Squire Booker

Evan Pugh Professor of Chemistry; Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Squire Booker

Research Summary

Elucidating the chemical mechanisms by which enzymes containing iron-sulfur clusters catalyze chemical reactions. Most ongoing projects deal with members of the Radical S-adenosylmethionine Superfamily, a diverse group of enzymes that employ radical chemistry to catalyze transformations involved in post-transcriptional and post-translational modifications, cofactor biosynthesis, secondary metabolite biosynthesis, and enzyme activation.

Huck Affiliations

Links

Publication Tags

Enzymes Proteins Sulfur S Adenosylmethionine Iron Molecular Cluster Cofactor Biosynthesis Catalysis Protein Methionine Electrons Cleavage Escherichia Coli Aldehydes Formic Acid Aldehyde Decarbonylase Modification Ferredoxins In Vitro Techniques Thioctic Acid Lipoic Acid Sulfur Atom Spectrum Analysis Nucleic Acids

Most Recent Publications

Characterization of LipS1 and LipS2 from Thermococcus kodakarensis: Proteins Annotated as Biotin Synthases, which Together Catalyze Formation of the Lipoyl Cofactor

Syam Sundar Neti, Debangsu Sil, Douglas M. Warui, Olga A. Esakova, Amy E. Solinski, Dante A. Serrano, Carsten Krebs, Squire J. Booker, 2022, ACS Bio and Med Chem Au on p. 509-520

In Vitro Demonstration of Human Lipoyl Synthase Catalytic Activity in the Presence of NFU1

Douglas M. Warui, Debangsu Sil, Kyung Hoon Lee, Syam Sundar Neti, Olga A. Esakova, Hayley L. Knox, Carsten Krebs, Squire J. Booker, 2022, ACS Bio and Med Chem Au on p. 456-468

Discovery, structure and mechanism of a tetraether lipid synthase

Cody T. Lloyd, David F. Iwig, Bo Wang, Matteo Cossu, William W. Metcalf, Amie K. Boal, Squire J. Booker, 2022, Nature on p. 197-203

[FeFe]-Hydrogenase: Defined Lysate-Free Maturation Reveals a Key Role for Lipoyl-H-Protein in DTMA Ligand Biosynthesis

Adrien Pagnier, Batuhan Balci, Eric M. Shepard, Hao Yang, Douglas M. Warui, Stella Impano, Squire J. Booker, Brian M. Hoffman, William E. Broderick, Joan B. Broderick, 2022, Angewandte Chemie - International Edition

The biosynthesis of lipoic acid

Squire Booker, 2022, FASEB Journal

Happy Birthday ACS Bio & Med Chem Au!

Squire J. Booker, 2022, ACS Bio and Med Chem Au on p. 1-3

Structure of a B<sub>12</sub>-dependent radical SAM enzyme in carbapenem biosynthesis

Hayley L. Knox, Erica K. Sinner, Craig A. Townsend, Amie K. Boal, Squire J. Booker, 2022, Nature on p. 343-348

Structural characterization of cobalamin-dependent radical S-adenosylmethionine methylases

Hayley L. Knox, Squire J. Booker, 2022, on p. 3-27

Using peptide substrate analogs to characterize a radical intermediate in NosN catalysis

Bo Wang, Alexey Silakov, Squire J. Booker, 2022, on p. 469-487

Functional spectrum and specificity of mitochondrial ferredoxins FDX1 and FDX2

Vinzent Schulz, Somsuvro Basu, Sven A. Freibert, Holger Webert, Linda Boss, Ulrich Mühlenhoff, Fabien Pierrel, Lars O. Essen, Douglas M. Warui, Squire J. Booker, Oliver Stehling, Roland Lill, 2022, Nature Chemical Biology

Most-Cited Papers

Radical S-Adenosylmethionine Enzymes in Human Health and Disease

Bradley Landgraf, Erin McCarthy, Squire Booker, 2016, Annual Review of Biochemistry on p. 485-514

Evidence for only oxygenative cleavage of aldehydes to alk(a/e)nes and formate by cyanobacterial aldehyde decarbonylases

Ning Li, Wei Chen Chang, Douglas Warui, Squire J. Booker, Carsten Krebs, Joseph M. Bollinger, Jr., 2012, Biochemistry on p. 7908-7916

X-ray structure of an AdoMet radical activase reveals an anaerobic solution for formylglycine posttranslational modification

Peter J. Goldman, Tyler L. Grove, Lauren A. Sites, Martin I. McLaughlin, Squire J. Booker, Catherine L. Drennan, 2013, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America on p. 8519-8524

RlmN and AtsB as models for the overproduction and characterization of radical SAM proteins

