Chekan Lab

@chekanlab.bsky.social

Biosynthesis and Enzymology of Natural Products at UNC Greensboro chem.uncg.edu/chekan

We are excited to see our review published! In it, we explore the diversity of enzymatic strategies for installing aromatic side chain cross-links in RiPPs. If you like interesting chemistry and new enzyme reactions, be sure to check it out!

Nature Chemical Biology@natchembio.nature.com · 2y ago

A Review from Sanath Kandy, Michael Pasquale, and Jonathan Chekan highlights newly discovered enzymes responsible for aromatic side-chain crosslinking in ribosomally synthesized and post-translationally modified peptides (RiPPs) www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Our Taxol pathway preprint! We developed a systematic strategy to activate and identify gene sets in plants. Used it to identify 8 genes in the Taxol pathway, enabling a 20-gene biosynthesis of a Taxol precursor. Biggest surprise: a new protein that helps our oxidases produce the correct product

Multiplexed perturbation of yew reveals cryptic proteins that enable a total biosynthesis of baccatin III and Taxol precursors

Plants make complex and potent therapeutic molecules, but difficulties in sourcing from natural producers or chemical synthesis can challenge their use in the clinic. A prominent example is the anti-c...

biorxiv.org