Balskus Lab

Selected Publications / 2019 – Present

129. Wong, Daniel A.; Shaver, Zachary M.; Cabezas, Manuel D.; Daniel-Ivad, Marin; Warfel, Kelly F.; Prasanna, Dhananjay V.; Sobol, Sarah E.; Fernandez, Rafael; Tobias, Franklin; Filip, Simon K.; Hulbert, Sophia W.; Faull, Patrick; Nicol, Robert; DeLisa, Matthew P.; Balskus, Emily P.; Karim, Ashty S.; Jewett, Michael C. Characterizing and engineering post-translational modifications with high-throughput cell-free expression. Nat. Commun. 16 (2025), 7215.

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-60526-6

128. Chen, Julie; Pfeifer, Katarina; Steensen, Kerrin; Crooke, Anne Marie; Wolfram, Michael; Bobonis, Jacob; Lopatina, Anna; Bartlau, Nina; Hussain, Fatima A.; Balskus, Emily P.; Polz, Martin F., & Blainey, Paul C. Bacterial peptide deformylase inhibitors induce prophages in competitors. bioRxiv 2025, preprint

https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.06.06.656871

127. Pfeifer, Katarina; Cura, Devon Van; Wu, Kelvin J. Y., & Balskus, Emily P. Chemical capture of diazo metabolites reveals biosynthetic hydrazone oxidation. bioRxiv 2025, preprint

https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.05.24.655970

126. Kenney, Grace E.; Wang, Kwo-Kwang A.; Ng, Tai L.; Donk, Wilfred A. van der, & Balskus, Emily P. A new heme enzyme family forms hydrazine groups in diverse biosynthetic pathways. bioRxiv 2025, preprint

https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.05.27.656397

125. Carlson, Erik S.; Haslecker, Raphael; Lecchi, Chiara, Ramos, Miguel Aguilar; Vennelakanti, Vyshnavi; Honaker, Linda; Stornetta, Alessia; Millán, Estela S.; Johnson, Bruce A.; Kulik, Heather J.; Balbo, Silvia; Villalta, Peter W.; D’Souza, Victoria, & Balskus, Emily P.  The specificity and structure of DNA crosslinking by the gut bacterial genotoxin colibactin. bioRxiv 2025, preprint

https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.05.26.655968

124. Wang, Michelle L.; Glasser, Nathaniel R.; Nair, Mrutyunjay A.; Krebs, Carsten; Bollinger, J. Martin; Balskus, Emily P. Biochemical Studies of a Cyanobacterial Halogenase Support the Involvement of a Dimetal Cofactor. Biochemistry 2025, 64, 1234–1245.https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.biochem.4c00720

123. Dong, Xueyang; Bae, Minwoo; Le, Chi; Aguilar Ramos, Miguel A.; Balskus, Emily P. Enantiocomplementary Gut Bacterial Enzymes Metabolize Dietary Polyphenols Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2025. https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.4c09892

BioRxiv: https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.01.17.632430

122. Kountz, Duncan J.; Yu, Ruocheng; Lee, Jessie H.; Maloney, Katherine N.; Balskus, Emily P. Flavoaffinins, elusive cellulose-binding natural products from an anaerobic bacterium. bioRxiv 2025, preprint. https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.02.08.637243.

121. Bae, Minwoo; Dong, Xueyang; Avila-Pacheco, Julian; Inyama, Fechi; Hill-Maini, Vayu; Clish, Clary; Balskus, Emily P. Distinct classes of gut bacterial molybdenum-dependent enzymes produce urolithins. bioRxiv 2025, preprint. https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.01.17.632430.

120. Richards-Corke, Khyle C.; Jiang, Yindi; Yeliseyev, Vladimir; Zhang, Yancong; Franzosa, Eric A.; Wang, Zhipeng A.; Yapa Abeywardana, Maheeshi; Cole, Phillip A.; Huttenhower, Curtis; Bry, Lynn; Balskus, Emily P. A small-molecule inhibitor of gut bacterial urease protects the host from liver injury. ACS Chemical Biology 2025. https://doi.org/10.1021/acschembio.3c00556.

119. Wong, Joel W. H.; Balskus, Emily P. Small molecules as modulators of phage–bacteria interactions. Current Opinion in Chemical Biology 2025, 84, 102566. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cbpa.2024.102566.

