Professor Jesko Koehnke

Honorary Senior Research Fellow (School of Chemistry)

Research interests

Research Interests

Microbial natural products are an invaluable source of novel bioactive molecules. The Koehnke group focusses on elucidating biosynthetic steps from selected natural product pathways through a combination of biochemistry, biophysics, and structural biology. We then apply these data to generate (semisynthetic) natural product derivatives with improved properties or to derivatize (semi)synthetic molecules for drug discovery.

In addition, we collaborate with diverse groups, mainly as structural biologists, to understand biological problems, such as antibiotic resistance development or the infection process and to aid in drug design and optimization.

Research Topics

Natural product biosynthesis and derivatization

Enzymatic reaction mechanisms

Host-pathogen interactions

Natural product discovery

Publication Highlights

Sikandar A, Franz L, Melse O, Antes I, Köhnke J (2019): Thiazoline-Specific Amidohydrolase PurAH Is the Gatekeeper of Bottromycin Biosynthesis. J Am Chem Soc. doi 10.1021/jacs.8b12231
Sikandar A, Cirnski K, Testolin G, Volz C, Brönstrup M, Kalinina OV, Müller R, Köhnke J (2018): Adaptation of a Bacterial Multidrug Resistance System Revealed by the Structure and Function of AlbA. J Am Chem Soc. 140(48), pp. 16641-49.
Franz L, Adam S, Santos-Aberturas J, Truman AW, Köhnke J (2017): Macroamidine formation in bottromycins is catalyzed by a divergent YcaO enzyme. J Am Chem Soc. 139(50), pp. 18158-61.
Fu C, Sikandar A, Donner J, Zaburannyi N, Herrmann J, Reck M, Wagner-Döbler I⁺, Köhnke J⁺, Müller R⁺ (2017): The natural product carolacton inhibits folate-dependent C1 metabolism by targeting FolD/MTHFD. Nat Comm, 8(1): 1529
Köhnke J, Mann G, Bent AF, Ludewig H, Shirran S, Botting C, Lebl T, Houssen WE, Jaspars M, Naismith JH (2015): Structural analysis of leader-peptide binding enables leader-free cyanobactin processing. Nat Chem Biol., 11(8), pp. 558-63.

Research groups

Chemical Biology & Precision Synthesis

Publications

List by: Type | Date

Jump to: 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2010 | 2008 | 2007 | 2004

Number of items: 37.

2023

Sikandar, A. et al. (2023) Revision of the absolute configurations of chelocardin and amidochelocardin. Angewandte Chemie International Edition, e202306437. (doi: 10.1002/anie.202306437) (PMID:37466921) (Early Online Publication)

Adam, S., Zheng, D., Klein, A., Volz, C., Mullen, W. , Shirran, S. L., Smith, B. O. , Kalinina, O. V., Müller, R. and Koehnke, J. (2023) Unusual peptide-binding proteins guide pyrroloindoline alkaloid formation in crocagin biosynthesis. Nature Chemistry, 15(4), pp. 560-568. (doi: 10.1038/s41557-023-01153-w) (PMID:36894702) (PMCID:PMC10070186)

Koehnke, J. (2023) Caught in the act. Nature Chemical Biology, 19(1), pp. 7-8. (doi: 10.1038/s41589-022-01180-7) (PMID:36280793)

2022

She, S., Bell, N. L. , Zheng, D., Mathieson, J. S., Castro, M. D., Long, D.-L. , Koehnke, J. and Cronin, L. (2022) Robotic synthesis of peptides containing metal-oxide-based amino acids. Chem, 8(10), pp. 2734-2748. (doi: 10.1016/j.chempr.2022.07.007)

Sikandar, A., Lopatniuk, M., Luzhetskyy, A., Müller, R. and Koehnke, J. (2022) Total in vitro biosynthesis of the thioamitide thioholgamide and investigation of the pathway. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 144(11), pp. 5136-5144. (doi: 10.1021/jacs.2c00402) (PMID:35263083)

2021

Franz, L., Kazmaier, U., Truman, A. W. and Koehnke, J. (2021) Bottromycins - biosynthesis, synthesis and activity. Natural Product Reports, 38(9), pp. 1659-1683. (doi: 10.1039/D0NP00097C) (PMID:33621290)

Axer, A., Jumde, R. P., Adam, S., Faust, A., Schäfers, M., Fobker, M., Koehnke, J. , Hirsch, A. K. H. and Gilmour, R. (2021) Enhancing glycan stability via site-selective fluorination: modulating substrate orientation by molecular design. Chemical Science, 12, pp. 1286-1294. (doi: 10.1039/D0SC04297H)

Montalbán-López, M. et al. (2021) New developments in RiPP discovery, enzymology and engineering. Natural Product Reports, 38(1), pp. 130-239. (doi: 10.1039/D0NP00027B) (PMID:32935693)

Franz, L. and Koehnke, J. (2021) Leader peptide exchange to produce hybrid, new-to-nature ribosomal natural products. Chemical Communications, 57, pp. 6372-6375. (doi: 10.1039/D0CC06889F) (PMID:34075907)

