Dr Aravindan Ilangovan

Research

Protein-nucleic acid complexes, Helicases, Cryogenic Electron Microscopy

Interests

Publications

Publications of specific relevance to the Centre for Molecular Cell Biology

2026

Bacillus subtilis DnaB forms multiple protein–protein interactions essential for DNA replication initiation
Nucleic Acids Research, Oxford University Press (OUP) vol. 54 (12) 

DOI 10.1093/nar/gkag630

22-06-2026

Molecular basis of type VI secretion system effector loading
Paracuellos P Bexter A Patkowski JB Kelly SD Omelchenko O Macé K Ilangovan A Subramoni S et al.
Nature Microbiology, Springer Nature, 1-13.  

DOI 10.1038/s41564-026-02363-x

27-05-2026

2025

Cryo-EM Structure of the relaxosome, a complex essential for bacterial mating and the spread of antibiotic resistance genes
Williams SM Raffl S Kienesberger S Ilangovan A Zechner EL Waksman G
Nature Communications, Springer Nature vol. 16 (1) 

DOI 10.1038/s41467-025-60116-6

27-05-2025

2024

Functionality of chimeric TssA proteins in the type VI secretion system reveals sheath docking specificity within their N-terminal domains
Fecht S Paracuellos P Subramoni S Tan CAZ Ilangovan A Costa TRD Filloux A
Nature Communications, Springer Nature vol. 15 (1) 

DOI 10.1038/s41467-024-48487-8

QMRO

20-05-2024

2023

The bacterial replication origin BUS promotes nucleobase capture
Pelliciari S Bodet-Lefèvre S Fenyk S Stevens D Winterhalter C Schramm FD Pintar S Burnham DR et al.
Nature Communications, Springer Nature vol. 14 (1) 

DOI 10.1038/s41467-023-43823-w

QMRO

14-12-2023

Higher-order cryo-EM structures of the full tetrameric type II topoisomerase with bound 18mer dsDNA
Najmudin S Pan X-S Beavil AJ Cronin NB Ilangovan A Fisher LM Sanderson MR
Acta Crystallographica Section a: Foundations and Advances, International Union of Crystallography (Iucr) vol. 79 (a2), c702-c702.  

DOI 10.1107/s2053273323089155

QMRO

22-08-2023

The DNA replication initiation protein DnaD recognises a specific strand of the Bacillus subtilis chromosome origin
Winterhalter C Pelliciari S Stevens D Fenyk S Marchand E Cronin NB Soultanas P Costa TRD et al.
Nucleic Acids Research, Oxford University Press (OUP) vol. 51 (9), 4322-4340.  

DOI 10.1093/nar/gkad277

QMRO

24-04-2023

2022

SirA inhibits the essential DnaA:DnaD interaction to block helicase recruitment during Bacillus subtilis sporulation
Winterhalter C Stevens D Fenyk S Pelliciari S Marchand E Soultanas P Ilangovan A Murray H
Nucleic Acids Research, Oxford University Press (OUP) vol. 51 (9), 4302-4321.  

DOI 10.1093/nar/gkac1060

QMRO

23-11-2022

2021

Architecture of the outer-membrane core complex from a conjugative type IV secretion system
Amin H Ilangovan A Costa TRD
Nature Communications, Springer Nature vol. 12 (1) 

DOI 10.1038/s41467-021-27178-8

QMRO

25-11-2021

Cryoelectron-microscopy structure of the enteropathogenic Escherichia coli type III secretion system EspA filament.
Zheng W Peña A Ilangovan A Clark JN-B Frankel G Egelman EH Costa TRD
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A vol. 118 (2) 

DOI 10.1073/pnas.2022826118

QMRO

12-01-2021

2017

Cryo-EM Structure of a Relaxase Reveals the Molecular Basis of DNA Unwinding during Bacterial Conjugation
Ilangovan A Kay CWM Roier S Mkami HE Salvadori E Zechner EL Zanetti G Waksman G
Cell, Elsevier vol. 169 (4), 708-721.e12.  

DOI 10.1016/j.cell.2017.04.010

QMRO

27-04-2017

2016

Structure of the Bacterial Sex F Pilus Reveals an Assembly of a Stoichiometric Protein-Phospholipid Complex
Costa TRD Ilangovan A Ukleja M Redzej A Santini JM Smith TK Egelman EH Waksman G
Cell, Elsevier vol. 166 (6), 1436-1444.e10.  

