From a binding module to essential catalytic activity: how nature stumbled on a good thing

C Lemay-St-Denis, JN Pelletier - Chemical Communications, 2023 - pubs.rsc.org
Enzymes are complex macromolecules capable of catalyzing a wide variety of chemical
reactions with high efficiency. Nonetheless, biological catalysis can be rudimentary. Here …

Crystal structure of the plasmid-encoded R67 dihydrofolate reductase complexed with Congo red an amyloid binding dye

AN Narendra, EE Howell, N Narayana - Scientific Reports, 2025 - nature.com
Plasmid-encoded bacterial R67 dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) catalyzes the same
reaction as the chromosomal counterpart but is highly resistant to the widely used antibiotic …

Discovery of highly trimethoprim-resistant DfrB dihydrofolate reductases in diverse environmental settings suggests an evolutionary advantage unrelated to antibiotic …

S Cellier-Goetghebeur, K Lafontaine… - Antibiotics, 2022 - mdpi.com
Type B dihydrofolate reductases (DfrB) are intrinsically highly resistant to the widely used
antibiotic trimethoprim, posing a threat to global public health. The ten known DfrB family …

[HTML][HTML] Photoaffinity probe-enabled discovery of sennoside A reductase in Bifidobacterium pseudocatenulatum

Y Xu, S Lv, X Li, C Zhai, Y Shi, X Li, Z Feng… - Journal of …, 2025 - Elsevier
Sennoside A (SA), a typical prodrug, exerts its laxative effect only after its transformation into
rheinanthrone catalyzed by gut microbial hydrolases and reductases. Hydrolases have been …

Bacteria of the order Burkholderiales are original environmental hosts of type II trimethoprim resistance genes (dfrB)

D Kneis, F Tskhay, M de la Cruz Barron… - The ISME …, 2024 - academic.oup.com
It is consensus that clinically relevant antibiotic resistance genes have their origin in
environmental bacteria, including the large pool of primarily benign species. Yet, for the vast …

Trimethoprim resistance in surface and wastewater is mediated by contrasting variants of the dfrB gene

D Kneis, C Lemay-St-Denis… - The ISME …, 2023 - academic.oup.com
Trimethoprim (TMP) is a low-cost, widely prescribed antibiotic. Its effectiveness is
increasingly challenged by the spread of genes coding for TMP-resistant dihydrofolate …

Reactivity and mechanism in chemical and synthetic biology

NGJ Richards, SL Bearne, Y Goto… - … Transactions of the …, 2023 - royalsocietypublishing.org
Physical organic chemistry and mechanistic thinking provide a strong intellectual framework
for understanding the chemical logic of evolvable informational macromolecules and …