2020

Adam, S., Franz, L., Milhim, M., Bernhardt, R., Kalinina, O. V. and Koehnke, J. (2020) Characterization of the stereoselective P450 enzyme BotCYP enables the in vitro biosynthesis of the Bottromycin Core Scaffold. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 142(49), pp. 20560-20565. (doi: 10.1021/jacs.0c10361)

Sikandar, A., Lopatniuk, M., Luzhetskyy, A. and Koehnke, J. (2020) Non-heme monooxygenase ThoJ catalyzes thioholgamide β-hydroxylation. ACS Chemical Biology, 15(10), pp. 2815-2819. (doi: 10.1021/acschembio.0c00637) (PMID:32965102)

Sikandar, A., Franz, L., Adam, S., Santos-Aberturas, J., Horbal, L., Luzhetskyy, A., Truman, A. W., Kalinina, O. V. and Koehnke, J. (2020) The bottromycin epimerase BotH defines a group of atypical α/β-hydrolase-fold enzymes. Nature Chemical Biology, 16(9), pp. 1013-1018. (doi: 10.1038/s41589-020-0569-y) (PMID:32601484)

Keller, L. et al. (2020) Tutuilamides A–C: vinyl-chloride-containing cyclodepsipeptides from marine cyanobacteria with potent elastase inhibitory properties. ACS Chemical Biology, 15(3), pp. 751-757. (doi: 10.1021/acschembio.9b00992) (PMID:31935054)

2019

Sikandar, A., Franz, L., Melse, O., Antes, I. and Koehnke, J. (2019) Thiazoline-specific amidohydrolase PurAH is the gatekeeper of bottromycin biosynthesis. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 141(25), pp. 9748-9752. (doi: 10.1021/jacs.8b12231) (PMID:31192589)

Sikandar, A. and Koehnke, J. (2019) The role of protein–protein interactions in the biosynthesis of ribosomally synthesized and post-translationally modified peptides. Natural Product Reports, 36, pp. 1576-1588. (doi: 10.1039/C8NP00064F) (PMID:30920567)

2018

Sikandar, A., Cirnski, K., Testolin, G., Volz, C., Brönstrup, M., Kalinina, O. V., Müller, R. and Koehnke, J. (2018) Adaptation of a bacterial multidrug resistance system revealed by the structure and function of AlbA. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 140(48), pp. 16641-16649. (doi: 10.1021/jacs.8b08895) (PMID:30422653)

Kany, A. M., Sikandar, A., Yahiaoui, S., Haupenthal, J., Walter, I., Empting, M., Köhnke, J. and Hartmann, R. W. (2018) Tackling pseudomonas aeruginosa virulence by a hydroxamic acid-absed LasB inhibitor. ACS Chemical Biology, 13(9), pp. 2449-2455. (doi: 10.1021/acschembio.8b00257) (PMID:30088919)

2017

Franz, L., Adam, S., Santos-Aberturas, J., Truman, A. W. and Koehnke, J. (2017) Macroamidine formation in bottromycins is catalyzed by a divergent YcaO enzyme. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 139(50), pp. 18158-18161. (doi: 10.1021/jacs.7b09898) (PMID:29206037)

Kjaerulff, L., Sikandar, A., Zaburannyi, N., Adam, S., Herrmann, J., Koehnke, J. and Müller, R. (2017) Thioholgamides: thioamide-containing cytotoxic RiPP natural products. ACS Chemical Biology, 12(11), pp. 2837-2841. (doi: 10.1021/acschembio.7b00676) (PMID:28981254)

Fu, C., Sikandar, A., Donner, J., Zaburannyi, N., Herrmann, J., Reck, M., Wagner-Döbler, I., Koehnke, J. and Müller, R. (2017) The natural product carolacton inhibits folate-dependent C1 metabolism by targeting FolD/MTHFD. Nature Communications, 8, 1529. (doi: 10.1038/s41467-017-01671-5) (PMID:29142318) (PMCID:PMC5688156)

Viehrig, K., Surup, F., Volz, C., Herrmann, J., Abou Fayad, A., Adam, S., Köhnke, J. , Trauner, D. and Müller, R. (2017) Structure and biosynthesis of crocagins: polycyclic posttranslationally modified ribosomal peptides from chondromyces crocatus. Angewandte Chemie (International Edition), 56(26), pp. 7407-7410. (doi: 10.1002/anie.201612640) (PMID:28544148)

Koehnke, J. , Naismith, J. and van der Donk, W. A. (Eds.) (2017) Cyclic Peptides: From Bioorganic Synthesis to Applications. Royal Society of Chemistry: Cambridge. ISBN 9781782625285

2015

Koehnke, J. , Mann, G., Bent, A. F., Ludewig, H., Shirran, S., Botting, C., Lebl, T., Houssen, W. E., Jaspars, M. and Naismith, J. H. (2015) Structural analysis of leader peptide binding enables leader-free cyanobactin processing. Nature Chemical Biology, 11(8), pp. 558-563. (doi: 10.1038/nchembio.1841) (PMID:26098679) (PMCID:PMC4512242)

