Chemical Biology

Discovery of a pathway for terminal-alkyne amino acid biosynthesis

March 15, 2019

Michelle ChangUC Berkeley researchers, led by Professor of Chemistry Michelle Chang, have discovered a biosynthetic pathway that makes amino acids containing terminal alkynes. Because such functional groups are rare in natural products, they provide a handle for chemistry that’s not generally found in biological organisms. For example, chemists could use such groups to attach fluorescent dyes to proteins via click chemistry.

Potential new way to boost biofuels and bioproducts production

November 27, 2018

Itay Budin and Jay KeaslingJBEI researchers gain understanding of central metabolism of bacteria and yeast species commonly used in biotechnology.

Smallest life forms have smallest working CRISPR system

October 18, 2018

Archaea bacteria with CRISPR systems.

An ancient group of microbes that contains some of the smallest life forms on Earth also has the smallest CRISPR gene-editing machinery discovered to date.

New DNA Synthesis Method Could Soon Build a Genome in a Day

July 10, 2018

DNA strandA new method from the lab of Jay Keasling promises to revolutionize DNA synthesis with a faster, cheaper, and more accurate approach. Taking inspiration from nature, the team at UC Berkeley cracked a decades-old puzzle that allowed them...