Publications
2025
Eastman, Karsten A. S.; Roberts, Andrew G.; Bandarian, Vahe
Diverse thioether macrocyclized peptides through a radical SAM maturase Journal Article
In: PNAS, vol. 122, no. 34, 2025.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Biochemistry, Enzymes, Mechanism, Peptides, Unnatural Amino Acids
@article{Eastman2025,
title = {Diverse thioether macrocyclized peptides through a radical SAM maturase},
author = {Karsten A. S. Eastman and Andrew G. Roberts and Vahe Bandarian },
editor = {Amy Rosenzweig},
doi = {10.1073/pnas.2512563122},
year = {2025},
date = {2025-08-21},
urldate = {2025-08-21},
journal = {PNAS},
volume = {122},
number = {34},
abstract = {Disulfide bonds stabilize many bioactive peptides, but their susceptibility to reduction under physiological conditions limits broad applicability in biotechnology. PapB is a promiscuous radical S-adenosyl-L-methionine enzyme that is involved in the maturation of PapA, which is a ribosomally produced and posttranslationally modified polypeptide. PapB introduces six thioether linkages between internal Cys residues and carbon atom that is α to the side-chain carboxylate of Asp/Glu residues C-terminal to the Cys residues. Herein, we show that PapB also efficiently couples an internal Cys thiol to the C-terminal carboxylate of peptides terminating in D- or β-amino acids, forming α- or β-thioether macrocycles. Moreover, PapB tolerates β- and N-methyl amino acids within the peptide, resulting in the formation of macrocycles that are comprised entirely of unnatural amino acids, such as peptides containing all β-residues. These findings establish PapB as a sequence-agnostic thioether ligase for efficient C-terminal macrocyclization. Our work expands the enzymatic toolbox for constructing conformationally constrained peptides for therapeutics and chemical biology.},
keywords = {Biochemistry, Enzymes, Mechanism, Peptides, Unnatural Amino Acids},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
2023
Eastman, Karsten A. S.; Mifflin, Marcus C.; Oblad, Paul F.; Roberts, Andrew G.; Bandarian, Vahe
A Promiscuous rSAM Enzyme Enables Diverse Peptide Cross-linking Journal Article
In: ACS Bio Med Chem Au, vol. 3, no. 6, pp. 480–493, 2023, ISSN: 2694-2437.
Links | BibTeX | Tags: Biochemistry, Drug Discovery, Molecular Biology, Pharmaceutical Science
@article{Eastman2023,
title = {A Promiscuous rSAM Enzyme Enables Diverse Peptide Cross-linking},
author = {Karsten A. S. Eastman and Marcus C. Mifflin and Paul F. Oblad and Andrew G. Roberts and Vahe Bandarian},
doi = {10.1021/acsbiomedchemau.3c00043},
issn = {2694-2437},
year = {2023},
date = {2023-12-20},
urldate = {2023-12-20},
journal = {ACS Bio Med Chem Au},
volume = {3},
number = {6},
pages = {480--493},
keywords = {Biochemistry, Drug Discovery, Molecular Biology, Pharmaceutical Science},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Bandarian, Vahe; Eastman, Karsten A. S.
Papb as a bimoiety-dependent thioether installation tool Patent
2023.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags:
@patent{nokey,
title = {Papb as a bimoiety-dependent thioether installation tool },
author = {Vahe Bandarian and Karsten A. S. Eastman},
url = {https://patents.google.com/patent/WO2023201372A2/},
year = {2023},
date = {2023-10-19},
abstract = {The present disclosure is concerned with methods of chemically modifying a peptide sequence to install a thioether linkage, the method comprising reacting the peptide sequence with PapB. Also disclosed are compounds produced by such methods that may be useful in, for example, peptide therapeutic uses. This abstract is intended as a scanning tool for purposes of searching in the particular art and is not intended to be limiting of the present invention.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {patent}
}
Eastman, Karsten A. S.; Jochimsen, Andrew S.; Bandarian, Vahe
Intermolecular electron transfer in radical SAM enzymes as a new paradigm for reductive activation Journal Article
In: Journal of Biological Chemistry, vol. 299, no. 9, 2023, ISSN: 0021-9258.
Links | BibTeX | Tags: Biochemistry, Cell Biology, Molecular Biology
@article{Eastman2023c,
title = {Intermolecular electron transfer in radical SAM enzymes as a new paradigm for reductive activation},
author = {Karsten A. S. Eastman and Andrew S. Jochimsen and Vahe Bandarian},
doi = {10.1016/j.jbc.2023.105058},
issn = {0021-9258},
year = {2023},
date = {2023-09-00},
journal = {Journal of Biological Chemistry},
volume = {299},
number = {9},
keywords = {Biochemistry, Cell Biology, Molecular Biology},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Rush, Katherine W.; Eastman, Karsten A. S.; Kincannon, William M.; Blackburn, Ninian J.; Bandarian, Vahe
In: J. Am. Chem. Soc., vol. 145, no. 18, pp. 10167-10177, 2023, ISSN: 1520-5126.
Links | BibTeX | Tags: Biochemistry, Catalysis, Colloid and Surface Chemistry, General Chemistry
@article{Rush2023,
title = {Peptide Selenocysteine Substitutions Reveal Direct Substrate–Enzyme Interactions at Auxiliary Clusters in Radical \textit{S}-Adenosyl-<scp>l</scp>-methionine Maturases},
author = {Katherine W. Rush and Karsten A. S. Eastman and William M. Kincannon and Ninian J. Blackburn and Vahe Bandarian},
doi = {10.1021/jacs.3c00831},
issn = {1520-5126},
year = {2023},
date = {2023-05-10},
journal = {J. Am. Chem. Soc.},
volume = {145},
number = {18},
pages = {10167-10177},
keywords = {Biochemistry, Catalysis, Colloid and Surface Chemistry, General Chemistry},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
2022
Eastman, Karsten A. S.; Kincannon, William M.; Bandarian, Vahe
In: ACS Cent. Sci., vol. 8, no. 8, pp. 1209-1217, 2022, ISSN: 2374-7951.
Links | BibTeX | Tags: General Chemical Engineering, General Chemistry
@article{Eastman2022,
title = {Leveraging Substrate Promiscuity of a Radical \textit{S}-Adenosyl-<scp>L</scp>-methionine RiPP Maturase toward Intramolecular Peptide Cross-Linking Applications},
author = {Karsten A. S. Eastman and William M. Kincannon and Vahe Bandarian},
doi = {10.1021/acscentsci.2c00501},
issn = {2374-7951},
year = {2022},
date = {2022-08-24},
journal = {ACS Cent. Sci.},
volume = {8},
number = {8},
pages = {1209-1217},
keywords = {General Chemical Engineering, General Chemistry},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}