Now in Chem Sci! 🎉
We investigated how #enzymes in the #nonribosomal #biosynthesis of life-saving #peptide #antibiotics can be engineered.
Assuming that #promiscuity serves as a springboard for #evolution, we measured the specificity profiles of hundreds of mutants. The results revealed remarkable shifts in substrate specificity in multiple directions, highlighting the evolutionary potential of these enzymes and leading the way for engineering antibiotic biosynthesis.

https://doi.org/10.1039/D6SC00250A

🏆 Thrilled to share fantastic news! 🎉 Honored with the "Goldene Kreide" Teaching Award in Chemistry by amazing students at the Faculty of Biology, Chemistry & Earth Sciences, Universität Bayreuth! 🧪📚

Thanks for the votes, Lena Glöckler, Fachschaft, for impeccable organization and Prof Frank Hahn for inviting me to this position. Teaching in Bayreuth was a joy! Special thanks to the OCI team Dr Thomas Schmalz, André Wetzel, and Silvia Kastner.

#GoldeneKreide #TeachingAward #Chemistry #Bayreuth

In a paper now out in Angewandte, we have applied directed evolution on the nonribosomal peptide synthetase (#NRPS) making the peptide #antibiotic gramicidin S. Just a few mutations were sufficient to make the NRPS incorporate the non-standard building block piperazic acid instead of proline into the peptide. Directed evolution of NRPSs is needed to adapt the structures of antibiotic peptides to help fight increasing #AntimicrobialResistance.

https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.202304843

@LeibnizHKI

@davidschnettler and the Hollfelder-team have used #DirectedEvolution to breed new phosphotriesterases that could be useful for bioremediation or treatment of organophosphate intoxication. Active #enzyme variants were retrieved from large libraries packaged in tiny droplets on a #microfluidics platform.

Now in #jacs
https://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/jacs.2c10673