118. Alkhalaf, Lona M.; Arrowsmith, Cheryl; Balskus, Emily P.; Bergamini, Giovanna; Bhandari, Rashna; Chang, Christopher J.; Chen, Peng; Chen, Xing; Ciulli, Alessio; Cricco, Julia A.; Davis, Benjamin G.; Delbianco, Martina; Dudareva, Natalia; Dueber, Erin; Ferguson, Fleur; de Giuseppe, Priscila Oliveira; Hamachi, Itaru; Hammond, Ming Chen; Hatzios, Stavroula K.; … Winter, Georg. Thoughts for the future. Nature Chemical Biology 2025, 21 (1), 6–15. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41589-024-01802-2.

117. Bae, Minwoo; Le, Chi (Chip); Mehta, Raaj S.; Dong, Xueyang; Pieper, Lindsey M.; Ramirez, Lorenzo; Alexander, Margaret; Kiamehr, Sina; Turnbaugh, Peter J.; Huttenhower, Curtis; Chan, Andrew T.; Balskus, Emily P. Metatranscriptomics-Guided Discovery and Characterization of a Polyphenol-Metabolizing Gut Microbial Enzyme. Cell Host & Microbe 2024, 32, 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chom.2024.10.002.

116. Woo, Amelia Y. M.; Sandoval–Espinola, Walter J.; Bollenbach, Maud; Wong, Alison; Sakanaka–Yokoyama, Mariko; Zhang, Qijun; Nieto, Vincent; Rey, Federico E.; Balskus, Emily P. Phenotypic High-Throughput Screening Identifies Modulators of Gut Microbial Choline Metabolism. bioRxiv 2024, preprint. https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.11.08.621386.

115. Fu, Beverly; Yang, Hao; Kountz, Duncan J.; Lundahl, Maike N.; Beller, Harry R.; Broderick, William E.; Broderick, Joan B.; Hoffman, Brian H.; Balskus, Emily P. Discovery of a New Class of Aminoacyl Radical Enzymes Expands Nature’s Known Radical Chemistry. Journal of the American Chemical Society 2024. https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.4c10348.

114. Mandarino Alves, Amanda; Lecchi, Chiara; Lopez, Sharon; Stornetta, Alessia; Mathai, Prince P.; Villalta, Peter W.; Ishii, Satoshi; Balskus, Emily P.; Balbo, Silvia; Khoruts, Alexander. Dysfunctional mucus structure in cystic fibrosis increases vulnerability to colibactin-mediated DNA adducts in the colon mucosa. Gut Microbes 2024, 6 (1), 2387877. https://doi.org/10.1080/19490976.2024.2387877.

113. McCurry, Megan D.; D'Agostino, Gabriel D.; Walsh, Jasmine T.; Bisanz, Jordan E.; Zalosnik, Ines; Dong, Xueyang; Morris, David J.; Korzenik, Joshua R.; Edlow, Andrea G.; Balskus, Emily P.; Turnbaugh, Peter J.; Huh, Jun R.; Devlin, A. Sloan. Gut Bacteria Convert Glucocorticoids into Progestins in the Presence of Hydrogen Gas. Cell 2024, 187, (12), 2952–2968.e13. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2024.05.005.
 

112. Bao, Bin; Wang, Youyuan; Boudreau, Paul; Song, Xinyang; Wu, Meng; Chen, Xi; Patik, Izabel; Tang, Ying; Ouahed, Jodie; Ringel, Amit; Barends, Jared; Wu, Chuan; Balskus, Emily P.; Thiagarajah, Jay; Liu, Jian; Wessels, Michael R.; Lencer, Wayne; Kasper, Dennis L.; An, Dingding; Horwitz, Bruce; Snapper, Scott B. Bacterial Sphingolipids Exacerbate Colitis by Inhibiting ILC3-Derived IL-22 Production. Cellular and Molecular Gastroenterology and Hepatology 2024, 18, (2), 101350. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcmgh.2024.04.007. BioRxiv: https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.09.05.555400v1.