DOI 10.1016/j.cell.2016.08.025

QMRO

01-09-2016

2015

Structural biology of the Gram-negative bacterial conjugation systems
Ilangovan A Connery S Waksman G
Trends in Microbiology, Elsevier vol. 23 (5), 301-310.  

DOI 10.1016/j.tim.2015.02.012

27-03-2015

2013

Structure of a translocation signal domain mediating conjugative transfer by type IV secretion systems
Redzej A Ilangovan A Lang S Gruber CJ Topf M Zangger K Zechner EL Waksman G
Molecular Microbiology, Wiley vol. 89 (2), 324-333.  

DOI 10.1111/mmi.12275

14-06-2013

Structural Basis for Native Agonist and Synthetic Inhibitor Recognition by the Pseudomonas aeruginosa Quorum Sensing Regulator PqsR (MvfR)
Ilangovan A Fletcher M Rampioni G Pustelny C Rumbaugh K Heeb S Cámara M Truman A et al.
Plos Pathogens, Public Library of Science (Plos) vol. 9 (7) 

DOI 10.1371/journal.ppat.1003508

01-01-2013

Cryo-EM Structure of the relaxosome, a complex essential for bacterial mating and the spread of antibiotic resistance genes
Williams SM Raffl S Kienesberger S Ilangovan A Zechner EL Waksman G
In Biorxiv 

DOI 10.1101/2024.12.19.629322

A Novel Molecular Mechanism for Effector Protein Wrapping and Delivery by the Bacterial Type VI Secretion System
Paracuellos* P Bexter* A Patkowski JB Omelchenko O Macé K Ilangovan A Kelly SD Whitney JC et al.
In Research Square 

DOI 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7023205/v1

Relaxase Asymmetry Drives Initiation of Bacterial Conjugation
Gorenkin D Liang R Patkowski JB Bodet-Lefèvre S Costa TRD Ilangovan A
In Biorxiv 

DOI 10.64898/2026.02.20.706640

Positive and negative control of helicase recruitment at a bacterial chromosome origin
Winterhalter C Stevens D Fenyk S Pelliciari S Marchand E Cronin NB Soultanas P Costa TRD et al.
In Biorxiv 

DOI 10.1101/2021.08.16.456468

SirA inhibits the essential DnaA:DnaD interaction to block helicase recruitment during Bacillus subtilis sporulation
Winterhalter C Stevens D Fenyk S Pelliciari S Marchand E Soultanas P Ilangovan A Murray H
In Biorxiv 

DOI 10.1101/2022.04.18.488658

The DNA replication initiation protein DnaD is recruited to a specific strand of the Bacillus subtilis chromosome origin
Winterhalter C Pelliciari S Stevens D Fenyk S Marchand E Cronin NB Soultanas P Costa TRD et al.
In Biorxiv 

DOI 10.1101/2022.04.18.488654

Functionality of chimeric TssA proteins in the type VI secretion system involves sheath docking specificty
Fecht S Paracuellos P Ilangovan A Costa T Filloux A
In Research Square 

DOI 10.21203/rs.3.rs-2711907/v1

Grants

Grants of specific relevance to the Centre for Molecular Cell Biology

Regulation of linear ubiquitin signaling in innate immunity
Benjamin Stieglitz and Aravindan Ilangovan
£661,348 Medical Research Council
01-03-2024 - 30-04-2027

Molecular mechanism of DNA processing for antibiotic resistance gene transfer in bacteria
Aravindan Ilangovan
£517,030 Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council
01-11-2023 - 31-10-2026

Molecular mechanisms for loading the bacterial replicative helicase
Aravindan Ilangovan
£1,329,649 Wellcome Trust
01-01-2023 - 31-12-2030

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Understanding the molecular mechanism of antibiotic resistance gene transfer in bacteria
Aravindan Ilangovan
£99,467 Academy of Medical Sciences
01-06-2022 - 30-11-2024

Research Group

Research Staff

• Dr Danylo Gorenkin
• Dr Yuanyuan Li
• Dr Ruina Liang

PhD Students

• Luz Garcia Valencia
  Early Assembly of Dnaa–DNA Complexes During Replication Initiation in Bacillus Subtilis: a Structural and Biophysical Study
• Kaichen Peng
  Structural Studies of Bacterial DNA Replication Initiation Mechanism Using Cryo Electron Microscopy (Cryo-EM) and Novel Antibiotic Discovery
• James Rayner
  Mathematical Modelling, Imaging, and Image Analysis of Bacterial Cell Shape Change in Response to Antibiotic Stress

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