Bio

Venkat Gopalan obtained a B.Sc. (Chemistry) from University of Madras, India, and a Ph.D. (Biochemistry) from the University of New Mexico (Mentor: Prof. Robert H. Glew). He was then a post-doctoral fellow in the group of Prof. Sidney Altman, Yale University. During his post-doctoral tenure, he was also a visiting scholar for brief periods at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge, England. He came to OSU in 1998 and is currently a Professor in the Department of Biochemistry. 

Research Overview

Structure and mechanism of action of ribonuclease P, a catalytic ribonucleoprotein (RNP) complex. The endoribonuclease RNase P is a ubiquitous RNP that is involved in the maturation of tRNAs. In Escherichia coli, the RNase P holoenzyme consists of a catalytic RNA subunit (M1 RNA, 377 nts) and a protein cofactor (C5 protein, 119 amino acid residues). The long-term goal of our studies is to elucidate the mechanism of assembly of this unique catalytic RNP complex and thereby understand how an RNA-binding protein influences the structure and function of its RNA ligand. 2. Use of plant RNase P to inhibit gene expression Recently, it has been demonstrated that endogenous, cellular RNase P can be guided to specifically destroy a target mRNA in bacterial and human cells in tissue culture. Our aim is to determine if plant RNase P could be utilized to disrupt gene expression in plants and their pathogens. These studies will help establish plant RNase P as a valuable functional genomics tool. Towards this objective, we have recently made significant progress in partially purifying and characterizing plant RNase P.

Recent Publications

For a complete list of publications. 

Ciubotariu I, Wilburn D, Bosch G, Gopalan V. (2026) Strengthening the philosophical basis of graduate science education. Trends Biochem. Sci., 51: 647-651

Zahurancik WJ, Sidharthan V, Biswas R, and Gopalan V. (2026) Development of RNA-targeting small-molecule therapeutics. Trends Pharmacol. Sci., 47: 598-602

Carpenter W, Mahata A, Vaibhav K, and Gopalan V. (2026) Illuminating spatial, dynamic, and chemical complexities in condensates. Trends Chem., 8: 419-423

Wang J, Patel P, Bhat P, Hu C, Storch C, Harty B, Bellizzi M, Jordan C, Good D, Gopalan V, Jacobs JM, Pei D, and Wang GL. (2026) Systemic delivery of functional proteins into plants using an engineered membrane translocation domain. Plant Biotechnol. J., 24: 3939-3952

Dutt S, Lai LB, Mehta R, Karawdeniya BI, Bandara YMNDY, Clulow AJ, Glatt S, Gopalan V, and Kluth P. (2026) Solid-state nanopore sensing reveals conformational changes induced by a mutation in a neuro-specific tRNA^Arg. Nucleic Acids Res., 54: gkaf1411.

Sabag-Daigle A, Boulanger EF, Baniasad M, Kim Y, Moore M, Hogue B, Schwieters A, Gopalan V, Wysocki V, and Ahmer BMM. (2025) Polarity effects, resistance, and probiotic enhancement of intoxication of Salmonella enterica fraB mutants in murine models. PLoS One, 20: e0339602.

Zakharova K, Law JD, Gao Y, Kovvali S, Wysocki VH, Gopalan V, and Bell CE. (2025) Crystal structures of Salmonella enterica FraB deglycase reveal a conformational heterodimer with remarkale structural plasticity at the active site. Protein Sci., 34: e70260.

Lai LB, Jackman JE, Daniels CJ, and Gopalan V. (2025) Mitochondrial tRNA processing: a neutral evolutionary ratchet innovation. Trends Biochem. Sci., 50: 842-844.

Seshadri R, Gopalan V. (2025) An RNA ligase partner for the prokaryotic protein-only RNase P: insights into the functional diversity of RNase P from genome mining. mBio, 16: e0044925.

Law JD, Gao Y, Kovvali S, Thirugnanasambantham P, Wysocki VH, Ahmer BMM, Gopalan V. (2025) Identification of inhibitors of the Salmonella FraB deglycase, a drug target. FEBS Open Bio, 15: 773-792.

Law JD, Gao Y, Wysocki VH, Gopalan V. (2025) Design of a yeast SUMO tag to eliminate internal translation initiation. Prot. Sci., 34: e5256.

Sidharthan V, Sibley C, Dunne-Dombrink K, Yang M, Zahurancik W, Balaratnam S, Wilburn D, Schneekloth J, and Gopalan V. (2025) Use of a small molecule microarray screen to identify inhibitors of the catalytic RNA subunit of Methanobrevibacter smithii RNase P. Nucleic Acids Res., 53: gkae1190.