111. Li, Chenhao; Stražar, Martin; Mohamed, Ahmed M. T.; Pacheco, Julian A.; Walker, Rebecca L.; Lebar, Tina; Zhao, Shijie; Lockart, Julia; Dame, Andrea; Thurimella, Kumar; Jeanfavre, Sarah; Brown, Eric M.; Yan Ang, Qi; Berdy, Brittany; Sergio, Dallis; Invernizzi, Rachele; Tinoco, Antonio; Pishchany, Gleb; Vasan, Ramachandran S.; Balskus, Emily P.; Huttenhower, Curtis; Vlamakis, Hera; Clish, Clary; Shaw, Stanley Y.; Plichta, Damian R.; Xavier, Ramnik J. Gut Microbiome and Metabolome Profiling in Framingham Heart Study Reveals Cholesterol-Metabolizing Bacteria. Cell 2024, 187 (8), 1834–1852.e19. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2024.03.014.

110. Wong, Derek A.; Shaver, Zachary M.; Cabezas, Maria D.; Daniel-Ivad, Martin; Warfel, Katherine F.; Prasanna, Deepali V.; Sobol, Sarah E.; Fernandez, Regina; Tobias, Fernando; Filip, Szymon K.; Hulbert, Sophia W.; Faull, Peter; Nicol, Robert; DeLisa, Matthew P.; Balskus, Emily P.; Karim, Ashty S., & Jewett, Michael C. Characterizing and engineering post-translational modifications with high-throughput cell-free expression. Nature Communications 2025, 16(1), 7215. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-60526-6

bioRxiv: https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.03.25.586624.

109. Altshuller, Maria; He, Xu; MacKrell, Elliot J.; Wernke, Kevin M.; Wong, Joel W. H.; Sellés-Baiget, Selene; Wang, Ting-Yu; Chou, Tsui-Fen; Duxin, Julien P.; Balskus, Emily P.; Herzon, Seth B.; Semlow, Daniel. The Fanconi Anemia Pathway Repairs Colibactin-Induced DNA Interstrand Cross-Links. bioRxiv 2024, Preprint. https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.01.30.576698.

108. Crooke, Anne Marie; Chand, Anika K.; Cui, Zheng; Balskus, Emily P. Elucidation of Chalkophomycin Biosynthesis Reveals N-Hydroxypyrrole-Forming Enzymes. Journal of the American Chemical Society 2024, 146 (23), 16268–16280. https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.4c04712. BioRxiv: https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.01.24.577118v2

107. Pelayo, Paula; Hussain, Fatima A.; Werlang, Caroline A.; Wu, Chloe; Woolston, Benjamin M.; Xiang, Claire M.; Rutt, Lindsay; France, Michael T.; Ravel, Jacques; Ribbeck, Katharina; Kwon, Douglas S.; Balskus, Emily P. Prevotella Are Major Contributors of Sialidases in the Human Vaginal Microbiome. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 2024, 121 (36), e2400341121. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2400341121 .

BioRxiv: https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.01.09.574895.

106. Segui Perez, Celia; De Jongh, Rivka; Jonkergouw, Robin; Pelayo, Paula; Balskus, Emily P.; Zomer, Aldert; Strijbis, Karin. Prevotella timonensis Degrades the Vaginal Epithelial Glycocalyx through High Fucosidase and Sialidase Activities. mBio 2024, 15 (9), e00691-24. https://doi.org/10.1128/mbio.00691-24.

BioRxiv: https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.01.09.574844.

105. Mayers, Jared R.; Varon, Jack; Zhou, Ruixuan R.; Daniel-Ivad, Martin; Beaulieu, Courtney; Bholse, Amrisha; Glasser, Nathaniel R.; Lichtenauer, Franziska M.; Ng, Julie; Pinilla Vera, Mayra; Huttenhower, Curtis; Perrella, Mark A.; Clish, Clary B.; Zhao, Sihai D.; Baron, Rebecca M.; Balskus, Emily P. A Metabolomics Pipeline Highlights Microbial Metabolism in Bloodstream Infections. Cell 2024, 187, 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2024.05.035. BioRxiv: https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.09.21.558834.

104. Glasser, Nathaniel R.; Cui, Dongtao; Risser, Douglas D.; Okafor, C. Denise; Balskus, Emily P. Accelerating the Discovery of Alkyl Halide-Derived Natural Products Using Halide Depletion. Nature Chemistry 2024, 16, 173–182. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41557-023-01390-z.

