UC 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.
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.
A 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...