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Aditya Kunjapur @kunjapur.bsky.social · 5d

Interested in using microbes to degrade plastics?

We made the discovery that two breakdown products of PET, MHET and BHET, are readily taken up by E. coli cells

Our latest preprint exploits this surprise to realize improvements in cell-based upcycling
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Robust cellular transformations of PET deconstruction products by import of glycol esters

Efforts to transform polyethylene terephthalate (PET) deconstruction products using live cells have been limited by terephthalic acid (TPA) uptake. Here, we used an intracellular carboxylate reduction...

www.biorxiv.org

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Aditya Kunjapur @kunjapur.bsky.social · Aug 13

My students have become very good at cloning. Now I can be in two continents at once this fall

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Reposted by Aditya Kunjapur

Sabyasachi Sen @sunny-sen.bsky.social · Jul 17

Excited to announce our new methods paper in Methods in Enzymology!

We share our pipeline for building high-diversity DNA libraries & exploring protein stability in E. coli.

Free access until Sept 4: authors.elsevier.com/a/1lRkeHRzCX...
Updated, companion preprint: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

authors.elsevier.com

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Aditya Kunjapur @kunjapur.bsky.social · Jul 17

Exciting to see this collaborative work about modeling soil microbiomes from the Kuehn, Mani, and Tikhonov labs published today

Also delighted to have lead author Kiseok Lee start his postdoc in our lab

Check out the paper below!

Kiseok (Keith) Lee @kiseokmicro.bsky.social · Jul 16

Published in Nature today! Here, we sought to systematically ask how natural community's metabolism changes with the environment. A simple consumer-resource model can predict N-cycle metabolism (nitrate use) and, more importantly, the mechanism behind its change.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Functional regimes define soil microbiome response to environmental change - Nature

Experimental perturbation of soil pH leads to a generalizable model of the soil microcosm comprising three functional regimes with distinct mechanisms linking environmental change to metabolite dynami...

www.nature.com

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Aditya Kunjapur @kunjapur.bsky.social · Jun 29

www.biotrans2025.com/programme

Biotrans 2025 Programme

Discover the programme of Biotrans 2025.

www.biotrans2025.com

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Aditya Kunjapur @kunjapur.bsky.social · Jun 29

Looking forward to the amazing program & making new connections at the 17th International Symposium on Biocatalysis and Biotransformations (Biotrans 2025) starting today in Basel

I'm honored to present our work on Tuesday at 15:15 in the non-canonical amino acids session

#biocatalysis

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Reposted by Aditya Kunjapur

Pablo Ivan Nikel @pabnik.bsky.social · Jun 22

Wrapping up a fantastic #ME16 #Copenhagen — a success by all measures! Honored to co-chair the meeting w/I. Borodina, M. Chang, A. Mirończuk, C. Vickers, V. Šťovíček, Y. Zhou, M. Köpke & M. Herrgård & to work w/an outstanding team of colleagues, engaging communities & topics all around the world

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Aditya Kunjapur @kunjapur.bsky.social · Jun 16

Congrats on completing your PhD @kiseokmicro.bsky.social!
And welcome to our lab - very excited to work with you

Kiseok (Keith) Lee @kiseokmicro.bsky.social · Jun 15

Graduation happened last week! So grateful for all the relationships I nurtured at uchicago. I will miss this place! Thank you Cathy for hooding me! Also, I am very excited to start postdoc tomorrow in Aditya Kunjapur @kunjapur.bsky.social lab in University of Delaware!

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Aditya Kunjapur @kunjapur.bsky.social · Jun 15

I'm enjoying the start of the International Metabolic Engineering 16 #ME16 meeting in Copenhagen this week

Thanks to the organizers for providing a chance to share our work
Thanks to my students for taking these pics

Looking forward to meeting other attendees

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Reposted by Aditya Kunjapur

Conor McClune @cmcclune.bsky.social · Jun 11

Today in Nature we report a systematic strategy to activate & identify gene sets in plants. We identify 8 new genes from the yew tree's Taxol biosynthetic pathway, enabling us to engineer tobacco with 17- & 20-gene pathways to Taxol precursors baccatin III & deBz-deoxy-Taxol #SingleCell #secmet 🧬🧪🌾

Discovery of FoTO1 and Taxol genes enables biosynthesis of baccatin III - Nature

An approach that combines single-nucleus RNA sequencing and multiplexed perturbation identifies genes that enable the biosynthesis of direct precursors of the anti-cancer drug Taxol, whose curren...

www.nature.com

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Aditya Kunjapur @kunjapur.bsky.social · Jun 9

It is a real honor and delight to be hosted by @pabnik.bsky.social at DTU Biosustain!

Looking forward to meeting folks & sharing info/ideas

Pablo Ivan Nikel @pabnik.bsky.social · Jun 9

Happy to host @kunjapur.bsky.social as a sabbatical #professor at DTU Biosustain, supported by Otto Mønsteds Fond! We share a passion for using #SynBio to engineer #microbes with non-natural building blocks for advanced #biotechology. He’s in #Europe — drop a line to connect & discuss cool #Science!