103. Mayers, Jared R.; Varon, Jack; Zhou, Ruixuan R.; Daniel-Ivad, Martin; Beaulieu, Courtney; Bholse, Amrisha; Glasser, Nathaniel R.; Lichtenauer, Franziska M.; Ng, Julie; Pinilla Vera, Mayra; Huttenhower, Curtis; Perrella, Mark A.; Clish, Clary B.; Zhao, Sihai D.; Baron, Rebecca M.; Balskus, Emily P. Cholesterol metabolism by uncultured human gut bacteria influences host cholesterol level. bioRxiv 2023, preprint, https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.09.21.558834.

102. Nagashima, Kazuki; Zhao, Aishan; Atabakhsh, Katayoon; Bae, Minwoo; Blum, Jamie E.; Weakley, Allison; Jain, Sunit; Meng, Xiandong; Cheng, Alice G.; Wang, Min; Higginbottom, Steven; Dimas, Alex; Murugkar, Pallavi; Sattely, Elizabeth S.; Moon, James J.; Balskus, Emily P.; Fischbach, Michael A. Mapping the T Cell Repertoire to a Complex Gut Bacterial Community. Nature 2023, 621, 162–170. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06431-8.

101. Kountz, Duncan J.; Balskus, Emily P. A Diversified, Widespread Microbial Gene Cluster Encodes Homologs of Methyltransferases Involved in Methanogenesis. bioRxiv 2023, Preprint. https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.07.31.551370.

100. Mandelbaum, Noa; Zhang, Lihan; Carasso, Shaqed; Ziv, Tamar; Lifshiz-Simon, Sapir; Davidovich, Irina; Luz, Ishai; Berinstein, Elliot; Gefen, Tal; Cooks, Tomer; Talmon, Yeshayahu; Balskus, Emily P.; Geva-Zatorsky, Naama. Extracellular Vesicles of the Gram-Positive Gut Symbiont Bifidobacterium longum Induce Immune-Modulatory, Anti-Inflammatory Effects. NPJ Biofilms and Microbiomes 2023, 9, 30. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41522-023-00400-9.

99. Van Cura, Devon; Ng, Tai L.; Huang, Jing; Hager, Harry; Hartwig, John F.; Keasling, Jay D.; Balskus, Emily P. Discovery of the Azaserine Biosynthetic Pathway Uncovers a Biological Route for α-Diazoester Production. Angewandte Chemie (International ed. in English) 2023, 62 (28), e202304646. https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.202304646.

98. Huang, Jing; Quest, Andrew; Cruz-Morales, Pablo; Deng, Kai; Pereira, Jose H.; Van Cura, Devon; Kakumanu, Ramu; Baidoo, Edward E. K.; Dan, Qingyun; Chen, Yan; Petzold, Christopher J.; Northen, Trent R.; Adams, Paul D.; Clark, Douglas S.; Balskus, Emily P.; Hartwig, John F.; Mukhopadhyay, Aindrila; Keasling, Jay D. Complete Integration of Carbene-Transfer Chemistry into Biosynthesis. Nature 2023, 617, 403–408. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06027-2.

97. Woo, Amelia Y. M.; Aguilar Ramos, Miguel A.; Narayan, Rohan; Richards-Corke, Khyle C.; Wang, Michelle L.; Sandoval-Espinola, Walter J.; Balskus, Emily P. Targeting the Human Gut Microbiome with Small-Molecule Inhibitors. Nature Reviews Chemistry 2023, 7, 319–339. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41570-023-00471-4.

96. Mehta, Raaj S.; Mayers, Jared R.; Zhang, Yancong; Bhosle, Amrisha; Glasser, Nathaniel R.; Nguyen, Long H.; Ma, Wenjie; Bae, Sena; Branck, Tobyn; Song, Kijun; Sebastian, Luke; Avila Pacheco, Julian; Seo, Hyuk-Soo; Clish, Clary; Dhe-Paganon, Sirano; Ananthakrishnan, Ashwin N.; Franzosa, Eric A.; Balskus, Emily P.; Chan, Andrew T.; Huttenhower, Curtis. Gut Microbial Metabolism of 5-ASA Diminishes Its Clinical Efficacy in Inflammatory Bowel Disease. Nature Medicine 2023, 29, 700–709. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-023-02217-7.

