Peer-Reviewed Publications
†Denotes equal author contribution | *Denotes corresponding author
27. Bacterial display of genetically encoded macrocyclic peptide libraries using cysteine-reactive unnatural amino acids
O. Dawodu and J.M. Tharp*
ChemRxiv 2025.
Article Link
26. Copper-catalyzed azide–alkyne cycloaddition on live M13 bacteriophage for expanding the molecular diversity of phage-displayed peptide libraries
O. Dawodu, C.A. White, C. Specht, A. Tapia, J.M. Tharp*
RSC Chem. Biol. 2025. In press.
Article Link
25. An engineered glutamic acid tRNA for efficient suppression of pathogenic nonsense mutations
C. Specht†, A. Tapia†, S. Penrod, G. Soriano, A. Awawdeh, S.A. Alshawi, C.A. White, J.-D. Beaudoin, E. Doud, O. Vargas-Rodriguez, Y. Huang, J.M. Tharp*
Nucleic Acids Res. 2025, 53, gkaf532.
Article Link
24. Efficient suppression of premature termination codons with alanine by engineered chimeric pyrrolysine tRNAs
A. Awawdeh, A. Tapia, O. Dawodu, S.A. Gaier, C. Specth, S.A. Alshawi, J.-D. Beaudoin, J.M. Tharp†*, O. Vargas-Rodriguez†*
Nucleic Acids Res. 2024, 52, 14244–14259.
Article Link
23. tRNA shape is an identity element for an archaeal pyrrolysyl-tRNA synthetase from the human gut
N. Krahn†, J. Zhang†, S.V. Melnikov, J.M. Tharp, A. Villa, A. Patel, R. J. Howard, H. Gabir, T.R. Patel, J. Stetefeld, J. Puglisi, D. Söll*
Nucleic Acids Res. 2024, 52, 512–524.
***Breakthrough Article***
Article Link
22. Reprogramming initiator and nonsense codons to simultaneously install three distinct noncanonical amino acids into proteins in E. coli
H.-K. Jiang and J.M. Tharp*
Methods Mol. Biol. 2023, 2676, 101–116.
Article Link
21. Split aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases for proximity-induced stop codon suppression
H.-K. Jiang, N.L. Ambrose, C.Z. Chung, Y.-S. Wang, D. Söll*, and J.M. Tharp*
Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 2023, 120, e2219758120.
Article Link
20. Ancestral archaea expanded the genetic code with pyrrolysine
L.-T. Guo†, K. Amikura†, H.-K. Jiang†, T. Mukai, X. Fu, Y.-S. Wang, D. Söll, and J.M. Tharp*
J. Biol. Chem. 2022, 298, 102521.
***Selected as Editor’s Pick***
Article Link
19. Novel regioselective approach to cyclize phage-displayed peptides in combination with epitope-directed selection to identify potent neutralizing macrocyclic peptide for SARS-CoV-2
J.T. Hampton†, T.J. Lalonde†, J.M. Tharp†, Y. Kurra, Y.R. Alugubelli, C.M. Roudy, G.L. Hamer, S. Xu, and W.R. Liu
ACS Chem. Biol. 2022, 17, 2911.
Article Link
18. Directed evolution of Methanomethylophilus alvus pyrrolysyl-tRNA synthetase generates a hyperactive and highly selective variant
J.T. Fisher, D. Söll, and J.M. Tharp
Front. Mol. Biosci. 2022, 9, 850613.
Article Link
17. Initiating protein synthesis with noncanonical amino acids in vitro and in vivo
J.M. Tharp†, J.A. Walker†, D. Söll, and A. Schepartz
Method. Enzymol. 2021, 656, 495–519.
Article Link
16. Genetic encoding of three distinct noncanonical amino acids using reprogrammed initiator and nonsense codons
J.M. Tharp, O. Vargas-Rodriguez, A. Schepartz, and D. Söll
ACS Chem. Biol. 2021, 16, 766–774.
