Mistakes in protein synthesis can lead to phenotypic diversity

Dr. Laasya Samhita’s interview with Bio Patrika hosting “Vigyan Patrika”, a series of author interviews. Dr. Laasya is postdoc and DBT/Wellcome Trust early career fellow with Dr. Deepa Agashe, National Centre for Biological Sciences, Bangalore. As an independent postdoctoral fellow, she works in an Evolutionary Biology laboratory and blends molecular biology with evolution, investigating how errors in protein synthesis can influence bacterial adaptation, and even turn out to be good for the cell. She is also interested in studying antibiotic resistance and exploring its link with translation accuracy. She obtained her PhD from the Indian Institute of Science. During her doctoral research she explored the molecular mysteries of bacterial protein synthesis. After her PhD, Laasya worked as a freelance science writer for a year. In the future, she intends to understand more about the contribution of non-genetic variation to adaptation and evolution. Here, Laasya talks about her work on “The impact of mistranslation on phenotypic variability and fitness” published in Evolution journal.