95. Balskus, Emily P. Elucidating the Chemistry and Biology of the Human Microbiome. Biochemistry 2022, 61 (24), 2777–2778. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.biochem.2c00652.

94. Dong, Xueyang; Guthrie, Ben G. H.; Alexander, Margaret; Noecker, Cecilia; Ramirez, Lorenzo; Glasser, Nathaniel R.; Turnbaugh, Peter J.; Balskus, Emily P. Genetic Manipulation of the Human Gut Bacterium Eggerthella lenta Reveals a Widespread Family of Transcriptional Regulators. Nature Communications 2022, 13, 7624. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-33576-3.

93. Volpe, Matthew R.; Velilla, José A.; Daniel-Ivad, Martin; Yao, Jenny J.; Stornetta, Alessia; Villalta, Peter W.; Huang, Hsin-Che; Bachovchin, Daniel A.; Balbo, Silvia; Gaudet, Rachelle; Balskus, Emily P. A Small Molecule Inhibitor Prevents Gut Bacterial Genotoxin Production. Nature Chemical Biology 2023, 19, 159–167. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41589-022-01147-8.

92. Velilla, José A.; Vople, Matthew R.; Kenney, Grace E.; Walsh, Richard M.; Balskus, Emily P.; Gaudet, Rachelle. Structural Basis of Colibactin Activation by the ClbP Peptidase. Nature Chemical Biology 2023, 19, 151–158. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41589-022-01142-z.

91. Le, Chip*; Bae, Minwoo*; Kiamehr, Sina; Balskus, Emily P. Emerging Chemical Diversity and Potential Applications of Enzymes in the DMSO Reductase Superfamily. Annual Review of Biochemistry 2022, 91, 475–504. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-biochem-032620-110804.

90. Fu, Beverly; Nazemi, Azadeh; Levin, Benjamin J.; Yang, Zhongyue; Kulik, Heather J.; Balskus, Emily P. Mechanistic Studies of a Skatole-Forming Glycyl Radical Enzyme Suggest Reaction Initiation via Hydrogen Atom Transfer. Journal of the American Chemical Society 2022, 144, 11110–11119. https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.1c13580.

89. Reed, Amber D.; Fletcher, Joshua R.; Huang, Yolanda Y.; Thanissery, Rajani; Rivera, Alissa J.; Parsons, Ruth J.; Stewart, Allison K.; Kountz, Duncan J.; Shen, Aimee; Balskus, Emily P.; Theriot, Casey M. The Stickland Reaction Precursor trans-4-Hydroxy-l-Proline Differentially Impacts the Metabolism of Clostridioides difficile and Commensal Clostridia. mSphere 2022, 7 (2), e0092621. https://doi.org/10.1128/msphere.00926-21. BioRxiv: https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.11.12.468462v1

88. Martins, Teresa P.; Glasser, Nathaniel R.; Kountz, Duncan J.; Oliveira, Paulo; Balskus, Emily P.; Leão, Pedro N. Biosynthesis of the Unusual Carbon Skeleton of Nocuolin A. ACS Chemical Biology 2022, 17, 2528–2537. https://doi.org/10.1021/acschembio.2c00464. ChemRxiv: https://doi.org/10.26434/chemrxiv-2022-jv5n7.

87. Bloom, Seth M.; Mafunda, Nomfuneko A.; Woolston, Benjamin M.; Hayward, Matthew R.; Frempong, Josephine F.; Abai, Aaron B.; Xu, Jiawu; Mitchell, Alissa J.; Westergaard, Xavier; Hussain, Fatima A.; Xulu, Nondumiso; Dong, Mary; Dong, Krista L.; Gumbi, Thandeka; Ceasar, F. Xolisile; Rice, Justin K.; Choksi, Namit; Ismail, Nasreen; Ndung’u, Thumbi; Ghebremichael, Musie S.; Relman, David A.; Balskus, Emily P.; Mitchell, Caroline M.; Kwon, Douglas S. Cysteine Dependence of Lactobacillus iners Is a Potential Therapeutic Target for Vaginal Microbiota Modulation. Nature Microbiology 2022, 7, 434–450. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41564-022-01070-7.

