Category: In Print

Chemistry in Print

Chemistry Team Publishes in JACS Au

Congratulations to the team including Department of Chemistry Ph.D. students Shobhit Chaturvedi (lead author), Bathir Sathik, and Sodiq Waheed, and undergraduate students Jon Wildey (chemical engineering) and Cait Warner (biological sciences), and led by Christo Christov and Tatyana Karabencheva-Christova (Chem), whose article was published in JACS Au.

The article is titled “Can Second Coordination Sphere and Long-Range Interactions Modulate Hydrogen Atom Transfer in a Non-Heme Fe(II)-Dependent Histone Demethylase?” Christopher Schofield of the University of Oxford, U.K., is also a co-author of the article. This research is supported by NIH grant GM139118.

The study reveals how residues in the second coordination sphere and beyond drive and control the reactivity of the non-heme iron(iv)-oxo complex of the histone demethylase PHF8 to perform the key hydrogen atom abstraction reaction in its catalytic mechanism.

Chemistry Team Publishes in Chemistry – A European Journal

Ph.D. student Sodiq Waheed (chemistry) and Christo Christov (Chem) are participants in a collaborative experimental/computational study led by Nicolai Lehnert at the University of Michigan which was published in Chemistry – A European Journal.

The study, titled “YfeX – A New Platform for Carbene Transferase Development with High Intrinsic Reactivity,” focuses on a redesign of YfeX enzyme as a platform for carbene transferase reactions.

Victor Sosa Alfaro (lead author) and Hannah Palomino of the University of Michigan and Anja Knorrscheidt and Martin Weissenborn of the Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg, Germany, are co-authors of the manuscript.

In Print

Christo Z Christov (Chem), chemistry PhD candidate Shobhit Chaturvedi, Rajeev Ramanan, a postdoctoral scholar currently at NIT Rourkela (India), Jian Hu (Michigan State University) and Robert Hausinger (Michigan State University) published an article entitled: “Atomic and Electronic Structure Determinants Distinguish between Ethylene Formation and L-Arginine Hydroxylation Reaction Mechanisms in the Ethylene-Forming Enzyme,” in ACS CATALYSIS. Their article reveals the unique mechanism of the non-heme Fe (II)- and 2-Oxoglutarate (2OG)-dependent Ethylene-Forming Enzyme (EFE).

The study reveals that unique structural rearrangement triggers the splitting of the 2OG co-substrate that leads to the formation of ethylene in EFE in competition of a standard hydroxylation reaction. The study provides a background for increased enzymatic production of ethylene. The research is supported by NSF grants 1904215 and 1904295.

In Print

Christina J. Welch, Priyanka D. Kadav, Jared L. Edwards, Jessica Krycia, Melanie L. Talaga, Purnima Bandyopadhyay, and Tarun K. Dam were published on September 3rd, 2020. Their paper, “A Rapid and Facile Purification Method for Glycan‐Binding Proteins and Glycoproteins” was funded by the National Science Foundation. Grant Number: 1608537. It was published on the cover of the September issue of Current Protocols in Protein Science.

In Print

Researchers from the Department of Chemistry have revealed the catalytic strategy of a key enzyme for epigenetic regulation. Rajeev Ramanan, a postdoctoral scholar (Chem), currently an assistant professor at NIT Rourkela (India), Shobhit Chaturvedi, a Ph.D. candidate (Chem), Chris Schofield, University of Oxford (UK), Nicolai Lehnert, the University of Michigan, led by Christo Z. Christov (Chem) and Tatyana Karabencheva-Christova (Chem) published an article entitled: “Catalysis By the JmjC Histone Demethylase KDM4A Integrates Substrate Dynamics, Correlated Motions and Molecular Orbital Control” in Chemical Science, the flagship journal of the Royal Society of Chemistry.

The study focuses on a key enzyme for epigenetic regulation — non-heme Fe (II) Histone Demethylase KDM4A and reveals the important catalytic interactions that distinguish KDM4A from other KDMs and its catalytic mechanism with natural and alternative substrates. The research is supported by NSF grant 1904215.

In Print

Ph.D. candidate Sodiq Waheed (Chem), postdoctoral scholar Rajeev Ramanan (Chem), Ph.D. candidate Shobhit Chaturvedi (Chem), Tatyana Karabencheva-Christova (Chem) and Christo Christov (Chem) were listed as co-authors in an article titled “Role of Structural Dynamics in Selectivity and Mechanism of Non-heme Fe(II) and 2-Oxoglutarate-Dependent Oxygenases Involved in DNA Repair” published in ACS Central Science.

Chris Schofield of the University of Oxford and Nicolai Lehnert of the University of Michigan were also listed as co-authors on the article.

Led by Karabencheva-Christova and Christov, the research group revealed the vital effect of DNA conformational dynamics on the catalytic mechanism of the bacterial non-heme Fe(II)- and 2-Oxoglutarate-Dependent DNA Demetylase AlkB and the human homolog AlkBH2. The article was also selected for a supplementary cover

In Print

Haiying Liu (Chem), Rudy Luck (Chem), Thomas Werner (BioSci) and their research scientists, Ph.D. candidates and undergraduate students published a paper titled “Cell Membrane-Specific Fluorescent Probe Featuring Dual and Aggregation-Induced Emissions” in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces.

This research is supported by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health under Award Numbers R15GM114751 and 2R15GM114751-02 (for Haiying Liu).