2014

Houssen, W. E. et al. (2014) An efficient method for the in vitro production of azol(in)e-based cyclic peptides. Angewandte Chemie (International Edition), 53(51), pp. 14171-14174. (doi: 10.1002/anie.201408082) (PMID:25331823) (PMCID:PMC4282754)

Koehnke, J. , Bent, A. F., Houssen, W. E., Mann, G., Jaspars, M. and Naismith, J. H. (2014) The structural biology of patellamide biosynthesis. Current Opinion in Structural Biology, 29, pp. 112-121. (doi: 10.1016/j.sbi.2014.10.006) (PMID:25460274) (PMCID:PMC4268494)

Mann, G., Koehnke, J. , Bent, A. F., Graham, R., Houssen, W., Jaspars, M., Schwarz-Linek, U. and Naismith, J. H. (2014) The structure of the cyanobactin domain of unknown function from PatG in the patellamide gene cluster. Acta Crystallographica. Section F: Structural Biology Communications, 70, pp. 1597-1603. (doi: 10.1107/s2053230x1402425x) (PMID:25484206) (PMCID:PMC4259220)

2013

Koehnke, J. et al. (2013) The cyanobactin heterocyclase enzyme: a processive adenylase that operates with a defined order of reaction. Angewandte Chemie (International Edition), 52(52), pp. 13991-13996. (doi: 10.1002/anie.201306302) (PMID:24214017) (PMCID:PMC3995012)

Koehnke, J. et al. (2013) An enzymatic route to selenazolines. ChemBioChem, 14(5), pp. 564-567. (doi: 10.1002/cbic.201300037) (PMID:23483642) (PMCID:PMC3625746)

Bent, A. F., Koehnke, J. , Houssen, W. E., Smith, M. C.M., Jaspars, M. and Naismith, J. H. (2013) Structure of PatF from Prochloron didemni. Acta Crystallographica. Section F: Structural Biology and Crystallization Communications, 69, pp. 618-623. (doi: 10.1107/S1744309113012931) (PMID:23722837) (PMCID:PMC3668578)

2012

Houssen, W. E., Koehnke, J. , Zollman, D., Vendome, J., Raab, A., Smith, M. C. M., Naismith, J. H. and Jaspars, M. (2012) The discovery of new cyanobactins from Cyanothece PCC 7425 defines a new signature for processing of patellamides. ChemBioChem, 13(18), pp. 2683-2689. (doi: 10.1002/cbic.201200661) (PMID:23169461)

Koehnke, J. et al. (2012) The mechanism of patellamide macrocyclization revealed by the characterization of the PatG macrocyclase domain. Nature Structural and Molecular Biology, 19(8), pp. 767-772. (doi: 10.1038/nsmb.2340) (PMID:22796963) (PMCID:PMC3462482)

2010

Koehnke, J. , Katsamba, P. S., Ahlsen, G., Bahna, F., Vendome, J., Honig, B., Shapiro, L. and Jin, X. (2010) Splice form dependence of β-neurexin/neuroligin binding interactions. Neuron, 67(1), pp. 61-74. (doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2010.06.001) (PMID:20624592) (PMCID:PMC2910870)

2008

Koehnke, J. , Jin, X., Trbovic, N., Katsamba, P. S., Brasch, J., Ahlsen, G., Scheiffele, P., Honig, B., Palmer, A. G. and Shapiro, L. (2008) Crystal structures of β-neurexin 1 and β-neurexin 2 ectodomains and dynamics of splice insertion sequence 4. Structure, 16(3), pp. 410-421. (doi: 10.1016/j.str.2007.12.024) (PMID:18334216) (PMCID:PMC2750865)

Bowne, W. B. et al. (2008) The penetratin sequence in the anticancer PNC-28 peptide causes tumor cell necrosis rather than apoptosis of human pancreatic cancer cells. Annals of Surgical Oncology, 15(12), pp. 3588-3600. (doi: 10.1245/s10434-008-0147-0) (PMID:18931881)

Koehnke, J. , Jin, X., Budreck, E. C., Posy, S., Scheiffele, P., Honig, B. and Shapiro, L. (2008) Crystal structure of the extracellular cholinesterase-like domain from neuroligin-2. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 105(6), pp. 1873-1878. (doi: 10.1073/pnas.0711701105) (PMID:18250328) (PMCID:PMC2538853)

2007

Jakobs, A., Koehnke, J. , Himstedt, F., Funk, M., Korn, B., Gaestel, M. and Niedenthal, R. (2007) Ubc9 fusion–directed SUMOylation (UFDS): a method to analyze function of protein SUMOylation. Nature Methods, 4(3), pp. 245-250. (doi: 10.1038/nmeth1006) (PMID:17277783)

2004

Hellenbroich, Y., Schulz-Schaeffer, W., Nitschke, M.F., Kohnke, J. , Handler, G., Burk, K., Schwinger, E. and Zuhlke, C. (2004) Coincidence of a large SCA12 repeat allele with a case of Creutzfeld-Jacob disease. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry, 75(6), pp. 937-938. (doi: 10.1136/jnnp.2003.028381) (PMID:15146023) (PMCID:PMC1739067)

This list was generated on Fri Sep 29 15:08:40 2023 BST.

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