BioRxiv: https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.06.12.448098v1.

86. Braffman, Nathaniel R.; Ruskoski, Terry B.; Davis, Katherine M.; Glasser, Nathaniel R.; Johnson, Cassidy; Okafor, C. Denise; Boal, Amie K.; Balskus, Emily P. Structural Basis for an Unprecedented Enzymatic Alkylation in Cylindrocyclophane Biosynthesis. eLIFE 2022, 11, e75761. https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.75761. BioRxiv: https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.12.02.470901v1

85. Jenkins, Dominick J.; Woolston, Benjamin M.; Hood-Pishchany, M. Indriati; Pelayo, Paula; Konopaski, Alyssa N.; Peters, M. Quinn; France, Michael T.; Ravel, Jacques; Mitchell, Caroline M.; Rakoff-Nahoum, Seth; Whidbey, Christopher; Balskus, Emily P. Bacterial Amylases Enable Glycogen Degradation by the Vaginal Microbiome. Nature Microbiology 2023, 8, 1641–1652. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41564-023-01447-2   

bioRxiv: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.07.19.452977. 

84. Kountz, Duncan J.; Balskus, Emily P. Leveraging Microbial Genomes and Genomic Context for Chemical Discovery. Accounts of Chemical Research 2021, 54, 2788–2797. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.accounts.1c00100.

83. Silpe, Justin E.; Wong, Joel W. H.; Owen, Siân V.; Baym, Michael; Balskus, Emily P. The Bacterial Toxin Colibactin Triggers Prophage Induction. Nature 2022, 603, 315–320. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-04444-3.

bioRxiv: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.05.24.445430.

82. Murray, Kevin J.; Carlson, Erik S.; Stornetta, Alessia; Balskus, Emily P.; Villalta, Peter W.; Balbo, Silvia. Extension of Diagnostic Fragmentation Filtering for Automated Discovery in DNA Adductomics. Analytical Chemistry 2021, 93, 5754–5762. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.analchem.0c04895

81. Dawson, Christopher D.; Irwin, Stephania M.; Backman, Lindsey R.F.; Le, Chip; Wang, Jennifer X.; Vennelakanti, Vyshnavi; Yang, Zhongyue; Kulik, Heather J.; Drennan, Catherine L.; Balskus, Emily P. Molecular Basis of C–S Bond Cleavage in the Glycyl Radical Enzyme Isethionate Sulfite-Lyase. Cell Chemical Biology 2021, 28 (9), P1333–1346. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chembiol.2021.03.001

80. Rajakovich, Lauren J.; Fu, Beverly; Bollenbach, Maud; Balskus, Emily P. Elucidation of an Anaerobic Pathway for Metabolism of L-Carnitine Derived γ-Butyrobetaine to Trimethylamine in Human Gut Bacteria.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 2021, 118 (32), e2101498118. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2101498118. BioRxiv: https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.01.25.428109v1

79. McBride, Molly J.; Pope, Sarah R.; Hu, Kai; Okafor, C. Denise; Balskus, Emily P.; Bollinger, J. Martin, Jr.; Boal, Amie K. Structure and Assembly of the Diiron Cofactor in the Heme-Oxygenase–Like Domain of the N-Nitrosourea–Producing Enzyme SznF. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 2021, 118 (4), e2015931118. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2015931118

78. Eusebio, Nadia; Rego, Adriana; Glasser, Nathaniel R.; Castelo-Branco, Raquel; Balskus, Emily P.; Leão, Pedro N. Distribution and Diversity of Dimetal-Carboxylate Halogenases in Cyanobacteria. BMC Genomics 2021, 22, 633. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12864-021-07939-x

bioRxiv: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.01.05.425448

70. Silpe, Justin E.; Balskus, Emily P. Deciphering Human Microbiota–Host Chemical Interactions. ACS Central Science 2020, 7, 20–29. https://doi.org/10.1021/acscentsci.0c01030

76. Kenny, Douglas J.; Plichta, Damian R.; Shungin, Dmitry; Koppel, Nitzan; Hall, Brantley; Fu, Beverly; Vasan, Ramachandran S.; Shaw, Stanley Y.; Vlamakis, Hera; Balskus, Emily P.; Xavier, Ramnik J. Cholesterol Metabolism by Uncultured Human Gut Bacteria Influences Host Cholesterol Level. Cell Host & Microbe 2020, 28, 245–257. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chom.2020.05.013

