Beverly Fu

All Publications

• Discovery of a New Class of Aminoacyl Radical Enzymes Expands Nature's Known Radical Chemistry. Journal of the American Chemical Society Fu, B., Yang, H., Kountz, D. J., Lundahl, M. N., Beller, H. R., Broderick, W. E., Broderick, J. B., Hoffman, B. H., Balskus, E. P. 2024

  Abstract

  Radical enzymes, including the evolutionarily ancient glycyl radical enzyme (GRE) family, catalyze chemically challenging reactions that are involved in a myriad of important biological processes. All GREs possess an essential, conserved backbone glycine that forms a stable catalytically essential alpha-carbon radical. Through close examination of the GRE family, we unexpectedly identified hundreds of noncanonical GRE homologues that encode either an alanine, serine, or threonine in place of the catalytic glycine residue. Contrary to a long-standing belief, we experimentally demonstrate that these aminoacyl radical enzymes (AAREs) form stable alpha-carbon radicals on the three cognate residues when activated by partner activating enzymes. The previously unrecognized AAREs are widespread in microbial genomes, highlighting their biological importance and potential for exhibiting new reactivity. Collectively, these studies expand the known radical chemistry of living systems while raising questions about the evolutionary emergence of the AAREs.

  View details for DOI 10.1021/jacs.4c10348

  View details for PubMedID 39392720

• A cellular platform for production of C₄ monomers CHEMICAL SCIENCE Davis, M. A., Yu, V., Fu, B., Wen, M., Koleski, E. J., Silverman, J., Berdan, C. A., Nomura, D. K., Chang, M. Y. 2023

  View details for DOI 10.1039/d3sc02773b

  View details for Web of Science ID 001081057900001