Chekan Lab News
Holiday Party
Dec 4, 2025
We have a fun time at the annual lab holiday potluck. Food from four continents was represented and there was plenty of hot sauce for everyone.
Welcome to Ansel and Tyler
Dec 1, 2025
We are excited to have Ansel (PhD student) and Tyler (M.S. student) joining our lab!
Congrats to Rafiul
Nov 24, 2025
Congrats to Rafiul for defending his PhD proposal today! He dids a great job describing his published work on BpCs and his new working on discovering ThiF chemistry.
Good Luck to Stella
Nov 20, 2025
We had a goodby celebration for Stella to wish her luck at her new position at Corteva! Thank you for all your hard work establishing the lab’s culture and science!
Congrats to Sara
Nov 12, 2025
Congrats to Sara for giving an awesome literature seminar on the development and testing of PETases, engineered enzymes that breakdown PET plastic.
Review on ThiF-Like Chemistry Published
Oct 6, 2025
ThiF-like enzymes are responsible for very interesting reactions in both primary and secondary metabolism. They are needed to biosynthesize essential enzyme cofactors and bioactive natural products. Also, it seems there is a lot of new chemistry to discover!
Congrats to Keelie Butler and Anshul Rajput for all their hard work putting this review together!
Butler, K. S.*, Rajput, A.*, and Chekan, J. R. (2025) ThiF-Like Enzyme Chemistry in Primary and Secondary Metabolism. ChemBioChem. (doi: 10.1002/cbic.202500460)
New Study on Daptides and YcaOs Published
Sep 20, 2025
In collaboration with the Mitchell lab at Vanderbilt, we characterize and repurpose installation of a C-terminal amine in daptide biosynthesis. We also describe the creation of an unusual imidazoline moiety, expanding the chemical scope of the YcaO enzyme family.
Congrats to Sanath for leading this study in our lab!
Dommaraju, S. R., Kandy, S. K., Ren, H., Luciano, D. P., Fujiki, S., Sarlah, D., Zhao, H., Chekan, J. R.#, and Mitchell, D. A.# (2025) A versatile enzymatic pathway for modification of peptide C-termini. ACS Cent. Sci. (doi: 10.1021/acscentsci.5c01243)
ASP 2025
Aug 4, 2025
We attended the 2025 Annual American Society of Pharmacognosy meeting in Grand Rapids, Michigan where Michael and Daniel got to present on their latest research!
Top Golf Outing
July 24, 2025
To celebrate the end of summer, we had a fun outing at Top Golf. I wonder who won….
New Study on BpC Chemistry Published
June 5, 2025
BpCs are widespread family of copper-dependent enzymes in plants responsible for the biosynthesis of the burpitide class of RiPP natural products. Guided by modeling, we uncover key mechanistic details along with the features responsible for substrate peptide binding and processing.
Congrats to Stella and Michael for leading such a thorough study!
Lima, S. T.*, Pasquale, M. A.*, Noyon, M. R. O. K., Clark, E. A., Laws, C. R., Hematian, S.#, and Chekan, J. R.# (2025) Peptide recognition sequence guides catalytic side chain cross-linking of plant peptides by copper-dependent cyclases. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 147, 20284–20293 (doi: 10.1021/jacs.4c15470)
New ThiF-Like Enzyme Chemistry in S. pneumoniae Published
May 21, 2025
By analyzing the entire NCBI RefSeq database, we uncover new ThiF-like chemistry in a RiPP biosynthetic pathway from Streptococcus pneumoniae. Using a combination of MS and NMR, we show that this pathway forms a indolylamide linkage between a tryptophan and isoleucine, a reaction previously unknown to this family of enzymes.
Congrats to Anshul, Keelie, and Daniel on an awesome study!
Rajput, A.*, Butler, K. S.*, Springer, D. A., and Chekan, J. R. (2025) Indolylamide macrocyclization by a Streptococcus pneumoniae ThiF-like enzyme family member. Org. Lett. 27, 5765–5770 (doi: 10.1021/acs.orglett.5c01561)
Keelie and Sanath Graduate
May 8, 2025
Keelie and Sanath successfully graduated as the first PhD students from the lab! Congrats to both of you!
Engineering RiPP pathways Review Published
May 5, 2025
Out now, we review the current strategies for engineering RiPP pathways, products and enzymes to make identify new bioactive peptides.
Congrats to Ayoola and Renee for writing this review!
Smith, A. B., Ejindu, R. C., and Chekan, J. R. (2025) Engineering RiPP pathways: strategies for generating complex bioactive peptides. Trends Biochem. Sci. 50, 495–507 (doi: 10.1016/j.tibs.2025.04.001)
End of Semester Hike and Lunch
May 3, 2025
To celebrate the end of the semester and enjoy the nice weather outside, we hiked in Hanging Rock State Park and got lunch afterwards!
RiPP Aromatic Side Chain Crosslinking Review Published
Jan 17, 2025
We are excited that our review was just published in Nature Chemical Biology. In it we explore the diversity of enzymat strategies for installing aromatic side chain crosslinks in RiPPs. If you like interesting chemistry and new enzyme reactions, check it out.
Congrats to Sanath and Michael for leading this review!
Kandy, S. K.*, Pasquale, M. A.*, and Chekan, J. R. (2025) Aromatic side-chain crosslinking in RiPP biosynthesis. Nat. Chem. Biol. (doi: 10.1038/s41589-024-01795-y)
SIMB Natural Products
Jan 9, 2025
We attended the 2025 SIMB Natural Product Discovery and Development in the Genomic Era conference. Not only was the conference great, but we were in San Diego in January where the weather was beautiful. To top it off, Keelie won 3rd place overall in the poster presentations!
Holiday Party
Dec 30, 2024
We have a few fun lab events to celebrate the holiday and end of the semester. We went to the (cold) science center winter lights then had a lab potluck!
