Welcome to The Begley Group

Overview

Research in the Begley group is focused on the mechanistic chemistry and enzymology of complex organic transformations, particularly those found in vitamin biosynthetic and catabolic pathways. We are currently working on the biosynthesis and/or catabolism of several natural products, including: thiamin, pyridoxal phosphate, menaquinone, flavins, folate and, molybdopterin.

Our research involves a combination of molecular biology, protein biochemistry, organic synthesis, structural studies, and spectroscopic methods which provides a strong training for students interested in understanding the organic chemistry of living systems and in pursuing careers in biotechnology, drug design or academia.

Click here for more

Selected Publications

Book: The Organic Chemistry of Biological Pathways by John McMurry and Tadhg Begley.

Book: Wiley Encyclopedia of Chemical Biology, Volumes 1-4 (2009), Tadhg P. Begley (Editor).

Book: Cofactor Chemistry, Volume 7, Comprehensive Natural Products Chemistry, 2010, Tadhg P. Begley (Editor)

Review: Biochemistry. Origin of a key player in methane biosynthesis. Begley, Tadhg P. Nature 2017, 543(7643), 49-50.

Mehta, A. P.; Hanes, J. W.; Abdelwahed, S. H.; Hilmey, D. G.; Hanzelmann, P.; Begley, T. P. Catalysis of a New Ribose Carbon-Insertion Reaction by the Molybdenum Cofactor Biosynthetic Enzyme MoaA. Biochemistry 2013, 52, 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, 10883-10885.

Recent Publications

Bhandari, D, M.; Fedoseyenko, D.; Begley, T. P. Mechanistic Studies on Tryptophan Lyase (NosL): Identification of Cyanide as a Reaction Product. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2018, 140(2), 542-545.

Adak, S.; Begley, T. P. Flavin-N5-oxide: A new, catalytic motif in flavoenzymology. Arch. Biochem. Biophys. 2017, 632, 4-10.

Joshi, S.; Mahanta, N.; Fedoseyenko, D.; Williams, H.; Begley, T. P. Aminofutalosine Synthase: Evidence for Captodative and Aryl Radical Intermediates Using β-Scission and SRN1 Trapping Reactions. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2017, 139(32), 10952-10955.

Adak, S.; Begley, T. P. RutA-Catalyzed Oxidative Cleavage of the Uracil Amide Involves Formation of a Flavin-N5-oxide. Biochemistry 2017, 56(29), 3708-3709.