Nicholas D. Lanz, Tyler L. Grove, Camelia Baleanu Gogonea, Kyung Hoon Lee, Carsten Krebs, Squire J. Booker, 2012, Methods in enzymology on p. 125-152

Mössbauer spectroscopy of Fe/S proteins

Maria-Eirini Pandelia, Nicholas Lanz, Squire Booker, Carsten Krebs, 2015, Biochimica et Biophysica Acta - Molecular Cell Research on p. 1395-1405

Atlas of the Radical SAM Superfamily: Divergent Evolution of Function Using a “Plug and Play” Domain

Gemma L. Holliday, Eyal Akiva, Elaine C. Meng, Shoshana D. Brown, Sara Calhoun, Ursula Pieper, Andrej Sali, Squire J. Booker, Patricia C. Babbitt, 2018, on p. 1-71

Auxiliary iron-sulfur cofactors in radical SAM enzymes

Nicholas Lanz, Squire Booker, 2015, Biochimica et Biophysica Acta - Molecular Cell Research on p. 1316-1334

Destruction and reformation of an iron-sulfur cluster during catalysis by lipoyl synthase

Erin L. McCarthy, Squire J. Booker, 2017, Science on p. 373-377

A high-throughput screen for quorum-sensing inhibitors that target acyl-homoserine lactone synthases

Quin H. Christensen, Tyler L. Grove, Squire J. Booker, E. Peter Greenberg, 2013, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America on p. 13815-13820

Identification and function of auxiliary iron-sulfur clusters in radical SAM enzymes

Nicholas D. Lanz, Squire J. Booker, 2012, BBA - Protein Structure on p. 1196-1212

News Articles Featuring Squire Booker

Aug 22, 2022

Revealed missing step in lipid formation could enable detection of past climate

The missing step in the formation of a lipid molecule that allows certain single-celled organisms to survive the most extreme environments on Earth has now been deciphered.

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Aug 18, 2022

Booker honored by American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Squire J. Booker, Evan Pugh Professor of Chemistry and of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Penn State, holder of the Eberly Family Distinguished Chair in Science, and investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, has been awarded the ASBMB-Merck Award and the Ruth Kirschstein Diversity in Science Award from the American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB)

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Apr 18, 2022

Booker receives Hans Neurath Award from Protein Society

Squire J. Booker, Evan Pugh Professor of Chemistry and of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Penn State, Holder of the Eberly Family Distinguished Chair in Science, and investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, has been honored with the Hans Neurath Award from the Protein Society, the premier international society dedicated to supporting protein research.

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Apr 06, 2022

First round of funded projects announced from the Benkovic Research Initiative

Four projects have been announced as recipients of funding from the Patricia and Stephen Benkovic Research Initiative, which supports risky, highly innovative investigation at the interface of chemistry and the life sciences.

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Feb 02, 2022

The key to a powerful antibiotic’s formation now clear

A powerful class of antibiotics called carbapenems can circumvent antibiotic resistance thanks to a particular chain of atoms in their structure. Now, a team of researchers from Penn State and Johns Hopkins University have imaged an enzyme involved in the creation of this chain to better understand how it forms — and perhaps replicate the process to improve future antibiotics.

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Oct 22, 2021

How To Modify RNA: Crucial Steps for Adding Chemical Tag To Transfer RNA Discovered

The chemical steps in an important cellular modification process that adds a chemical tag to some RNAs have been revealed in a new study. Interfering with this process in humans can lead to neuronal diseases, diabetes, and cancers. A research team, led by chemists at Penn State, has imaged a protein that facilitates this RNA modification in bacteria, allowing the researchers to reconstruct the process.

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Sep 30, 2021

Enzymes show off new moves

A 2022 annual meeting session on enzymology

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Sep 15, 2021

Modifying RNA: Crucial steps for adding chemical tag to transfer RNA revealed

The chemical steps in an important cellular modification process that adds a chemical tag to some RNAs have been revealed in a new study. Interfering with this process in humans can lead to neuronal diseases, diabetes, and cancers.

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Apr 27, 2021

Squire Booker named inaugural fellow of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Squire J. Booker, Evan Pugh Professor of Chemistry and of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Penn State, holder of the Eberly Family Distinguished Chair in Science, and investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, has been named an inaugural fellow of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.

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Jan 18, 2021

Synthesis of potent antibiotic follows unusual chemical pathway

Images of a protein involved in creating a potent antibiotic reveal the unusual first steps of the antibiotic’s synthesis. The improved understanding of the chemistry behind this process, detailed in a new study led by Penn State chemists, could allow researchers to adapt this and similar compounds for use in human medicine.

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