All Outputs (17)

Growth rate and nutrient limitation as key drivers of extracellular quorum sensing signal molecule accumulation in Pseudomonas aeruginosa (2023)
Journal Article
Dubern, J.-F., Halliday, N., Cámara, M., Winzer, K., Barrett, D. A., Hardie, K. R., & Williams, P. (2023). Growth rate and nutrient limitation as key drivers of extracellular quorum sensing signal molecule accumulation in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Microbiology, 169(4), Article 001316. https://doi.org/10.1099/mic.0.001316

In Pseudomonas aeruginosa, quorum sensing (QS) depends on an interconnected regulatory hierarchy involving the Las, Rhl and Pqs systems, which are collectively responsible for the co-ordinated synthesis of a diverse repertoire of N-acylhomoserine lac... Read More about Growth rate and nutrient limitation as key drivers of extracellular quorum sensing signal molecule accumulation in Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

Clostridium beijerinckii strain degeneration is driven by the loss of Spo0A activity (2023)
Journal Article
Humphreys, J. R., Debebe, B. J., Diggle, S. P., & Winzer, K. (2023). Clostridium beijerinckii strain degeneration is driven by the loss of Spo0A activity. Frontiers in Microbiology, 13, Article 1075609. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2022.1075609

Solventogenic clostridia represent a diverse group of anaerobic, spore-forming bacteria capable of producing acetone, butanol and ethanol through their unique biphasic metabolism. An intrinsic problem with these organisms however is their tendency to... Read More about Clostridium beijerinckii strain degeneration is driven by the loss of Spo0A activity.

Metabolic engineering of Cupriavidus necator H16 for heterotrophic and autotrophic production of 3-hydroxypropionic acid (2022)
Journal Article
Salinas, A., McGregor, C., Irorere, V., Arenas-López, C., Bommareddy, R. R., Winzer, K., …Kovács, K. (2022). Metabolic engineering of Cupriavidus necator H16 for heterotrophic and autotrophic production of 3-hydroxypropionic acid. Metabolic Engineering, 74, 178-190. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ymben.2022.10.014

3-Hydroxypropionate (3-HP) is a versatile compound for chemical synthesis and a potential building block for biodegradable polymers. Cupriavidus necator H16, a facultative chemolithoautotroph, is an attractive production chassis and has been extensiv... Read More about Metabolic engineering of Cupriavidus necator H16 for heterotrophic and autotrophic production of 3-hydroxypropionic acid.

Metabolic modeling-based drug repurposing in Glioblastoma (2022)
Journal Article
Tomi-Andrino, C., Pandele, A., Winzer, K., King, J., Rahman, R., & Kim, D.-H. (2022). Metabolic modeling-based drug repurposing in Glioblastoma. Scientific Reports, 12, Article 11189. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-14721-w

The manifestation of intra- and inter-tumor heterogeneity hinders the development of ubiquitous cancer treatments, thus requiring a tailored therapy for each cancer type. Specifically, the reprogramming of cellular metabolism has been identified as a... Read More about Metabolic modeling-based drug repurposing in Glioblastoma.

The carbonic anhydrase of Clostridium autoethanogenum represents a new subclass of β-carbonic anhydrases (2019)
Journal Article
Pander, B., Harris, G., Scott, D. J., Winzer, K., Köpke, M., Simpson, S. D., …Henstra, A. M. (2019). The carbonic anhydrase of Clostridium autoethanogenum represents a new subclass of β-carbonic anhydrases. Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology, 103(17), 7275-7286. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-019-10015-w

Carbonic anhydrase catalyses the interconversion of carbon dioxide and water to bicarbonate and protons. It was unknown if the industrial relevant acetogen Clostridium autoethanogenum possesses these enzymes. We identified two putative carbonic anhyd... Read More about The carbonic anhydrase of Clostridium autoethanogenum represents a new subclass of β-carbonic anhydrases.

Microbial solvent formation revisited by comparative genome analysis (2017)
Journal Article
Poehlein, A., Solano, J. D. M., Flitsch, S. K., Krabben, P., Winzer, K., Reid, S. J., …Dürre, P. (2017). Microbial solvent formation revisited by comparative genome analysis. Biotechnology for Biofuels, 10, Article 58. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13068-017-0742-z

Background: Microbial formation of acetone, isopropanol, and butanol is largely restricted to bacteria belonging to the genus Clostridium. This ability has been industrially exploited over the last 100 years. The solvents are important feedstocks for... Read More about Microbial solvent formation revisited by comparative genome analysis.

Insights into CO2 fixation pathway of Clostridium autoethanogenumby targeted mutagenesis (2016)
Journal Article
Liew, F., Henstra, A. M., Winzer, K., Kopke, M., Simpson, S. D., & Minton, N. P. (in press). Insights into CO2 fixation pathway of Clostridium autoethanogenumby targeted mutagenesis. mBio, 7(3), Article e00427-16. https://doi.org/10.1128/mBio.00427-16

The future sustainable production of chemicals and fuels from nonpetrochemical resources and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions are two of the greatest societal challenges. Gas fermentation, which utilizes the ability of acetogenic bacteria such a... Read More about Insights into CO2 fixation pathway of Clostridium autoethanogenumby targeted mutagenesis.

Production of a functional cell wall-anchored minicellulosome by recombinant Clostridium acetobutylicum ATCC 824 (2016)
Journal Article
Willson, B. J., Kovács, K., Wilding-Steele, T., Markus, R., Winzer, K., & Minton, N. P. (2016). Production of a functional cell wall-anchored minicellulosome by recombinant Clostridium acetobutylicum ATCC 824. Biotechnology for Biofuels, 9(1), Article 109. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13068-016-0526-x

Background: The use of fossil fuels is no longer tenable. Not only are they a finite resource, their use is damaging the environment through pollution and global warming. Alternative, environmentally friendly, renewable sources of chemicals and fuels... Read More about Production of a functional cell wall-anchored minicellulosome by recombinant Clostridium acetobutylicum ATCC 824.

