Outputs (21)

Microbial Primer: Agr-mediated quorum sensing in Gram-positive pathogens (2025)
Journal Article
Williams, P. (in press). Microbial Primer: Agr-mediated quorum sensing in Gram-positive pathogens. Microbiology,

Gram-positive bacteria commonly employ autoinducing peptide (AIP) signal molecules to co-ordinate gene expression at the population level. This primer provides a basic overview of agr-dependent quorum sensing systems and outlines how AIPs are produce... Read More about Microbial Primer: Agr-mediated quorum sensing in Gram-positive pathogens.

Combinatorial discovery of microtopographical landscapes that resist biofilm formation through quorum sensing mediated autolubrication (2025)
Journal Article
Romero, M., Luckett, J., Dubern, J.-F., Figueredo, G. P., Ison, E., Carabelli, A. M., Scurr, D. J., Hook, A. L., Kammerling, L., Da Silva, A. C., Xue, X., Blackburn, C., Carlier, A., Vasilevich, A., Sudarsanam, P. K., Vermeulen, S., Winkler, D. A., Ghaemmaghami, A. M., De Boer, J., Alexander, M. R., & Williams, P. (2025). Combinatorial discovery of microtopographical landscapes that resist biofilm formation through quorum sensing mediated autolubrication. Nature Communications, 16(1), Article 5295. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-60567-x

Bio-instructive materials that intrinsically inhibit biofilm formation have significant anti-biofouling potential in industrial and healthcare settings. Since bacterial surface attachment is sensitive to surface topography, we experimentally surveyed... Read More about Combinatorial discovery of microtopographical landscapes that resist biofilm formation through quorum sensing mediated autolubrication.

Deciphering the Anti-Listerial Activity and Phytochemical Composition of Licorice Root Extract Using LC-MS/MS in Combination with In Vitro and Computational Evaluations (2025)
Journal Article
Michael, C., Christou, A., Gómez-Caravaca, A. M., Goulas, V., Rees, C. E. D., & Botsaris, G. (2025). Deciphering the Anti-Listerial Activity and Phytochemical Composition of Licorice Root Extract Using LC-MS/MS in Combination with In Vitro and Computational Evaluations. Applied Sciences, 15(10), Article 5276. https://doi.org/10.3390/app15105276

Natural products are an endless source of antimicrobial agents against many foodborne pathogenic bacteria. The present work demonstrates the potential of licorice root extract to efficiently inhibit the growth of a panel of Listeria strains and serot... Read More about Deciphering the Anti-Listerial Activity and Phytochemical Composition of Licorice Root Extract Using LC-MS/MS in Combination with In Vitro and Computational Evaluations.

Prebiotic Galacto-Oligosaccharide and Xylo-Oligosaccharide Feeds in Pig Production: Microbiota Manipulation, Pathogen Suppression, Gut Architecture and Immunomodulatory Effects (2025)
Journal Article
Lee, A., Stanley, J. S., Mellits, K. H., & Connerton, I. F. (2025). Prebiotic Galacto-Oligosaccharide and Xylo-Oligosaccharide Feeds in Pig Production: Microbiota Manipulation, Pathogen Suppression, Gut Architecture and Immunomodulatory Effects. Applied Microbiology, 5(2), Article 42. https://doi.org/10.3390/applmicrobiol5020042

Gastrointestinal health is critical to the productivity and welfare of pigs. The transition from milk to plant-based feeds represents an intestinal challenge at wean that can result in dysbiosis and pathogen susceptibility. Prebiotic galacto-oligosac... Read More about Prebiotic Galacto-Oligosaccharide and Xylo-Oligosaccharide Feeds in Pig Production: Microbiota Manipulation, Pathogen Suppression, Gut Architecture and Immunomodulatory Effects.

