Chekan Lab
chekanlab.bsky.social
Chekan Lab
@chekanlab.bsky.social
Biosynthesis and Enzymology of Natural Products at UNC Greensboro

chem.uncg.edu/chekan
Reposted by Chekan Lab
This could be a really helpful resource:
February 8, 2025 at 4:02 PM
Reposted by Chekan Lab
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...
Aromatic side-chain crosslinking in RiPP biosynthesis - Nature Chemical Biology
Aromatic side-chain crosslinking is emerging as a widespread and biosynthetically diverse feature in the RiPP natural products. This Review summarizes and unifies recent advancements, focusing on key ...
www.nature.com
January 15, 2025 at 5:32 PM
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!
January 16, 2025 at 6:30 PM
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Nice to see this well written review of the latest developments in aromatic side-chain cross-linking in RiPPs from @chekanlab.bsky.social out in the wild #chembio #chemsky
January 16, 2025 at 11:00 AM
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Strong showing of @scrippsocean.bsky.social and @ucsdhealthsci.bsky.social alums at the first full day of SIMB #NP2025 meeting @chekanlab.bsky.social
@eustaquiolab.bsky.social Neha Garg Kaity Ryan
January 7, 2025 at 12:23 AM
Happy Holidays from the Chekan Lab!
December 23, 2024 at 9:52 PM
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A Christmas present to all of the lasso peptide connoisseurs out there. The next chapter in our work is on triculamin is ready on bioRxiv. Great work by two incredibly talented graduate students @amerrild.bsky.social and @tizianasvenningsen.bsky.social.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Convergent Evolution of the Antimycobacterial Lasso Peptide Triculamin
Triculamin is a ribosomally synthesized and post-translationally modified peptide (RiPP) lasso peptide with potent antimycobacterial activity, produced by an unusual, non-canonical biosynthetic gene c...
www.biorxiv.org
December 22, 2024 at 9:52 AM
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Interested in genome mining for natural product discovery? Check out our recent paper in collaboration with the Linington lab pubs.rsc.org/en/content/a...
Discovery of megapolipeptins by genome mining of a Burkholderiales bacteria collection
Burkholderiales bacteria have emerged as a promising source of structurally diverse natural products that are expected to play important ecological and industrial roles. This order ranks in the top th...
pubs.rsc.org
December 10, 2024 at 3:20 PM
Reposted by Chekan Lab
📢🚨🔬 Heads up! The Ader Lab at @uncg.bsky.social is recruiting PhD students for Fall 2025 📢🚨🔬

Apply at forms.gle/VcsspZYxstStKrGt7 by Jan 1, 2025 for full consideration!

Check out what we're about: nickaderlab.com

Please share and repost!
December 4, 2024 at 6:46 PM
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Excited to share our work on the new plant copper enzymes, BpCs! We offer mechanistic insights and structural recommendations for advancing BpC research. So many Cu enzymes have been waiting to be discovered! 🌿🧬🧪 Sharing the author’s link here:
authors.elsevier.com/a/1jzvn9CpcY...
December 3, 2024 at 3:44 AM
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🎨 In case anyone need…

The NIH BioArt Source is an awesome library of *free* professionally drawn illustrations for scientific presentations or figures. Downloadable in HD. Thank you NIH for this invaluable tool 🙏!

Check it out 👇
bioart.niaid.nih.gov
November 23, 2024 at 3:50 PM
Reposted by Chekan Lab
Plant Natural Products Starter Pack: covering discovery, biosynthesis, regulation, and more.

go.bsky.app/9a7jtxR

Please nominate and self-nominate.
November 21, 2024 at 3:00 PM
Reposted by Chekan Lab
Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UCSD is looking for an assistant prof in marine natural products / marine biotech apol-recruit.ucsd.edu/JPF04101 #naturalproducts
Marine Natural Products/Marine Biotechnology - Assistant Professor
University of California, San Diego is hiring. Apply now!
apol-recruit.ucsd.edu
November 18, 2024 at 9:26 PM
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New pre-print from the group 🥳 We use targeted genome mining to show that the plant pathogen Rhodococcus fascians makes the antibiotic lydiamycin. The BGC information then informed the discovery of multiple key features relating to the molecule 1/4
#biosynthesis
www.biorxiv.org/cgi/content/...
Discovery of lydiamycin A biosynthetic gene cluster in the plant pathogen Rhodococcus fascians guides structural revision and identification of molecular target
The natural products actinonin and matlystatin feature an N-hydroxy-2-pentyl-succinamyl (HPS) chemophore that facilitates metal chelation and confers their metalloproteinase inhibitory activity. Actin...
www.biorxiv.org
November 14, 2024 at 1:13 PM
Reposted by Chekan Lab
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...
www.biorxiv.org
November 13, 2024 at 5:24 PM
Reposted by Chekan Lab
An alternative to BioRender:
see a collection of icons at bioart.niaid.nih.gov
Bioart
bioart.niaid.nih.gov
October 29, 2024 at 7:03 AM
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Reminder than my awesome department, UNC Greensboro Biology, is hiring for F25! Please share!

Apply by Friday, November 1st, for full consideration.
October 28, 2024 at 2:42 PM
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I’m not entirely sure how these starter packs work…
but I’ve created one for microbial natural products - hopefully it helps us connect! go.bsky.app/72NeGsT
October 19, 2024 at 8:37 PM