Alexander C. Anderson

This paper describes an enzymatic method to generate defined peptidoglycan oligosaccharides for studying bacterial cell wall recognition and enzyme activity.

The paper identifies rapidly evolving orphan immunity genes in human gut bacteria that protect against T6SS intoxication through high-affinity protein interactions and shows their evolutionary dynamics across microbiomes.

This study elucidates the mechanism of MBOAT-SGNH acyltransferases in Gram-negative bacteria, showing that a tyrosine-containing peptide shuttles acyl groups from MBOAT to SGNH active sites for peptidoglycan O-acetylation.