Identification of an a-factor-like pheromone secreted by the heterothallic ascomycete Aspergillus fumigatus (2025)
Journal Article
Krappmann, S., Gabl, E., Pazen, T., Heizmann, A., Pöggeler, S., Krüger, T., Kniemeyer, O., Einsiedel, J., Gmeiner, P., Yu, Y., Dyer, P. S., Baker, S. E., & Nowrousian, M. (2025). Identification of an a-factor-like pheromone secreted by the heterothallic ascomycete Aspergillus fumigatus. Current Biology, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2025.03.080

Members of the fungal kingdom serve as models for numerous cellular processes, among them sexuality. In heterothallic ascomycetes, mating-type systems ensure that only compatible isolates fuse to enter the sexual phase. This includes reciprocal secre... Read More about Identification of an a-factor-like pheromone secreted by the heterothallic ascomycete Aspergillus fumigatus.

Dynamic regulation of autophagy during Semliki Forest virus infection of neuroblastoma cells (2025)
Journal Article
Stott-Marshall, R. J., McBeth, C., & Wileman, T. (2025). Dynamic regulation of autophagy during Semliki Forest virus infection of neuroblastoma cells. Journal of General Virology, 106(3), Article 002086. https://doi.org/10.1099/jgv.0.002086

Autophagy can defend against infection by delivering viruses to lysosomes for degradation. Semliki Forest virus (SFV) is a positive-sense, single-stranded RNA virus of the alphavirus genus which has been used extensively as a model for arbovirus infe... Read More about Dynamic regulation of autophagy during Semliki Forest virus infection of neuroblastoma cells.

Practical paths towards quantifying and mitigating agricultural methane emissions (2025)
Journal Article
Nisbet, E. G., Manning, M. R., Lowry, D., Fisher, R. E., Lan, X. (., Michel, S. E., France, J. L., Nisbet, R. E. R., Bakkaloglu, S., Leitner, S. M., Brooke, C., Röckmann, T., Allen, G., Denier Van Der Gon, H. A., Merbold, L., Scheutz, C., Woolley Maisch, C., Nisbet-Jones, P. B., Alshalan, A., Fernandez, J. M., & Dlugokencky, E. J. (2025). Practical paths towards quantifying and mitigating agricultural methane emissions. Proceedings of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, 481(2309), Article 20240390. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspa.2024.0390

This review summarizes the rapid advances in direct practical methods to quantify and reduce agricultural methane emissions worldwide. Major tasks are location, identification, quantification and distinction between different specific sources (often... Read More about Practical paths towards quantifying and mitigating agricultural methane emissions.

How do RNA viruses select which RNA to package? The plant virus experience (2025)
Journal Article
Peyret, H., Shah, S. N., Meshcheriakova, Y., Saunders, K., & Lomonossoff, G. P. (2025). How do RNA viruses select which RNA to package? The plant virus experience. Virology, 604, Article 110435. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.virol.2025.110435

The process whereby viral RNA is specifically selected for packaging within viral particles has been extensively studied over many years. As a result, two broad hypotheses have emerged to explain this specificity, though these are not mutually exclus... Read More about How do RNA viruses select which RNA to package? The plant virus experience.

Urban estuary serves as a critical nexus for the land-sea transfer of the terrestrial pathogen Toxoplasma gondii (2024)
Journal Article
Zhu, X.-K., Elsheikha, H. M., Yang, T., Li, M.-Y., & Cong, W. (2024). Urban estuary serves as a critical nexus for the land-sea transfer of the terrestrial pathogen Toxoplasma gondii. Science of the Total Environment, 955, Article 176983. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.176983

Terrestrial runoff is a key pathway for the transmission of the terrestrial pathogen Toxoplasma gondii from land to sea, posing a significant threat to marine ecosystems. Understanding the mechanisms by which T. gondii is transported from terrestrial... Read More about Urban estuary serves as a critical nexus for the land-sea transfer of the terrestrial pathogen Toxoplasma gondii.

Polymer-Coated Urinary Catheter Reduces Biofilm Formation and Biomineralization: A First-in-Man, Prospective Pilot Study (2024)
Journal Article
Kalenderski, K., Dubern, J.-F., Lewis-Lloyd, C., Jeffery, N., Heeb, S., Irvine, D. J., Sloan, T. J., Birch, B., Andrich, D., Humes, D., Alexander, M. R., & Williams, P. (2024). Polymer-Coated Urinary Catheter Reduces Biofilm Formation and Biomineralization: A First-in-Man, Prospective Pilot Study. Journal of Urology Open PLus, 2(1), Article e00005. https://doi.org/10.1097/JU9.0000000000000097

Purpose: Biofilm formation and biomineralization on urinary catheters may cause severe complications including infection and obstruction. Here, we describe an in vitro evaluation and prospective pilot clinical study of a silicone catheter coated with... Read More about Polymer-Coated Urinary Catheter Reduces Biofilm Formation and Biomineralization: A First-in-Man, Prospective Pilot Study.

