Rajan Sankaranarayanan is an Indian

structural biologist Structural biology is a field that is many centuries old which, and as defined by the Journal of Structural Biology, deals with structural analysis of living material (formed, composed of, and/or maintained and refined by living cells) at every le ...

and a group leader at the

Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology The Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology ( hi, कोशिकीय एवं आण्विक जीवविज्ञान केंद्र, IAST: ''Kośikīya evam āṇavik jīvavijñāna kendra'') or CCMB is an Indian fundamen ...

(CCMB) in

Hyderabad Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part ...

. He is known for his research in the field of protein translation, especially for his contribution in chiral proofreading during protein biosynthesis. In 2020, Sankaranarayanan was awarded the

Infosys Prize The Infosys Prize is an annual award given to scientists, researchers, engineers and social scientists of Indian origin (not necessarily born in India) by the Infosys Science Foundation and ranks among the highest monetary awards in India to re ...

in life sciences, the most prestigious award that recognizes achievements in science and research, in India.

Biography

He was born in Papanasam project,

Tirunelveli Tirunelveli (, ta, திருநெல்வேலி, translit=Tirunelveli) also known as Nellai ( ta, நெல்லை, translit=Nellai) and historically (during British rule) as Tinnevelly, is a major city in the Indian state of Tami ...

Tamilnadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a state in southern India. It is the tenth largest Indian state by area and the sixth largest by population. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu is the home of the Tamil people, whose Tamil language— ...

. He pursued his master's degree in

Madurai Kamaraj University Madurai Kamaraj University (MKU) is a public state university located in Madurai city, in southern Tamil Nadu, India, established in 1966. MKU is one of the 15 universities in India with the University with Potential for Excellence status, wh ...

(MKU) followed by his Ph.D. in

Indian Institute of Science The Indian Institute of Science (IISc) is a public, deemed, research university for higher education and research in science, engineering, design, and management. It is located in Bengaluru, in the Indian state of Karnataka. The institute wa ...

(IISc) under the guidance of Prof. M. Vijayan. He did his postdoctoral research with Prof. Dino Moras at Laboratoire de Biologie Structurale, IGBMC, Strasbourg, France. During that period, he worked on the structure of threonyl-tRNA synthetase. In 2002, he moved back to India, since then he is working as a group leader at the

(CCMB) in

Research and career

Sankaranarayanan's group is interested in understanding unique proofreading mechanisms that are operational in biological systems to maintain quality control during the translation of the genetic code. These processes are important in understanding how D-amino acids are kept away from getting incorporated during protein biosynthesis. Most of his research work is focused on understanding the mechanistic, physiological and evolutionary role of 'chiral proofreading' systems. His laboratory has elucidated the mechanism of D-aminoacyl-tRNA deacylase 1 (DTD1), where he has shown how an invariant ‘cross-subunit’ Gly-''cis''Pro dipeptide captures the chiral centre of incoming D-aminoacyl-tRNA. His group also identified a paralog of DTD1 in animals known as Animalia-specific-tRNA Deacylase (ATD), which plays a crucial role in protecting animals from mistranslation associated with oxidative stress and its implications in the evolution of multicellularity in Animalia. The group has also identified the role of archaeal-derived chiral proofreader D-aminoacyl-tRNA deacylase 2 (DTD2) in removing N-ethyl adducts formed on D-aminoacyl-tRNA by

acetaldehyde Acetaldehyde (IUPAC systematic name ethanal) is an organic chemical compound with the formula CH3 CHO, sometimes abbreviated by chemists as MeCHO (Me = methyl). It is a colorless liquid or gas, boiling near room temperature. It is one of the mos ...

, an anaerobic fermentation intermediate. Furthermore, the group has also went on to show how these two chiral proofreaders are involved in the optimization of cellular networks during the emergence and evolution of organelles in two major branches of eukaryotes, i.e., opisthokonta &

plants Plants are predominantly Photosynthesis, photosynthetic eukaryotes of the Kingdom (biology), kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; however, all curr ...

. His laboratory is also interested in understanding the roles of a class of lipid metabolising enzymes called Fatty acyl-AMP ligases (FAAL), which are involved in the production of lipidic secondary metabolites in bacteria. The group has identified the mechanistic underpinnings of FAAL’s incredible specificity towards its substrate, acyl carrier protein and rejecting CoA, despite being chemically identical. Recently, the group has also identified the role of a FAAL-like homolog in eukaryotes called Disco-interacting protein 2 (DIP2), in regulating a specific pool of diacylglycerols by converting it into triacylglycerols, thereby maintaining cellular homeostasis.

Awards and recognition

Sankaranarayanan was awarded the

Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology The Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology (SSB) is a science award in India given annually by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) for notable and outstanding research, Applied science, applied or Fundamenta ...

(2011), the highest science award in India, in the biological sciences category."11 scientists selected for Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar award" ibn live, Sep 26,201

/ref> He is also the recipient of the National Bioscience Award for Career Development. In 2020, Sankaranarayanan has been awarded the

in life sciences, the most prestigious award that recognizes achievements in science and research, in India. In the year 2022, he was elected as an associate member of the esteemed

European Molecular Biology Organization The European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) is a professional, non-profit organization of more than 1,800 life scientists. Its goal is to promote research in life science and enable international exchange between scientists. It co-funds cour ...

(EMBO). In December 2020, Sankaranarayanan was awarded

for Life Sciences – ''for his fundamental contributions towards understanding one of the most basic mechanisms in biology.''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sankaranarayanan, Rajan Year of birth missing (living people) Living people 20th-century Indian biologists Recipients of the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award in Biological Science N-BIOS Prize recipients https://www.embo.org/press-releases/embo-elects-67-new-members-and-associate-members/