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Updated: Dec 28, 2025

Sequence-specific Labeling of Nucleic Acids and Proteins with Methyltransferases and Cofactor Analogues
Published on: November 22, 2014
Adenosylation reactions catalyzed by the radical S-adenosylmethionine superfamily enzymes
Wei Ding1, Xinjian Ji2, Yuting Zhong2
1State Key Laboratory of Microbial Metabolism, School of Life Sciences & Biotechnology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200030, China.
Abstract:
The radical S-adenosylmethionine (SAM) superfamily enzymes reductively cleave SAM to produce a highly reactive 5'-deoxyadenosyl (dAdo) radical, which in most cases abstracts a hydrogen from the substrate and initiates highly diverse reactions. In rare cases, the dAdo radical can add to a sp2 carbon to result in the production an adenosylated product. These radical SAM-dependent adenosylation reactions are present in natural product biosynthetic pathways and can be achieved by using unnatural substrate analogs containing olefin or aryl moieties. This Opinion provides a focused perspective on this emerging type of biochemistry and discusses its potential use in bioengineering and biocatalysis.
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