Quorum-sensing, intra- and inter-species competition in the staphylococci (2023)
Journal Article
Williams, P., Hill, P., Bonev, B., & Chan, W. C. (2023). Quorum-sensing, intra- and inter-species competition in the staphylococci. Microbiology, 169(8), https://doi.org/10.1099/mic.0.001381

In Gram-positive bacteria such as Staphylococcus aureus and the coagulase-negative staphylococci (CoNS), the accessory gene regulator (agr) is a highly conserved but polymorphic quorum-sensing system involved in colonization, virulence and biofilm de... Read More about Quorum-sensing, intra- and inter-species competition in the staphylococci.

Conformational analysis and interaction of the Staphylococcus aureus transmembrane peptidase AgrB with its AgrD propeptide substrate (2023)
Journal Article
Bardelang, P., Murray, E. J., Blower, I., Zandomeneghi, S., Goode, A., Hussain, R., Kumari, D., Siligardi, G., Inoue, K., Luckett, J., Doutch, J., Emsley, J., Chan, W. C., Hill, P., Williams, P., & Bonev, B. B. (2023). Conformational analysis and interaction of the Staphylococcus aureus transmembrane peptidase AgrB with its AgrD propeptide substrate. Frontiers in Chemistry, 11, Article 1113885. https://doi.org/10.3389/fchem.2023.1113885

Virulence gene expression in the human pathogen, S. aureus is regulated by the agr (accessory gene regulator) quorum sensing (QS) system which is conserved in diverse Gram-positive bacteria. The agr QS signal molecule is an autoinducing peptide (AIP)... Read More about Conformational analysis and interaction of the Staphylococcus aureus transmembrane peptidase AgrB with its AgrD propeptide substrate.

Effect of deleting four Toxoplasma gondii calcium-binding EGF domain-containing proteins on parasite replication and virulence (2022)
Journal Article
Wang, X.-C., Li, T.-T., Elsheikha, H. M., Zheng, X.-N., Zhao, D.-Y., Wang, J.-L., Wang, M., & Zhu, X.-Q. (2023). Effect of deleting four Toxoplasma gondii calcium-binding EGF domain-containing proteins on parasite replication and virulence. Parasitology Research, 122, 441-450. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-022-07739-6

Several calcium-binding proteins including calcium-dependent protein kinases play important roles in several facets of the intracellular infection cycle of the apicomplexan protozoan parasite Toxoplasma gondii. However, the role of the calcium-bindin... Read More about Effect of deleting four Toxoplasma gondii calcium-binding EGF domain-containing proteins on parasite replication and virulence.

Diagnosis and Management of Acanthamoeba Keratitis: A Continental Approach (2022)
Journal Article
Bouten, M., & Elsheikha, H. M. (2022). Diagnosis and Management of Acanthamoeba Keratitis: A Continental Approach. Parasitologia, 2(3), 167-197. https://doi.org/10.3390/parasitologia2030016

Acanthamoeba keratitis (AK) is a potentially blinding infection caused by protozoa found worldwide. The topical application of biguanides and diamidines is the most common anti-amoebic treatment for AK. In this study, we hypothesized that geographica... Read More about Diagnosis and Management of Acanthamoeba Keratitis: A Continental Approach.

Methanogenesis from Mineral Carbonates, a Potential Indicator for Life on Mars (2022)
Journal Article
Wormald, R. M., Hopwood, J., Humphreys, P. N., Mayes, W., Gomes, H. I., & Rout, S. P. (2022). Methanogenesis from Mineral Carbonates, a Potential Indicator for Life on Mars. Geosciences, 12(3), Article 138. https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences12030138

Priorities for the exploration of Mars involve the identification and observation of biosignatures that indicate the existence of life on the planet. The atmosphere and composition of the sediments on Mars suggest suitability for anaerobic chemolitho... Read More about Methanogenesis from Mineral Carbonates, a Potential Indicator for Life on Mars.

