课题组综合生物信息学和合成生物学前沿技术，结合高通量载体构建及筛选策略，致力于大规模开发利用自然界中未知功能的多肽分子及相关生物合成元件，实现多肽结构和功能的创新，优化多肽分子合成途径，构建多肽细胞工厂，促进其在医药健康、农业食品、生物材料等方向的应用。

1. Hengqian Ren#, Chunshuai Huang#, Yuwei Pan, Shravan R. Dommaraju, Haiyang Cui, Maolin Li, Mayuresh G. Gadgil, Douglas A. Mitchell, Huimin Zhao*. Non-modular fatty acid synthases yield distinct N-terminal acylation in ribosomal peptides. Nature Chemistry 16 (2024): 1320-1329.

Ø  发现了RiPPs/脂肪酸生物合成互作新模式，提出了非天然RiPPs的生物合成新策略。

2. Hengqian Ren#, Shravan R. Dommaraju#, Chunshuai Huang, Haiyang Cui, Yuwei Pan, Marko Nesic, Lingyang Zhu, David Sarlah, Douglas A. Mitchell*, Huimin Zhao*. Genome mining unveils a class of ribosomal peptides with two amino termini. Nature Communications 14.1 (2023): 1624.

Ø  发现了带有双N端结构特征的RiPPs新类型，解析了其独特的生物合成机制。

3. Hengqian Ren, Chengyou Shi, Ian R. Bothwell, Wilfred A. van der Donk*, Huimin Zhao*. Discovery and characterization of a class IV lanthipeptide with a non-overlapping ring pattern.  ACS Chemical Biology 15.6 (2020): 1642-1649.

Ø  发现了具有新颖大环拓扑结构的IV型羊毛硫肽及其生物合成过程中特殊的并行环化机制。

4.  Hengqian Ren, Subhanip Biswas, Sherri Ho, Wilfred A. van der Donk*, Huimin Zhao*. Rapid discovery of glycocins through pathway refactoring in Escherichia coli. ACS Chemical Biology 13.10 (2018): 2966-2972.

Ø  发现了四种具有新颖结构和抑菌活性的糖基化细菌肽。

5.   Hengqian Ren, Pingfan Hu, Huimin Zhao*. A plug-and-play pathway refactoring workflow for natural product research in Escherichia coli and Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Biotechnology and Bioengineering 114.8 (2017): 1847-1854.

Ø  开发了可适用于自动化系统的高效模块化途径重构技术。

1. Hengqian Ren*. "Genome mining of RiPPs driven by highly efficient pathway reconstruction methods." Methods in Enzymology (2025) doi: 10.1016/bs.mie.2025.01.059.

2. Hengqian Ren#, Chunshuai Huang#, Yuwei Pan, Shravan R. Dommaraju, Haiyang Cui, Maolin Li, Mayuresh G. Gadgil, Douglas A. Mitchell and Huimin Zhao*. "Non-modular fatty acid synthases yield distinct N-terminal acylation in ribosomal peptides." Nature Chemistry 16 (2024): 1320-1329.

3. Hengqian Ren#, Shravan R. Dommaraju#, Chunshuai Huang, Haiyang Cui, Yuwei Pan, Marko Nesic, Lingyang Zhu, David Sarlah, Douglas A. Mitchell* and Huimin Zhao*. "Genome mining unveils a class of ribosomal peptides with two amino termini." Nature Communications 14.1 (2023): 1624.

4. Chunshuai Huang, Haiyang Cui, Hengqian Ren and Huimin Zhao*. "Genetic and computational insights into the bipentaromycin biosynthesis." JACS Au 3.1 (2023): 195-203.

5.  Richard S. Ayikpoe#, Chengyou Shi#, Alexander J. Battiste#, Sara M. Eslami, Sangeetha Ramesh, Max A. Simon, Ian R. Bothwell, Hyunji Lee, Andrew J. Rice, Hengqian Ren, Qiqi Tian, Lonnie A. Harris, Raymond Sarksian, Autumn M. Frerk, Timothy W. Precord, Wilfred A. van der Donk*, Douglas A. Mitchell* and Huimin Zhao*. "A scalable platform to discover antimicrobials of ribosomal origin." Nature Communications 13.1 (2022): 6135.

6.  Hengqian Ren, Chengyou Shi, Ian R. Bothwell, Wilfred A. van der Donk* and Huimin Zhao*. "Discovery and characterization of a class IV lanthipeptide with a non-overlapping ring pattern." ACS Chemical Biology 15.6 (2020): 1642-1649.

7.  Hengqian Ren, Chengyou Shi and Huimin Zhao*. "Computational tools for discovering and engineering natural product biosynthetic pathways." iScience 23.1 (2020): 100795.

8.  Bin Wang#, Hengqian Ren#, Qiqi Tian and Huimin Zhao*. "Activation of silent biosynthetic gene clusters for discovery of novel natural products using synthetic biology tools." Comprehensive Natural Products III (2020): 113-135.

9.  Hengqian Ren, Subhanip Biswas, Sherri Ho, Wilfred A. van der Donk* and Huimin Zhao*. "Rapid discovery of glycocins through pathway refactoring in Escherichia coli." ACS Chemical Biology 13.10 (2018): 2966-2972.

10. Yajie Wang#, Hengqian Ren# and Huimin Zhao*. "Expanding the boundary of biocatalysis: Design and optimization of in vitro tandem catalytic reactions for biochemical production." Critical Reviews in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology 53.2 (2018): 115-129.

11. Hengqian Ren, Pingfan Hu and Huimin Zhao*. "A plug‐and‐play pathway refactoring workflow for natural product research in Escherichia coli and Saccharomyces cerevisiae." Biotechnology and Bioengineering 114.8 (2017): 1847-1854.

12. Hengqian Ren#, Bin Wang# and Huimin Zhao*. "Breaking the silence: New strategies for discovering novel natural products." Current Opinion in Biotechnology 48 (2017): 21-27.

13. Hengqian Ren and Huimin Zhao*. "SynV and SynX: A story more than DNA synthesis." Science China Life Sciences 60.5 (2017): 558-560.

14. Carl A. Denard, Hengqian Ren and Huimin Zhao*. "Improving and repurposing biocatalysts via directed evolution." Current Opinion in Chemical Biology 25 (2015): 55-64.

#为共同第一作者；*为通讯作者

任恒千 博士 教授

办公地点：大连理工大学生物工程学院613室

E-mail: renhq@dlut.edu.cn