Mycobacterium tuberculosis is a major human pathogen that has evolved survival 
mechanisms to persist in an immune-competent host under a dormant condition. The 
regulation of M. tuberculosis metabolism during latent infection is not clearly 
known. The dormancy survival regulon (DosR regulon) is chiefly responsible for 
encoding dormancy related functions of M. tuberculosis. We describe functional 
characterization of an important gene of DosR regulon, Rv0079, which appears to 
be involved in the regulation of translation through the interaction of its 
product with bacterial ribosomal subunits. The protein encoded by Rv0079, 
possibly, has an inhibitory role with respect to protein synthesis, as revealed 
by our experiments. We performed computational modelling and docking simulation 
studies involving the protein encoded by Rv0079 followed by in vitro translation 
and growth curve analysis experiments, involving recombinant E. coli and Bacille 
Calmette Guérin (BCG) strains that overexpressed Rv0079. Our observations 
concerning the interaction of the protein with the ribosomes are supportive of 
its role in regulation/inhibition of translation. We propose that the protein 
encoded by locus Rv0079 is a 'dormancy associated translation inhibitor' or 
DATIN.