University of Groningen Nonribosomal peptide synthetases Zwahlen, Reto Daniel

University of Groningen

Nonribosomal peptide synthetases

Zwahlen, Reto Daniel

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Publication date: 2018

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Zwahlen, R. D. (2018). Nonribosomal peptide synthetases: Engineering, characterization and biotechnological potential. University of Groningen.

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Propositions

associated with the PhD thesis

Nonribosomal peptide synthetases:

Engineering, Characterization and biotechnological potential

by Reto D. Zwahlen

1. Nonribosomal peptide synthetases (NRPS) are key to the discovery

and engineering of bioactive compounds (this thesis)

2. The in silico identification and specificity determination of dedicated Adenylation domains has become a reliable and straight forward process. (Chapter II)

3. Heterologous NRPS expression is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you will get. (Chapters II-IV)

4. Despite a high fidelity in substrate selection as well as metabolic intermediate proofreading the intrinsic NRPS promiscuity allows for the production of significant levels of novel products. (Chapter IV)

5. Putative compounds of interest may emerge from understanding

and exploiting the promiscuity of a NRPS. (Chapter IV)

6. The knowledge of inter-domain and inter-modular dynamics

and interfaces are essential to a successful directed engineering approaches. (Chapter IV and V)

7. There are two kinds of people in the Netherlands, the ones which are able to tolerate the climatic conditions and the ones which slowly erode. (Personal observations)

8. Cycling is not a mere activity, but rather a state of mind. (The Dutch)

9. Tailoring enzymes, external domains and other NRPS accompanying

factors can further advance to become crucial tools for the engineering and the discovery of NRPs. (Chapters V and VI)

10. Scientific advancement and rationalization is all too often inhibited by political distraction and instrumentalization, respectively. 11. The term “ambitious” in the context of a scientific study may rather be

interpreted on a spectra from “improbable” to “virtually impossible”.

12. There are two types of societies, food appreciative ones and

the Dutch.

13. A project consists of putting smaller bits together according to a plan, into a whole. A PhD project however resembles the construction of a rollercoaster without a manual, while riding it.