polymerase needed for open complex formation.