Research Interests:

Fluctuations in nutrient availability is one of the most common challenges faced by microbes in their natural environment and within the host environment upon infection. In response to this challenge, microbes reversibly transition to specialized cell states that allow them to survive and persist in these dynamic environments. Our group aims to understand how conserved metabolic events orchestrate these cell state transitions specifically in the context of microbial community development and host pathogenesis. We will employ simple fungal models like Baker's yeast as well as pathogenic fungal models (primarily Cryptococcus neoformans) and use multidisciplinary approaches combining microbial genetics, biochemical and cell-biology based approaches in conjunction with microscopy, transcriptomics, pertinent mass-spectrometry and cell culture/animal infection models to address these questions.

Selected Publications

Sriram Varahan* and Sunil Laxman*. (2021). Bend or break: how biochemically versatile molecules enable metabolic division of labor in clonal microbial communities. GENETICS Oct 2;219(2):iyab109. doi: 10.1093/genetics/iyab109. (* Co-corresponding authors)

Sriram Varahan, Vaibhhav Sinha, Adhish Walvekar, Sandeep Krishna and Sunil Laxman. (2020). Resource-plasticity driven carbon-nitrogen resource budgeting enables specialization and division of labour in a clonal community. eLife Sep 2;9:e57609. doi: 10.7554/eLife.57609.

Sriram Varahan, Adhish Walvekar, Vaibhhav Sinha, Sandeep Krishna and Sunil Laxman. (2019). Metabolic constraints drive self-organization of specialized cell groups. eLife Jun 26;8:e46735. doi: 10.7554/eLife.46735.

Sriram Varahan, Nathan Harms, John Tomich, Michael Gilmore and Lynn Hancock. (2014). An ABC transporter is required for secretion of peptide sex pheromones in Enterococcus faecalis. mBio. 5(5):e01726-14. doi:10.1128/mBio.01726-14.

Sriram Varahan, Vijayalakshmi Iyer, William Moore and Lynn Hancock. (2013). Eep confers lysozyme resistance to Enterococcus faecalis via the activation of the ECF sigma factor, SigV. Journal of Bacteriology. Jul;195(14):3125-34. doi:10.1128/JB.00291-13.