Conor McClune
@cmcclune.bsky.social
Plants, specialized metabolism, synthetic biology, protein evolution, and everything in between.
Postdoc at Sattley & Fordyce Labs, Stanford
Previously SynBio @ Voigt & Laub Labs, MIT
Postdoc at Sattley & Fordyce Labs, Stanford
Previously SynBio @ Voigt & Laub Labs, MIT
Perhaps in a couple years Claude* will pity the slow, handicapped way we now study metabolites’ in planta roles
August 8, 2025 at 4:06 PM
Perhaps in a couple years Claude* will pity the slow, handicapped way we now study metabolites’ in planta roles
Point taken. It’s empowering that we now have easy transient expression, cheap NGS, cheap synthesis, huge databases, computers, electricity, etc now.
Perhaps in a couple years scientists will pity the slow, handicapped way we now study metabolites’ in planta roles
Perhaps in a couple years scientists will pity the slow, handicapped way we now study metabolites’ in planta roles
August 8, 2025 at 4:03 PM
Point taken. It’s empowering that we now have easy transient expression, cheap NGS, cheap synthesis, huge databases, computers, electricity, etc now.
Perhaps in a couple years scientists will pity the slow, handicapped way we now study metabolites’ in planta roles
Perhaps in a couple years scientists will pity the slow, handicapped way we now study metabolites’ in planta roles
Agree with @chenxinli2.bsky.social - cloning and testing in bentamiana is fast, but gene discovery is still slow and challenging when our initial hypotheses are incorrect (often). guessing we're also running into silent obstacles like localization, scaffolding, cofactors, etc
August 8, 2025 at 1:39 AM
Agree with @chenxinli2.bsky.social - cloning and testing in bentamiana is fast, but gene discovery is still slow and challenging when our initial hypotheses are incorrect (often). guessing we're also running into silent obstacles like localization, scaffolding, cofactors, etc
ah, thanks for the fix!
July 11, 2025 at 11:01 PM
ah, thanks for the fix!
Also crazy that the long-term-storage genome can be ~20x larger
And it’s chopped up into the just the useful pieces to form the get-shit-done genome (doi.org/10.1371/jour...)
Almost like ciliates have encrypted their genome 🤯
And it’s chopped up into the just the useful pieces to form the get-shit-done genome (doi.org/10.1371/jour...)
Almost like ciliates have encrypted their genome 🤯
July 11, 2025 at 7:23 PM
Also crazy that the long-term-storage genome can be ~20x larger
And it’s chopped up into the just the useful pieces to form the get-shit-done genome (doi.org/10.1371/jour...)
Almost like ciliates have encrypted their genome 🤯
And it’s chopped up into the just the useful pieces to form the get-shit-done genome (doi.org/10.1371/jour...)
Almost like ciliates have encrypted their genome 🤯
There are many total syntheses, but since Taxol is large and has a 11 chiral centers it's hard to compete with enzymes for yield/affordability…
And we were missing about half of the 22 enzymes in the pathway until this year
And we were missing about half of the 22 enzymes in the pathway until this year
July 11, 2025 at 6:30 PM
There are many total syntheses, but since Taxol is large and has a 11 chiral centers it's hard to compete with enzymes for yield/affordability…
And we were missing about half of the 22 enzymes in the pathway until this year
And we were missing about half of the 22 enzymes in the pathway until this year