75. McBride, Molly; Sil, Debangsu; Ng, Tai L.; Crooke, Anne Marie; Kenney, Grace E.; Tysoe, Christina R.; Zhang, Bo; Balskus, Emily P.; Boal, Amie K.; Krebs, Carsten; Bollinger, J. Martin, Jr. A Peroxodiiron(III) Intermediate Mediating Both N-Hydroxylation Steps in Biosynthesis of the N-Nitrosourea Pharmacophore of Streptozotocin by SznF. Journal of the American Chemical Society 2020, 142, 11818–11828. https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.0c03431

74. Fu, Beverly; Balskus, Emily P. Discovery of C–C Bond-Forming and Bond-Breaking Radical Enzymes: Enabling Transformations for Metabolic Engineering. Current Opinion in Biotechnology 2020, 65, 94–101. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copbio.2020.02.003.

73. Bisanz, Jordan E.; Soto-Perez, Paola; Noecker, Cecilia; Aksenov, Alexander A.; Lam, Kathy N.; Kenney, Grace E.; Bess, Elizabeth N.; Haiser, Henry J.; Kyaw, Than S.; Yu, Feiqiao B.; Rekdal, Vayu M.; Ha, Connie W.Y.; Devkota, Suzanne; Balskus, Emily P.; Dorrestein, Pieter C.; Allen-Vercoe, Emma; Turnbaugh, Peter J. A Genomic Toolkit for the Mechanistic Dissection of Intractable Human Gut Bacteria. Cell Host & Microbe 2020, 27, 1001–1013. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chom.2020.04.006.

72. Bollenbach, Maud; Ortega, Manuel; Orman, Marina; Drennan, Catherine L.; Balskus, Emily P. Discovery of a Cyclic Choline Analog That Inhibits Anaerobic Choline Metabolism by Human Gut Bacteria. ACS Medicinal Chemistry Letters 2020, 11, 1980–1985. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsmedchemlett.0c00005.

71. Backman, Lindsey R.F.; Huang, Yolanda Y.; Andorfer, Mary C.; Gold, Brian; Raines, Ronald T.; Balskus, Emily P.; Drennan, Catherine L. Molecular Basis for Catabolism of the Abundant Metabolite Trans-4-Hydroxy-L-Proline by a Microbial Glycyl Radical Enzyme. eLife 2020, 9, e51420. https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.51420.

70. Rekdal, Vayu Maini; Bernardino, Paola Nol; Luescher, Michael U.; Kiamehr, Sina; Le, Chip; Bisanz, Jordan E.; Turnbaugh, Peter J.; Bess, Elizabeth N.; Balskus, Emily P. A Widely Distributed Metalloenzyme Class Enables Gut Microbial Metabolism of Host- and Diet-Derived Catechols. eLife 2020, 9, e50845. https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.50845 bioRxiv: https://doi.org/10.1101/725358.

69. Ng, Tai L.; McCallum, Monica E.; Zheng, Christine R.; Wang, Jennifer X.; Wu, Kelvin J. Y.; Balskus, Emily P. The L‐Alanosine Gene Cluster Encodes a Pathway for Diazeniumdiolate Biosynthesis. ChemBioChem 2019, 20. https://doi.org/10.1002/cbic.201900565. bioRxiv: https://doi.org/10.1101/763607.

68. Carlson, Erik S.; Balskus, Emily P. “The mysteries of macrocyclic colibactins” Nature Chemistry, News & Views 2019, 11, 867–869. doi:10.1038/s41557-019-0339-1

67. Chen, Sifan; Henderson, Ayana; Petriello, Michael; Romano, Kymberleigh A.; Gearing, Mary; Miao, Ji; Schell, Mareike; Sandoval-Espinola, Walter J.; Tao, Jiahui; Sha, Bingdong; Graham, Mark; Crooke, Rosanne; Kleinridders, Andre; Balskus, Emily P.; Rey, Federico E.; Morris, Andrew; Biddinger, Sudha B. Trimethylamine N-Oxide Binds and Activates PERK to Promote Metabolic Dysfunction. Cell Metabolism 2019, 30, 1141–1151. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cmet.2019.08.021.

