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

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Enzymes Sulfur S Adenosylmethionine Proteins Carbon Biosynthesis Cofactor Methylation Iron Escherichia Coli Vitamin B 12 Protein Carbon Atom Molecular Cluster Genes Free Radicals Biochemistry Aldehydes Oxygenases Solubility Alkylation Carbapenems Catalysis Nitrogen Chemistry

Most Recent Publications

Seeing Is Believing: Advances in Biological Imaging

Xin Zhang, Squire J. Booker, 2024, ACS Bio and Med Chem Au on p. 1-3

FDX1 regulates cellular protein lipoylation through direct binding to LIAS

Margaret B. Dreishpoon, Nolan R. Bick, Boryana Petrova, Douglas M. Warui, Alison Cameron, Squire J. Booker, Naama Kanarek, Todd R. Golub, Peter Tsvetkov, 2023, Journal of Biological Chemistry

Enzymatic Fluoromethylation Enabled by the S-Adenosylmethionine Analog Te-Adenosyl- L-(fluoromethyl)homotellurocysteine

Syam Sundar Neti, Bo Wang, David F. Iwig, Elizabeth L. Onderko, Squire J. Booker, 2023, ACS Central Science on p. 905-914

Twenty Years of Radical SAM! the Genesis of the Superfamily

Squire J. Booker, Cody T. Lloyd, 2022, ACS Bio and Med Chem Au on p. 538-547

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

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

The biosynthesis of lipoic acid

Squire Booker, 2022, FASEB Journal

[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

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

Most-Cited Papers

Mechanistic diversity of radical S-adenosylmethionine (SAM)-dependent methylation

Matthew Bauerle, Erica Schwalm, Squire Booker, 2015, Journal of Biological Chemistry on p. 3995-4002

Radical S-Adenosylmethionine Enzymes in Human Health and Disease

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

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

Crystallographic snapshots of sulfur insertion by lipoyl synthase

Martin I. McLaughlin, Nicholas D. Lanz, Peter J. Goldman, Kyung Hoon Lee, Squire J. Booker, Catherine L. Drennan, 2016, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America on p. 9446-9450

Consecutive radical S-adenosylmethionine methylations form the ethyl side chain in thienamycin biosynthesis

Daniel R. Marous, Evan P. Lloyd, Andrew R. Buller, Kristos A. Moshos, Tyler L. Grove, Anthony J. Blaszczyk, Squire J. Booker, Craig A. Townsend, 2015, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America on p. 10354-10358

Rapid Reduction of the Diferric-Peroxyhemiacetal Intermediate in Aldehyde-Deformylating Oxygenase by a Cyanobacterial Ferredoxin: Evidence for a Free-Radical Mechanism

Lauren J. Rajakovich, H. Norgaard, Hanne Nørgaard, N. Li, D. Warui, Wei Chen Chang, Ning Li, S. Booker, C. Krebs, Squire J. Booker, J. Bollinger, Jr., Carsten Krebs, J. Martin Bollinger, M. Pandelia, Maria Eirini Pandelia, 2015, Journal of the American Chemical Society on p. 11695-11709

Enhanced Solubilization of Class B Radical S-Adenosylmethionine Methylases by Improved Cobalamin Uptake in Escherichia coli

Nicholas D. Lanz, Anthony J. Blaszczyk, Erin L. McCarthy, Bo Wang, Roy X. Wang, Brianne S. Jones, Squire J. Booker, 2018, Biochemistry on p. 1475-1490

News Articles Featuring Squire Booker

Jan 15, 2024

Honors for Booker, Girirajan, Llinás

3 Penn State researchers have received awards and new titles

Full Article

Dec 05, 2022

Why synonymous mutations are not always silent

New modeling shows how synonymous mutations — those that change the DNA sequence of a gene but not the sequence of the encoded protein — can still impact protein production and function.

Full Article

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.

Full Article

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.

Full Article

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.

Full Article