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Aditya Kunjapur @kunjapur.bsky.social · May 25

Trump Has Cut Science Funding to Its Lowest Level in Decades www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

^ Useful info in this article about the level of funding of various NSF directorates/programs relative to the 10Y avg by this time of year

Trump Has Cut Science Funding to Its Lowest Level in Decades

The lag in funding extends far beyond D.E.I. initiatives, affecting almost every area of science: chemistry, computing, engineering, materials and more.

www.nytimes.com

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Aditya Kunjapur @kunjapur.bsky.social · May 23

I don't take tenure for granted anymore as universities are under unprecedented attack

I'm also looking forward to sabbatical. I'll start as an Otto Mønsted Visiting Professor at Denmark Technical University next week and look forward to connecting more with my European colleagues
(3/3)

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Aditya Kunjapur @kunjapur.bsky.social · May 23

We have a vibrant and supportive culture in the Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering department @udelaware.bsky.social. Thanks to the faculty and staff who create the environment to succeed

I've benefited from great mentors at all stages & especially Wilfred Chen

But most of all, the students (2/3)

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Aditya Kunjapur @kunjapur.bsky.social · May 23

With the state of US scientific funding it seems like an inappropriate time to celebrate anything

But in the last week thanks to years of dedication from my students we were recognized through the Roberta Colman and Gerard Mangone awards, & tenure. Thank you to those who made it possible (1/3)

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Aditya Kunjapur @kunjapur.bsky.social · May 23

If you're curious how the first 5 amino acids of newly generated protein N-termini can affect protein stability in E. coli, then check out our latest preprint

We find new patterns of exceptions to the usual N-end rule

Kudos to Sunny Sen & co-authors

#synbio #protein_degradation

Thomas Arnesen @natmachinery.bsky.social · May 23

Protein degradation in E. coli via N-terminal degradation signals (degrons) defined by the @kunjapur.bsky.social lab. @ispt-proteinterm.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Combinatorial mutagenesis of N-terminal sequences reveals unexpected and expanded stability determinants of the Escherichia coli N-degron pathway

Although it is known that penultimate N-terminal residues can influence protein stability by the N-degron pathway, there has not been a comprehensive effort to document nor predict these effects for n...

www.biorxiv.org

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Reposted by Aditya Kunjapur

Thomas Arnesen @natmachinery.bsky.social · May 23

Protein degradation in E. coli via N-terminal degradation signals (degrons) defined by the @kunjapur.bsky.social lab. @ispt-proteinterm.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Combinatorial mutagenesis of N-terminal sequences reveals unexpected and expanded stability determinants of the Escherichia coli N-degron pathway

Although it is known that penultimate N-terminal residues can influence protein stability by the N-degron pathway, there has not been a comprehensive effort to document nor predict these effects for n...

www.biorxiv.org

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Reposted by Aditya Kunjapur

Nature Microbiology @natmicrobiol.nature.com · May 6

🚨OUT NOW

Engineered orthogonal and obligate bacterial commensalism mediated by a non-standard amino acid by @kunjapur.bsky.social et al.

#MicroSky 🦠🔧

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Engineered orthogonal and obligate bacterial commensalism mediated by a non-standard amino acid - Nature Microbiology

A genetically engineered microbial symbiosis based on synthetic auxotrophy is created, with potential implications as a biocontainment strategy.

www.nature.com

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Aditya Kunjapur @kunjapur.bsky.social · May 1

Thank you, Abhishek! Very glad you liked it

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Aditya Kunjapur @kunjapur.bsky.social · May 1

Thanks, Pat!!
Hope you've been doing well.

All three of the contexts you mentioned are under investigation by some combination of us, us and collaborators, or folks we have shared synthetic auxotrophs with

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Aditya Kunjapur @kunjapur.bsky.social · May 1

A more accurate statement than my original post:
It seems there may be few known pairs of microbial species, outside of obligate intracellular symbionts/parasites, where one relies exclusively on another.

Using a blend of synthetic and chemical biology, we designed such an interaction

Aditya Kunjapur @kunjapur.bsky.social · May 1

It seems there are no free-living organisms known to rely exclusively on one other organism for their survival

Until perhaps now

Check out our latest publication in @natmicrobiol.nature.com to see how we designed an exclusive microbial reliance using GCE

rdcu.be/ekepI
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Engineered orthogonal and obligate bacterial commensalism mediated by a non-standard amino acid

Nature Microbiology - A genetically engineered microbial symbiosis based on synthetic auxotrophy is created, with potential implications as a biocontainment strategy.

rdcu.be

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Aditya Kunjapur @kunjapur.bsky.social · May 1

Ah, thanks for sharing this example. "Free living" may be a bit of a misnomer, but you correctly interpreted that I wanted to exclude the category of obligate intracellular symbionts/parasites

Aditya Kunjapur @kunjapur.bsky.social · May 1

This work represents a first step towards developing safeguards that could contain and sustain engineered microbes in a specific environment

That could be useful for addressing myriad challenges in planetary health

Work led by Amanda Forti, who is tenacious, meticulous, & entering the job market

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Aditya Kunjapur @kunjapur.bsky.social · May 1

It seems there are no free-living organisms known to rely exclusively on one other organism for their survival

Until perhaps now

Check out our latest publication in @natmicrobiol.nature.com to see how we designed an exclusive microbial reliance using GCE

rdcu.be/ekepI
1/2

Engineered orthogonal and obligate bacterial commensalism mediated by a non-standard amino acid

Nature Microbiology - A genetically engineered microbial symbiosis based on synthetic auxotrophy is created, with potential implications as a biocontainment strategy.

rdcu.be

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Aditya Kunjapur @kunjapur.bsky.social · Mar 28

Thanks, Tae Seok!

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