66. Volpe, Matthew R.; Wilson, Matthew R.; Brotherton, Carolyn A.; Winter, Ethan S.; Johnson, Sheila E.; Balskus, Emily P. In vitro characterization of the colibactin-activating peptidase ClbP enables design of a fluorogenic activity probe. ACS Chemical Biology 14 (2019), 2095–2095. https://doi.org/10.1021/acschembio.9b00540 BioRxiv: https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/559385v1

65. Jiang, Yindi; Stornetta, Alessia; Villalta, Peter W.; Wilson, Matthew R.; Boudreau, Paul D.; Zha, Li; Balbo, Silvia; Balskus, Emily P. Reactivity of an Unusual Amidase May Explain Colibactin’s DNA Cross-Linking Activity. Journal of the American Chemical Society 2019, 141, 11489–11496. https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.9b02453. bioRxiv: https://doi.org/10.1101/567248.

64. McCallum, Monica E.; Balskus, Emily P. Enzymes that detoxify marine toxins. Nature 570 (2019), 315–316. https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-019-01742-1

63. Maini Rekdal, Vayu; Bess, Elizabeth N.; Bisanz, Jordan E.; Turnbaugh, Peter J.; Balskus, Emily P. Discovery and Inhibition of an Interspecies Gut Bacterial Pathway for Levodopa Metabolism. Science 2019, 364, eaau6323. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aau6323.

62. Volpe, Matthew R.; Wilson, Matthew R.; Brotherton, Carolyn A.; Winter, Ethan S.; Johnson, Sheila E.; Balskus, Emily P. In Vitro Characterization of the Colibactin-Activating Peptidase ClbP Enables Development of a Fluorogenic Activity Probe. ACS Chemical Biology 2019, 14, 1097–1101. https://doi.org/10.1021/acschembio.9b00069. bioRxiv: https://doi.org/10.1101/559385.

61. Wilson, Matthew R.; Jiang, Yindi; Villalta, Peter W.; Stornetta, Alessia; Boudreau, Paul D.; Carrá, Andrea; Brennan, Caitlin A.; Chun, Eunyoung; Ngo, Lizzie; Samson, Leona D.; Engelward, Bevin P.; Garrett, Wendy S.; Balbo, Silvia; Balskus, Emily P. The human gut bacterial genotoxin colibactin alkylates DNA. Science 363 (2019), eaar7785. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aar7785

60. Ng, Tai L.; Rohac, Roman; Mitchell, Andrew J.; Boal, Amie K.; Balskus, Emily P. An N-nitrosating Metalloenzyme Constructs the Pharmacophore of Streptozotocin. Nature 2019, 566, 94–99. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-019-0894-z.

59. Schultz, Erica E.; Braffman, Nathaniel R.; Luescher, Michael U.; Hager, Harry H.; Balskus, Emily P. Biocatalytic Friedel–Crafts Alkylation Using a Promiscuous Biosynthetic Enzyme. Angewandte Chemie International Edition 2019, 58, 3151–3155. https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.201814016.

58. Peck, Spencer C.; Denger, Karin; Burrichter, Anna; Irwin, Stephania M.; Balskus, Emily P.; Schleheck, David. A Glycyl Radical Enzyme Enables Hydrogen Sulfide Production by the Human Intestinal Bacterium Bilophila wadsworthia. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 2019, 116, 3171–3176. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1815661116.

57. Martins, Teresa P.; Rouger, Caroline; Glasser, Nathaniel R.; Freitas, Sara; de Fraissinette, Nelly B.; Balskus, Emily P.; Tasdemir, Deniz; Leão, Pedro N. Chemistry, Bioactivity and Biosynthesis of Cyanobacterial Alkylresorcinols. Natural Product Reports 2019, 36, 1437–1461. https://doi.org/10.1039/C8NP00080H.

56. Orman, Marina; Bodea, Smaranda; Funk, Michael A.; Martínez-del Campo, Ana; Bollenbach, Maud; Drennan, Catherine L.; Balskus, Emily P. Structure-Guided Identification of a Small Molecule That Inhibits Anaerobic Choline Metabolism by Human Gut Bacteria. Journal of the American Chemical Society 2019, 141, 33–37. https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.8b04883.