A. James Link

Repositioning the Leader Peptide in Graspetide Biosynthesis | Journal of the American Chemical Society pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/ja…

Please check out our new review in Biochemistry @ACSPublications on aspartimides in RiPPs, led by Angela Zhu: doi.org/10.1021/acs.bi…. Happy to be part of the special issue on the chemistry and biology of peptides!

We show that the leader peptide in graspetide biosynthesis can be converted into a follower peptide while still retaining the correct modifications. We use this to make hybrid graspetide-lasso peptides. Read here: doi.org/10.1021/jacs.5…

Happy to share the latest Link lab paper out @ACSPublications @J_A_C_S led by @TobyJohnson144.

Excited to share my 1st first name paper from 🐅 @ajlinklab We report the ability to rearrange #RiPP precursor peptides, expanding opportunities for engineering PTMs in vitro and in cellulo including mechanically interlocked peptides 🔗 @LindemannTrust @omenndarlingbio

New work from @ZhongyueY, @ajlinklab and Yi-Lei Zhao takes a first step toward structural prediction of RiPPs: lasso peptide. nature.com/articles/s4146… Access the tool here: lassopred.accre.vanderbilt.edu

@ZhongyueY @VanderbiltCSB @VICB_Vanderbilt Always a pleasure to work with @ZhongyueY! Congrats to the whole team!

Our first step toward structural prediction of RiPPs: lasso peptide. nature.com/articles/s4146… This tool can be accessed from here: lassopred.accre.vanderbilt.edu @VanderbiltCSB @VICB_Vanderbilt Great working together with @ajlinklab and Yi-Lei Zhao!

This is a fun example of how enzymes we find in curiosity-driven natural products research can turn into potentially useful biocatalysts. Congrats to all of the authors!

The latest Link lab paper is out @ACSCentSci : doi.org/10.1021/acscen… ! In this work, led by @bsmchoi and @TobyJohnson144 we show that an ATP-grasp enzyme from #RiPP biosynthesis can be repurposed to cyclize peptides and even proteins!

Things tend to slow down in winter, but Elsa Ding and Yaoyukun Jiang from our group have engineered a 'cold-adapted' version of a mesophilic amylase. Even with a 45-degree temperature drop, we still observe 30% activity. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/an… @angew_chem @VanderbiltCSB

In a year with so little to cheer about so far, I am happy to share our manuscript on a copper-dependent halogenase. Unbelievable effort by GS Yorick Chiang and Scientist @phdmasao at @uclachem @UclaCBE . Thank you to all collaborators and @NIGMS. nature.com/articles/s4158…

There are 56 predicted cysimiditides scattered around actinobacterial genomes. We originally found some cysimiditides as part of our study on imiditides, linear peptides harboring an aspartimide: doi.org/10.1021/jacs.3….

The latest Link lab paper is out @BiochemistryACS!: doi.org/10.1021/acs.bi… This work, led by Angela Zhu, focuses on the cysimiditides, a new subfamily of #RiPPs. The cysimiditides include a tetracysteine motif that coordinates a zinc ion and a single aspartimide moiety.

Cysimiditides: RiPPs with a Zn-tetracysteine motif and aspartimidylation biorxiv.org/cgi/content/sh… #biorxiv_biochem

Congrats to @HubrichFlorian & @sanathrajkk0 for this exciting story finally being published. Thanks for the fruitful collaboration with @chekanlab. If you are interested in the chemical space of #RiPP #biosynthetic #enyzmes and #isoprenoids, click here: sciencedirect.com/science/articl…

Thank you for highlighting our work on the chemoenzymatic synthesis of modified lasso peptides on the covers of @J_A_C_S! 🤩 @Hartrampf_Lab @UZH_ch #peptides

AlphaFold can't tell you the structure of lasso peptide, a major branch of RiPPs and promising antibiotics. Xingyu wasn't happy about it and decided to create LassoPred. Build your own lasso or download a predicted one: lassopred.accre.vanderbilt.edu. DOI: 10.26434/chemrxiv-2024-q3rn0

@Van_DeventerJim Congrats Jim!

Excited to be at @BostonBacteria at Boston Univ! Looking forward to some great science #BBM2024 🧫 I’m presenting poster number 104 tomorrow, come say hi!