Postdoc. Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School

Ph.D. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Our lab is interested in understanding the molecular mechanisms involved in how bacterial cells grow and divide. We have taken a combination of molecular genetics, biochemical and biophysical approaches in addressing two broad question in this area:

(i) Regulation of FtsZ, the tubulin-like bacterial protein, essential for division in most bacteria, and

(ii) Maintenance of bacterial cell envelope integrity in double-membraned bacterial cells.

Our work is currently supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF).

Doctoral: Aaron Mychack; Andrea Cardenas Arevalo; Emily LaMarre

Postbac: Emmanuel Khodra

Undergraduates: Karla Cardenas Arevalo; Faiza Rafi

• Mychack A, Amrutha RN, Chung C, Cardenas Arevalo K, Reddy M, Janakiraman A (2019). A synergistic role for two predicted inner membrane proteins of Escherichia coli in cell envelope integrity. Mol. Microbiol. 111:317-337. Cover Feature.
• Schumacher M, Huang KH, Zeng W, Janakiraman A (2017). Structure of the Z ring associated protein, ZapD, bound to the C-terminal domain of the tubulin-like protein, FtsZ, suggests mechanism of Z ring stabilization through FtsZ crosslinking. J. Biol. Chem. 292:3740-3750. 
• Janakiraman A, Lesser CF (2017). How to manage stress: Lessons from an intracellular pathogen. Virulence 8:359-361. 
• Buczek MS, Cardenas Arevalo AL, Janakiraman A (2016). ClpXP and ClpAP control the Escherichia coli division protein ZapC by proteolysis. Microbiol. 162:909-20. 
• Huang KH, Mychack A, Tchorzewski L, Janakiraman A (2016). Characterization of the FtsZ C-Terminal Variable (CTV) Region in Z-Ring Assembly and Interaction with the Z-Ring Stabilizer ZapD in E. coli Cytokinesis. PLoS One. 11:e0153337. 
• Schumacher MA, Zeng W, Huang KH, Tchorzewski L, Janakiraman A (2016). Structural and Functional Analyses Reveal Insights into the Molecular Properties of the Escherichia coli Z Ring Stabilizing Protein, ZapC. J. Biol. Chem. 291:2485-98. 
• Janakiraman A (2016) The molecular role of the polar outer membrane protein IcsA (VirG) in Shigella actin-based motility. 2015. In Shigella: Molecular and Cellular Biology, Picking WD and Picking WL, editors, Caister Academic Press, Norwich, UK. 
• Huang KH, Durand-Heredia J, Janakiraman A (2013). FtsZ ring stability: of bundles, tubules, crosslinks, and curves. J. Bacteriol. 195:1859-68. 
• Durand-Heredia J, Rivkin E, Fan G, Morales J, Janakiraman A (2012). Identification of ZapD as a cell division factor that promotes the assembly of FtsZ in Escherichia coli. J. Bacteriol.,194:3189-98.  
• Fixen KR, Janakiraman A, Garrity S, Slade DJ, Gray AN, Karahan N, Hochschild A, Goldberg MB (2012). Genetic reporter system for positioning of proteins at the bacterial pole. mBio 3:e00251-11. 
• Durand-Heredia JM, Yu HH, De Carlo S, Lesser CF, Janakiraman A (2011). Identification and characterization of ZapC, a stabilizer of the FtsZ ring in Escherichia coli. J. Bacteriol., 193:1405-1413. 
• Janakiraman A, Fixen KR, Gray AN, Niki H, Goldberg MB (2009). Genome-scale proteomic screen identifies role for DnaK in chaperoning of polar autotransporters in Shigella. J. Bacteriol., 191:6300-6311. 
• Nie L, Ren Y, Janakiraman A, Smith S, Schulz H (2008). A novel paradigm of fatty acid beta-oxidation exemplified by the thioesterase-dependent partial degradation of conjugated linoleic acid that fully supports growth of Escherichia coli. Biochemistry. 47:9618-9626.

Undergraduate: 

Cell and Molecular Biology (Bio22900); Advanced Microbiology (Bio35000); Current Topics in Microbiology (Bio48000) 

Graduate:

Molecular Biology (BioC0300/Biol71013)