In this direction, efforts are devoted to developing exogenous substance-driven, non-natural cofactor-mediated systems for the regulation of energy metabolism, and to elucidating the biochemical mechanism therein. The ultimate goal is to create controllable and efficient cell factories. Key topics include:
1) Non-natural redox cofactor and chemical probes
2) Energy metabolism and energy transfer process
Articles:
1. Wang XY, Feng YB, Guo XJ, Wang Q, Ning SY, Li Q, Wang JT, Wang L, Zhao ZK*. “Creating enzymes and self-sufficient cells for biosynthesis of the non-natural cofactor nicotinamide cytosine dinucleotide” Nat. Commun. 2021, 12(1), 2116.
2. Guo XJ, Liu YX, Wang Q, Wang XY, Li Q, Liu WJ, Zhao ZK*. “Non-natural cofactor and formate-driven reductive carboxylation of pyruvate” Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2020, 59(8), 3143–3146.
3. Liu YX, Feng YB, Wang L, Guo XJ, Liu WJ, Li Q, Wang XY, Xue S*, Zhao ZK*. “Structural insights into phosphite dehydrogenase variants favoring a non-natural redox cofactor” ACS Catal. 2019, 9(3), 1883–1887.
4. Wang L, Ji DB, Liu YX, Wang Q, Wang XY, Zhou YJ, Zhang YX, Liu WJ*, Zhao ZK*. “Synthetic Cofactor-Linked Metabolic Circuits for selective energy transfer” ACS Catal. 2017, 7(3), 1977–1983.
5. Zhang YX, Pan YB, Liu WJ, Zhou YJ, Wang KY, Wang L, Sohail M, Ye ML, Zou HF*, Zhao ZK*. “In vivo protein allylation to capture protein methylation candidates” Chem. Commun. 2016, 52(40), 6689–6692.
6. Zhou YJ, Yang W, Wang L, Zhu ZW, Zhang SF, Zhao ZK*. “Engineering NAD+ availability for Escherichia coli whole-cell biocatalysis: a case study for dihydroxyacetone production” Microbial Cell Factories 2013, 12, 103.
7. Ji DB, Wang L, Hou SH, Liu WJ, Wang JX, Wang Q, Zhao ZK*. “Creation of bioorthogonal redox systems depending on nicotinamide flucytosine dinucleotide” J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2011, 133(51), 20857–20862.
