Assistant Professor
Department of Biological Sciences
📍 2F4 AB1
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Research Area
Molecular and Structural Biology
Research Interests
I am interested in understanding how biological systems work and evolve to perform diverse tasks at the molecular level. Specifically, I focus on the “arms race” between bacteria and their pathogenic viruses (phages). This billion-year-old evolutionary arms race has resulted in myriad bacterial antiphage immune strategies and corresponding phage counter-immune strategies. Recent discoveries have revealed that many essential components of eukaryotic innate immunity—which serve as the primary defense against viral and bacterial infections—evolved from these bacterial antiphage defense systems. While over a hundred antiphage systems have been identified in bacteria, the precise molecular mechanisms governing phage infection sensing and neutralization remain unknown for most systems.
Utilizing expertise in structural biology, biochemistry, and microbiology, my lab will focus on understanding the mechanisms underlying novel bacterial defense systems that share structural and functional similarities with components of eukaryotic innate immune pathways. These findings will advance our knowledge of the evolutionary relationship between bacterial antiphage and eukaryotic innate immune strategies. The mechanistic understanding of bacterial defense systems and the diverse phage-encoded factors that counteract them holds potential for engineering robust phages to treat drug-resistant bacterial infections and for developing new tools for genome engineering.
2020 - 2025 : Postdoctoral Fellow, University of California, San Diego, USA.
2014 - 2019 : Ph.D. (Structural Biology), CSIR-Institute of Microbial Technology, Chandigarh, India.
2011 - 2013 : M.Sc. (Human Genomics), Panjab University, Chandigarh, India.
2008 - 2011 : B.Sc. (Honours) Biotechnology, Himachal Pradesh University, Shimla, India. (College: Himachal Institute of Life Sciences, Paonta Sahib, Himachal Pradesh)
2020 : Dr. V. C. Vora Best Ph.D. Thesis Award from CSIR-IMTech, Chandigarh.
2016 - 2019 : Senior Research Fellowship, Department of Biotechnology (DBT). Govt. of India.
2014 - 2016 : Junior Research Fellowship, Department of Biotechnology (DBT). Govt. of India.
2013 : CSIR-NET LS, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). Govt. of India.
Andrew Bellaart, Amanda Brambila, Jiawei Xu, Francisco Mendez Diaz, Amar Deep, John Anzola, Franz Meitinger, Midori Ohta, Kevin D Corbett, Arshad Desai and others. TRIM37 prevents ectopic spindle pole assembly by peptide motif recognition and substrate-dependent oligomerization. Nature Structural & Molecular Biology, pages 1–12, 2025.
Biswajit Pradhan*, Amar Deep*, Jessica König, Martin D Baaske, Kevin D Corbett and Eugene Kim. Loop-extrusion-mediated plasmid DNA cleavage by the bacterial SMC Wadjet complex. Molecular Cell 85(1):107–116, 2025.
Emily G Armbruster, Phoolwanti Rani, Jina Lee, Niklas Klusch, Joshua Hutchings, Lizbeth Y Hoffman, Hannah Buschkaemper, Eray Enustun, Benjamin A Adler, Koe Inlow and others. Sequential membrane-and protein-bound organelles compartmentalize genomes during phage infection. Cell Host & Microbe, 2025.
Yajie Gu, Huan Li, Amar Deep, Eray Enustun, Dapeng Zhang and Kevin D Corbett. Bacterial Shedu immune nucleases share a common enzymatic core regulated by diverse sensor domains. Molecular Cell, 2025.
Emily G Armbruster, Phoolwanti Rani, Jina Lee, Niklas Klusch, Joshua Hutchings, Lizbeth Y Hoffman, Hannah Buschkaemper, Eray Enustun, Benjamin A Adler, Koe Inlow and others. A transcriptionally active lipid vesicle encloses the injected Chimalliviridae genome in early infection. bioRxiv, pages 2023–09, 2024.
Amar Deep, Qishan Liang, Eray Enustun, Joe Pogliano and Kevin D Corbett. Architecture and activation mechanism of the bacterial PARIS defence system. Nature 634(8033):432–439, 2024.
Jack Houston, Clémence Vissotsky, Amar Deep, Hiro Hakozaki, Enice Crews, Karen Oegema, Kevin D Corbett, Pablo Lara-Gonzalez, Taekyung Kim and Arshad Desai. Phospho-KNL-1 recognition by a TPR domain targets the BUB-1/BUB-3 complex to C. elegans kinetochores. Journal of Cell Biology 223(7):e202402036, 2024.
Eray Enustun, Amar Deep, Yajie Gu, Katrina T Nguyen, Vorrapon Chaikeeratisak, Emily Armbruster, Majid Ghassemian, Elizabeth Villa, Joe Pogliano and Kevin D Corbett. Identification of the bacteriophage nucleus protein interaction network. Nature Structural & Molecular Biology 30:1653–1662, 2023.
Amar Deep*, Latika Singh*, Japleen Kaur*, Maheshwaran Velusamy, Pushpanjali Bhardwaj, Ramandeep Singh and Krishan Gopal Thakur. Structural insights into DarT toxin neutralization by cognate DarG antitoxin: ssDNA mimicry by DarG C-terminal domain keeps the DarT toxin inhibited. Structure 31(7):780–789, 2023.
Jack Houston, Midori Ohta, Sebastián J Gómez-Cavazos, Amar Deep, Kevin D Corbett, Karen Oegema, Pablo Lara-Gonzalez, Taekyung Kim and Arshad Desai. BUB-1-bound PLK-1 directs CDC-20 kinetochore recruitment to ensure timely embryonic mitoses. Current Biology 33(11):2291–2299, 2023.
Thomas G Laughlin*, Amar Deep*, Amy M Prichard, Christian Seitz, Yajie Gu, Eray Enustun, Sergey Suslov, Kanika Khanna, Erica A Birkholz, Emily Armbruster and others. Architecture and self-assembly of the jumbo bacteriophage nuclear shell. Nature 608(7922):429–435, 2022.
Amar Deep*, Yajie Gu*, Yong-Qi Gao, Kaori M Ego, Mark A Herzik, Huilin Zhou and Kevin D Corbett. The SMC-family Wadjet complex protects bacteria from plasmid transformation by recognition and cleavage of closed-circular DNA. Molecular Cell 82(21):4145–4159, 2022.
Amar Deep, Prabhakar Tiwari, Sakshi Agarwal, Soni Kaundal, Saqib Kidwai, Ramandeep Singh and Krishan G Thakur. Structural, functional and biological insights into the role of Mycobacterium tuberculosis VapBC11 toxin–antitoxin system: targeting a tRNase to tackle mycobacterial adaptation. Nucleic acids research 46(21):11639–11655, 2018.
Amar Deep, Soni Kaundal, Sakshi Agarwal, Ramandeep Singh and Krishan Gopal Thakur. Crystal structure of Mycobacterium tuberculosis VapC20 toxin and its interactions with cognate antitoxin, VapB20, suggest a model for toxin–antitoxin assembly. The FEBS Journal 284(23):4066–4082, 2017.