Mohammad R. Seyedsayamdost

About

Mohammad R. Seyedsayamdost is a Professor of Chemistry at Princeton University. His research focuses on understanding bacterial intra- and interspecies interactions through the investigation of small molecules used by bacteria to detect, respond to, and communicate within their environment. His group aims to decipher the molecular principles governing these interactions by discovering new small molecules, elucidating their functions, biosynthetic pathways, and enzymatic mechanisms involved in their production. The research also explores the pathways and exotic enzymatic reaction mechanisms associated with these compounds, with an emphasis on identifying therapeutically useful small molecules. His work is driven by the recognition that bacterial communities are highly diverse and impactful on environmental and host systems, and that small molecules play a key role in microbial communication, collaboration, and competition.

Research topics

• Pharmacology
• Biology
• Cell biology
• Biochemistry
• Chemistry

Selected publications

• A Natural Product Chemist's Guide to Unlocking Silent Biosynthetic Gene Clusters

  Annual Review of Biochemistry · 2021-04-13 · 142 citations

  reviewOpen accessSenior author

  Microbial natural products have provided an important source of therapeutic leads and motivated research and innovation in diverse scientific disciplines. In recent years, it has become evident that bacteria harbor a large, hidden reservoir of potential natural products in the form of silent or cryptic biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs). These can be readily identified in microbial genome sequences but do not give rise to detectable levels of a natural product. Herein, we provide a useful organiz…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Biosynthesis of selenium-containing small molecules in diverse microorganisms

  Nature · 2022-09-07 · 128 citations

  articleSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Discovery and Biosynthesis of Streptosactin, a Sactipeptide with an Alternative Topology Encoded by Commensal Bacteria in the Human Microbiome

  Journal of the American Chemical Society · 2020-08-26 · 74 citations

  articleSenior authorCorresponding

  Mammalian microbiomes encode thousands of biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) and represent a new frontier in natural product research. We recently found an abundance of quorum sensing-regulated BGCs in mammalian microbiome streptococci that code for ribosomally synthesized and post-translationally modified peptides (RiPPs) and contain one or more radical S-adenosylmethionine (RaS) enzymes, a versatile superfamily known to catalyze some of the most unusual reactions in biology. In the current work…

  PublisherDOI

• A microbial metabolite synergizes with endogenous serotonin to trigger<i>C. elegans</i>reproductive behavior

  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · 2020 · 22 citations

  ortholog EGL-30. Furthermore, mutants lacking serotonergic neurons and mutants that cannot synthesize serotonin were profoundly resistant to gliotoxin. Exogenous serotonin restored their sensitivity to gliotoxin, indicating that this compound synergizes with endogenous serotonin to elicit behavior. These data show that a microbial metabolite with no structural similarity to known serotonergic agonists potentiates an endogenous serotonin signal to affect behavior. Based on this study, we suggest…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Peptide surfactants with post-translational C-methylations that promote bacterial development

  Nature Chemical Biology · 2025-04-22 · 8 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• Exploring a New Dimension of Microbial Secondary Metabolism

  NIH · $1.2M · 2021–2025

• CAREER: New Metalloenzyme-Catalyzed Transformations in Natural Product Biosynthesis

  NSF · $700k · 2019–2024

• Molecular Analysis of Metabolites and Signaling Networks in Microbial Symbioses

  NIH · $135k · 2011–2013

Frequent coauthors

• JoAnne Stubbe

  31 shared

• Leah B. Bushin

  University of California, San Diego

  23 shared

• Jon Clardy

  Harvard University

  23 shared

• Kyuho Moon

  Kyung Hee University

  19 shared

• Katherine Davis

  Emory University

  19 shared

• Josephine R. Chandler

  15 shared

• Brett C. Covington

  Princeton University

  14 shared

• Seoung Rak Lee

  Pusan National University

  13 shared

Labs

• Seyedsayamdost GroupPI

Awards & honors

• Dean For Research Award for Distinguished Innovation (2022)
• MacArthur Fellow (2020)
• Protein Science Young Investigator Award (2020)
• NSF CAREER Award (2019)
• ACS Pfizer Award in Enzyme Chemistry (2018)

Similar researchers at Princeton University

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• Christopher Changh-71
• Alice Kuninh-47