Selected Publications - Earlier wet Lab Research

My research interest involved structure-function study of proteins (now, it is computational biology/bioinformatics). Followings are some of my earlier publications:

  • Conserved Cysteines in the sialyltransferase sialylmotifs form an essential disulfide bond. Arun K. Datta, R. Chammas, and J. C. Paulson (2001). J. Biol. Chem, 276:15200-7.
  • Mutations of the sialyltransferase S-sialylmotif alters the kinetics of the donor and acceptor substrates. Arun K. Datta, Abhishek Sinha, and James C. Paulson (1998). J. Biol. Chem,  273: 9608 – 9614.
  • The sialyltransferase sialylmotif participates in binding the donor substrate CMP-NeuAc. Arun K. Datta, and James C. Paulson (1995). J. Biol. Chem. 270: 1497 – 1500.
  • Both potential dolichol recognition sequences of hamster GlcNAc-1-P transferase are necessary for normal enzyme function. Arun K. Datta, and Mark A. Lehrman (1993). J. Biol. Chem, 268 : 12663 – 12668.


    • An efficient PCR method was developed to construct most of those site-directed mutants for this structure-function study. See: Efficient amplification using ‘megaprimer’ by asymmetric polymerase chain reaction (1995). Arun K. Datta. Nucleic Acids Res. 23 : 4530 – 4531.

    Mycobacteria family, which causes Tuberculosis and Leprosy, contains a thick layer of complex fatty acids on their cell surface, known as mycolic acids. Earlier, my post-doctoral research work in the University of Wisconsin (Madison) using Corynebacteria diphtheriae as a model indicated, for the first time, how these acids are biosynthesized. See the following publications:

  • Biosynthesis of a novel 3-oxo-2-tetradecyloctadecanoate-containing phospholipid by a cell-free extract of Corynebacterium diphtheriae. Arun K. Datta and Kuni Takayama (1993). Biochim. Biophys. Acta, 1169:135-145
  • Structure-to-function relationship of mycobacterial cell envelope components. Kuni Takayama and Arun K. Datta (1991). Res Microbiol., 142(4):443-8. Review; Also see, Pathway to Synthesis and Processing of Mycolic Acids in Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Kuni Takayama, Cindy Wang, and Gurdyal S. Besra (2005). Clinical Microbiology Reviews, 18: 81-101.