Actinomadura graeca sp. nov.: A novel producer of the macrocyclic antibiotic zelkovamycin (2021)
Journal Article
Tarantini, F. S., Brunati, M., Taravella, A., Carrano, L., Parenti, F., Hong, K. W., Williams, P., Chan, K. G., Heeb, S., & Chan, W. C. (2021). Actinomadura graeca sp. nov.: A novel producer of the macrocyclic antibiotic zelkovamycin. PLoS ONE, 16(11), Article e0260413. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0260413

As part of a screening programme for antibiotic-producing bacteria, a novel Actinomadura species was discovered from a soil sample collected in Santorini, Greece. Preliminary 16S rRNA gene sequence comparisons highlighted Actinomadura macra as the mo... Read More about Actinomadura graeca sp. nov.: A novel producer of the macrocyclic antibiotic zelkovamycin.

Synthesis and Antibacterial Evaluation of New Pyrazolo[3,4-d]pyrimidines Kinase Inhibitors (2020)
Journal Article
Greco, C., Catania, R., Balacco, D. L., Taresco, V., Musumeci, F., Alexander, C., Huett, A., & Schenone, S. (2020). Synthesis and Antibacterial Evaluation of New Pyrazolo[3,4-d]pyrimidines Kinase Inhibitors. Molecules, 25(22), Article 5354. https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules25225354

Pyrazolo[3,4-d]pyrimidines represent an important class of heterocyclic compounds well-known for their anticancer activity exerted by the inhibition of eukaryotic protein kinases. Recently, pyrazolo[3,4-d]pyrimidines have become increasingly attracti... Read More about Synthesis and Antibacterial Evaluation of New Pyrazolo[3,4-d]pyrimidines Kinase Inhibitors.

Gaussia luciferase as a reporter for quorum sensing in staphylococcus aureus (2020)
Journal Article
Blower, I., Tong, C., Sun, X., Murray, E., Luckett, J., Chan, W., Williams, P., & Hill, P. (2020). Gaussia luciferase as a reporter for quorum sensing in staphylococcus aureus. Sensors, 20(15), 1-12. https://doi.org/10.3390/s20154305

© 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. Gaussia luciferase (GLuc) is a secreted protein with significant potential for use as a reporter of gene expression in bacterial pathogenicity studies. To date there are relatively few example... Read More about Gaussia luciferase as a reporter for quorum sensing in staphylococcus aureus.

Improving children’s and their visitors’ hand hygiene compliance (2019)
Journal Article
Lary, D., Calvert, A., Nerlich, B., Segal, J., Vaughan, N., Randle, J., & Hardie, K. (2020). Improving children’s and their visitors’ hand hygiene compliance. Journal of Infection Prevention, 21(2), 60-67. https://doi.org/10.1177/1757177419892065

Background: Numerous interventions have tried to improve healthcare workers' hand hygiene compliance, however little attention has been paid to children's and their visitors’ compliance.
Aim: To increase children’s and visitors’ compliance using in... Read More about Improving children’s and their visitors’ hand hygiene compliance.

Resistance mechanisms adopted by a Salmonella Typhimurium mutant against bacteriophage (2019)
Journal Article
Wang, C., Nie, T., Lin, F., Connerton, I. F., Lu, Z., Zhou, S., & Hang, H. (2019). Resistance mechanisms adopted by a Salmonella Typhimurium mutant against bacteriophage. Virus Research, 273, Article 197759. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.virusres.2019.197759

© 2019 Elsevier B.V. Bacteriophages have key roles in regulating bacterial populations in most habitats. A Salmonella Typhimurium mutant (N18) with impaired sensitivity to phage fmb-p1 was obtained and examined, the adsorption efficiency of fmb-p1 to... Read More about Resistance mechanisms adopted by a Salmonella Typhimurium mutant against bacteriophage.