Publications by authors named "Muxue Du"

The largest natural reservoir of untapped carbon can be found in the cell-wall strengthening, plant woody-tissue polymer, lignin - a polymer of catechols or 1,2-dihydroxybenzene monomers. The catecholic carbon of lignin could be valorized into feedstocks and natural products by way of catabolic and biosynthetic transformations, including the oxygen-dependent cleavage reaction of extradiol dioxygenase (EDX) enzymes. The EDX l-DOPA 2,3-dioxygenase was first discovered as part of a biosynthetic gene cluster to the natural product antibiotic, lincomycin, and also contributes to the biosyntheses of anthramycin, sibiromycin, tomaymycin, porothramycin and hormaomycin.

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Despite their therapeutic benefits, antibiotics exert collateral damage on the microbiome and promote antimicrobial resistance. However, the mechanisms governing microbiome recovery from antibiotics are poorly understood. Treatment of , the world's most common infection, represents the longest antimicrobial exposure in humans.

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Dioxygenase enzymes are essential protein catalysts for the breakdown of catecholic rings, structural components of plant woody tissue. This powerful chemistry is used in nature to make antibiotics and other bioactive materials or degrade plant material, but we have a limited understanding of the breadth and depth of substrate space for these potent catalysts. Here we report steady-state and pre-steady-state kinetic analysis of dopamine derivatives substituted at the 6-position as substrates of L-DOPA dioxygenase, and an analysis of that activity as a function of the electron-withdrawing nature of the substituent.

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