Article Link
15. An amber obligate active site-directed ligand evolution technique for phage display
J.M. Tharp†, J.T. Hampton†, C.A. Reed†, A. Ehnbom, P.-H.C. Chen, J.S. Morse, Y. Kurra, L.M. Pérez, S. Xu, and W.R. Liu
Nat. Commun. 2020, 11, 1392.
Article Link
14. Hijacking translation initiation for synthetic biology
J.M. Tharp†, N. Krahn†, U. Varshney, and D. Söll
ChemBioChem 2020, 21, 1287–1396.
***Selected as Very Important Paper***
Article Link
13. Initiation of protein synthesis with non-canonical amino acids in vivo
J.M. Tharp, O. Ad, K. Amikura, F.R. Ward, E. Garcia, J.H.D. Cate, A. Schepartz, and D. Söll
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed 2020, 59, 3122–3126.
Article Link
12. Engineering aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases for use in synthetic biology
N. Krahn†, J.M. Tharp†, A. Crnković†, and D. Söll
The Enzymes 2020, 48, 351–359.
Article Link
11. A genetically encoded phage-displayed cyclic peptide library
X.-S. Wang†, P.-S.C. Chen†, J.T. Hampton, J.M. Tharp, C.A. Reed, S.K. Das, D.S. Wang, H.S., Hayatshahi, Y. Shen, J. Liu, and W.R. Liu
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2019, 131, 16061–16056.
Article Link
10. Using amber and ochre nonsense codons to code two different noncanonical amino acids in on protein gene
J.M. Tharp and W.R. Liu
Methods. Mol. Biol. 2018, 1728, 147–154.
Article Link
09. tRNAPyl: Structure, function, and applications
J.M. Tharp, A. Ehnbom, and W.R. Liu
RNA Biol. 2018, 15, 441–452.
Article Link
08. Genetic code expansion: Synthetases pick up the PACE
J.M. Tharp and W.R. Liu
Nat. Chem. Biol. 2017, 13, 1205–1206.
Article Link
07. A genetically encoded allysine for the synthesis of proteins with site-specific lysine dimethylation
Z.A. Wang, Y. Kurra, X. Wang, J.M. Tharp, E.C. Vatansever, W.W. Hsu, S. Dai, X. Fang, and W.R. Liu
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2016, 56, 212–216.
Article Link
06. Genetically encoded fluorophenylalanines enable insights into the recognition of lysine trimethylation by an epigenetic reader
Y.-J. Lee, M.J. Schmidt, J.M. Tharp, A. Weber, H. Zheng, J. Gao, M.L. Waters, D. Summerer, and W.R. Liu
Chem. Commun. 2016, 52, 12606–12609.
Article Link
05. The “π-clamp” offers a new strategy for site-selective protein modification
J.M. Tharp and W.R. Liu
ChemBioChem 2016, 17, 883–885.
Article Link
04. Expanding the chemical diversity of lasso peptide MccJ25 with genetically encoded non-canonical amino acids
F.J. Piscotta, J.M. Tharp, W.R. Liu, and J.A. Link
Chem. Commun. 2015, 51, 409–412.
Article Link
03. Genetic incorporation of seven ortho-substituted phenylalanine derivatives
J.M. Tharp, Y.-S. Wang, Y.-J. Lee, Y.-Y. Yang, and W.R. Liu
ACS Chem. Biol. 2014, 9, 884–890.
Article Link
02. Pyrrolysyl-tRNA synthetase: An ordinary enzyme but an outstanding genetic code expansion tool
W. Wan, J.M. Tharp, and W.R. Liu
Biochim. Biophys. Acta 2014, 1844, 1059–1070.
Article Link
01. Developmental plasticity of thermal tolerances in temperate and subtropical populations of Drosophila melanogaster
W. Wan, B.S. Cooper, J.M. Tharp, I.I. Jernberg, and M.J. Angilletta
J. Therm. Biol. 2012, 37, 211–216.
Article Link