At Illinois:
Publications:
Cournoyer, J.E., De, B.C., Mehta, A.P.* Molecular Insights from Natural and Synthetic Endosymbiotic Systems (under review)
Bram, S., Lindsey, G.W., Drnevich, J., Xu, F., Wozniak, M.K., Medina, G.N., Mehta, A.P.* Parallel Single-B cell Transcriptomics to Elucidate Pig B-cell Repertoire (under review)
Gao, Y., Cournoyer, J.E., De, B.C., Wallace, C.L., Ulanov, A., La Frano, M., Mehta, A.P.* Introducing carbon assimilation in yeasts using photosynthetic, directed endosymbiosis (under review)
De, B.C., Cournoyer, J.E., Gao, Y., Wallace, C.L., Bram, S., Mehta, A.P.* Photosynthetic, directed endosymbiosis to investigate the role of bioenergetics in chloroplast function and evolution (under review)
Ornelas, M.Y., Thomas, A.Y., L. Idalee Johnson Rosas, Medina, G.N. , Mehta, A.P.* Characterization, Directed Evolution and Targeting of DNA Virus-Encoded RNA capping enzymes using Phenotypic Yeast Platforms ACS Chemical Biology (2023) 18, 8, 1808–1820 (https://doi.org/10.1021/acschembio.3c00243)
Ornelas, M.Y., Cournoyer, J.E., Bram, S., Mehta, A.P.* Evolution and Synthetic Biology Current Opinion in Microbiology Volume 76, December 2023, 102394 (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mib.2023.102394)
Ornelas, M.Y., Thomas, A.Y., L. Idalee Johnson Rosas, Scoville, R.O., Mehta A.P.* Synthetic Platforms for Characterization and Targeting of SARS-CoV-2 Genome-Capping Enzymes. ACS Synthetic Biology (2022) 11 (11), 3759-3771 (https://doi.org/10.1021/acssynbio.2c00359, open access PMC link)
Cournoyer, J.E.; Altman, S.D.; Gao, Y.; Wallace, C.L.; Zhang, D.; Lo, G.H.; Haskin, N.T.; Mehta, A.P.* Engineering artificial photosynthetic life-forms through endosymbiosis. Nature Communications 13, Article number: 2254 (2022) (https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-29961-7, open access PDF link )
- Recommended in Faculty Opinions as being of special significance in its field by Faculty Member Dr. Dario Leister
- Recommended in Faculty Opinions as being of special significance in its field by Faculty Member Dr. Xinguang Zhu
*Corresponding author
Patents:
U.S. Patent Application No.: 63/493,639 – SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY APPROACHES TO TARGET RNA-CAPPING ENZYMES FROM VIRUSES
Before Illinois:
Mehta, A.P.; Ko, Y.; Supekova, L.; Pestonjamasp, K.; Li, J.; Schultz, P.G., Towards a synthetic yeast endosymbiont with minimal genome. Journal of the American Chemical Society 2019, 141, 13799-13802
Mehta, A.P.; Supekova, L.; Chen, J.; Pestonjamasp, K.; Webster, P.; Ko, Y.; Henderson, S.C.; McDermott, G.; Supek, F.; Schultz, P.G., Engineering yeast endosymbionts as a first step towards the evolution of mitochondria. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 2018, 115(46), 11796-11801
Mehta, A.P.; Wang, Y.; Reed, S. A.; Supekova, L.; Javahishvili, T.; Chaput, J.C.; Schultz, P.G., Bacterial Genome Containing Chimeric DNA–RNA Sequences. Journal of the American Chemical Society 2018, 140 (36), 11464-11473.
Mehta, A.P.; Li, H.; Reed, S.A.; Supekova, L.; Javahishvili, T.; Schultz, P.G., Replacement of 2′-Deoxycytidine by 2′-Deoxycytidine Analogues in the E. coli Genome. Journal of the American Chemical Society 2016, 138 (43), 14230-14233.
Mehta, A.P.; Li, H.; Reed, S. A.; Supekova, L.; Javahishvili, T.; Schultz, P. G., Replacement of Thymidine by a Modified Base in the Escherichia coli Genome. Journal of the American Chemical Society 2016, 138 (23), 7272-7275.
Mehta, A.P.; Abdelwahed, S. H.; Fenwick, M. K.; Hazra, A. B.; Taga, M. E.; Zhang, Y.; Ealick, S. E.; Begley, T. P., Anaerobic 5-hydroxybenzimidazole formation from aminoimidazole ribotide: an unanticipated intersection of thiamin and vitamin B12 biosynthesis. Journal of the American Chemical Society 2015, 137 (33), 10444-10447.
Mehta, A.P.; Abdelwahed, S. H.; Begley, T. P., Molybdopterin biosynthesis—Mechanistic studies on a novel MoaA catalyzed insertion of a purine carbon into the ribose of GTP. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA)-Proteins and Proteomics 2015, 1854 (9), 1073-1077.
Mehta, A.P.; Abdelwahed, S. H.; Xu, H.; Begley, T. P., Molybdopterin Biosynthesis: Trapping of Intermediates for the MoaA-Catalyzed Reaction Using 2′-DeoxyGTP and 2′-ChloroGTP as Substrate Analogues. Journal of the American Chemical Society 2014, 136 (30), 10609-10614.
Mehta, A.P.; Abdelwahed, S.; Mahanta, N.; Fedoseyenko, D.; Philmus, B.; Cooper, L.; Liu, Y.; Jhulki, I.; Ealick, S. E.; Begley, T. P., Radical SAM Enzymes in Cofactor Biosynthesis: a treasure trove of complex organic radical rearrangement reactions. Journal of Biological Chemistry 2014, jbc. R114. 623793.
Mehta, A.P.; Hanes, J. W.; Abdelwahed, S. H.; Hilmey, D. G.; Hänzelmann, P.; Begley, T. P., Catalysis of a new ribose carbon-insertion reaction by the molybdenum cofactor biosynthetic enzyme MoaA. Biochemistry 2013, 52 (7), 1134-1136.
Mehta, A.P.; Abdelwahed, S. H.; Begley, T. P., Molybdopterin biosynthesis: trapping an unusual purine ribose adduct in the MoaA-catalyzed reaction. Journal of the American Chemical Society 2013, 135 (30), 10883-10885.
Fenwick, M. K.; Mehta, A.P.; Zhang, Y.; Abdelwahed, S. H.; Begley, T. P.; Ealick, S. E., Non-canonical active site architecture of the radical SAM thiamin pyrimidine synthase. Nature communications 2015, 6.
Zambaldo, C.; Luo, X.; Mehta, A.P.; Schultz, P. G., Recombinant Macrocyclic Lanthipeptides Incorporating Non-Canonical Amino Acids. Journal of the American Chemical Society 2017, 139 (34), 11646-11649.
Yao, A.; Reed, S. A.; Koh, M.; Yu, C.; Luo, X.; Mehta, A.P.; Schultz, P. G., Progress toward a reduced phage genetic code. Bioorganic & medicinal chemistry 2018.
Xu, H.; Chakrabarty, Y.; Philmus, B.; Mehta, A.P.; Bhandari, D.; Hohmann, H.-P.; Begley, T. P., Identification of the first riboflavin catabolic gene cluster isolated from Microbacterium maritypicum G10. Journal of Biological Chemistry 2016, 291 (45), 23506-23515.
Hazra, A.B.; Han, A.W.; Mehta, A.P.; Mok, K.C.; Osadchiy, V.; Begley, T.P.; Taga, M. E., Anaerobic biosynthesis of the lower ligand of vitamin B12. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 2015, 112 (34), 10792-10797.
Coquille, S.; Roux, C.; Mehta, A.; Begley, T. P.; Fitzpatrick, T. B.; Thore, S., High-resolution crystal structure of the eukaryotic HMP-P synthase (THIC) from Arabidopsis thaliana. Journal of structural biology 2013, 184 (3), 438-444.
Li, J.; Liu, T.; Wang, Y.; Mehta, A.P.; Schultz P.G., Enhancing Protein Stability with Genetically Encoded Noncanonical Amino Acids. Journal of the American Chemical Society 2018, 140(47), 15997-16000
Gagnon, D.M.; Stich T.A.; Mehta, A.P.; Abdelwahed S.H.; Begley T.P.; Britt, R.D., An aminoimidazole radical in the anaerobic biosynthesis of 5,6-dimethylbenzimidazole Ligand of Vitamin B12 Journal of the American Chemical Society 2018, 140(36), 12798-12807