Dendrimer mediated clustering of bacteria: improved aggregation and evaluation of bacterial response and viability (2016)
Journal Article
Leire, E., Amaral, S. P., Louzao, I., Winzer, K., Alexander, C., Fernandez-Megia, E., & Fernandez-Trillo, F. (2016). Dendrimer mediated clustering of bacteria: improved aggregation and evaluation of bacterial response and viability. Biomaterials Science, 4(6), https://doi.org/10.1039/C6BM00079G

Here, we evaluate how cationic gallic acid-triethylene glycol (GATG) dendrimers interact with bacteria and their potential to develop new antimicrobials. We demonstrate that GATG dendrimers functionalised with primary amines in their periphery can in... Read More about Dendrimer mediated clustering of bacteria: improved aggregation and evaluation of bacterial response and viability.

Cationic polymer mediated bacterial clustering: cell-adhesive properties of homo- and copolymers (2015)
Journal Article
Louzao, I., Sui, C., Winzer, K., Fernandez-Trillo, F., & Alexander, C. (2015). Cationic polymer mediated bacterial clustering: cell-adhesive properties of homo- and copolymers. European Journal of Pharmaceutics and Biopharmaceutics, 95, 47-62. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejpb.2015.05.026

New anti-infective materials are needed urgently as alternatives to conventional biocides. It has recently been established that polymer materials designed to bind to the surface of bacteria can induce the formation of cell clusters which enhance the... Read More about Cationic polymer mediated bacterial clustering: cell-adhesive properties of homo- and copolymers.

Bacteria clustering by polymers induces the expression of quorum sense controlled phenotypes (2013)
Journal Article
Lui, L. T., Xue, X., Sui, C., Brown, A., Pritchard, D. I., Halliday, N., …Alexander, C. (2013). Bacteria clustering by polymers induces the expression of quorum sense controlled phenotypes. Nature Chemistry, 5(12), https://doi.org/10.1038/nchem.1793

Bacteria deploy a range of chemistries to regulate their behaviour and respond to their environment. Quorum sensing is one mean by which bacteria use chemical reactions to modulate pre-infection behaviour such as surface attachment. Polymers that can... Read More about Bacteria clustering by polymers induces the expression of quorum sense controlled phenotypes.

Secretion and assembly of functional mini-cellulosomes from synthetic chromosomal operons in Clostridium acetobutylicum ATCC 824 (2013)
Journal Article
Kovacs, K., Willson, B. J., Schwarz, K., Heap, J. T., Jackson, A., Bolam, D. N., …Minton, N. P. (2013). Secretion and assembly of functional mini-cellulosomes from synthetic chromosomal operons in Clostridium acetobutylicum ATCC 824. Biotechnology for Biofuels, 6(117), https://doi.org/10.1186/1754-6834-6-117

BACKGROUND: Consolidated bioprocessing (CBP) is reliant on the simultaneous enzyme production, saccharification of biomass, and fermentation of released sugars into valuable products such as butanol. Clostridial species that produce butanol are, h... Read More about Secretion and assembly of functional mini-cellulosomes from synthetic chromosomal operons in Clostridium acetobutylicum ATCC 824.

The putative influence of the agr operon upon survival mechanisms used by Clostridium acetobutylicum (2013)
Journal Article
Jabbari, S., Steiner, E., Heap, J. T., Winzer, K., Minton, N. P., & King, J. R. (2013). The putative influence of the agr operon upon survival mechanisms used by Clostridium acetobutylicum. Mathematical Biosciences, 243(2), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mbs.2013.03.005

The bacterium Clostridium acetobutylicum produces acids as an energy-yielding process during exponential growth. An acidic environment, however, is toxic to the cells and two survival mechanisms are in place to prevent them from dying. Firstly, durin... Read More about The putative influence of the agr operon upon survival mechanisms used by Clostridium acetobutylicum.

Regulation of neurotoxin production and sporulation by a putative agrBD signaling system in proteolytic Clostridium botulinum (2010)
Journal Article
Cooksley, C. M., Davis, I. J., Winzer, K., Chan, W. C., Peck, M. W., & Minton, N. P. (2010). Regulation of neurotoxin production and sporulation by a putative agrBD signaling system in proteolytic Clostridium botulinum. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 76(13), 4448-4460. https://doi.org/10.1128/AEM.03038-09

A significant number of genome sequences of Clostridium botulinum and related species have now been determined. In silico analysis of these data revealed the presence of two distinct agr loci (agr-1 and agr-2) in all group I strains, each encoding pu... Read More about Regulation of neurotoxin production and sporulation by a putative agrBD signaling system in proteolytic Clostridium botulinum.

Differential Recognition of Staphylococcus aureus Quorum-Sensing Signals Depends on Both Extracellular Loops 1 and 2 of the Transmembrane Sensor AgrC (2008)
Journal Article
Jensen, R. O., Winzer, K., Clarke, S. R., Chan, W. C., & Williams, P. (2008). Differential Recognition of Staphylococcus aureus Quorum-Sensing Signals Depends on Both Extracellular Loops 1 and 2 of the Transmembrane Sensor AgrC. Journal of Molecular Biology, 381(2), 300-309. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmb.2008.06.018

Virulence in Staphylococcus aureus is regulated via agr-dependent quorum sensing in which an autoinducing peptide (AIP) activates AgrC, a histidine protein kinase. AIPs are usually thiolactones containing seven to nine amino acid residues in which th... Read More about Differential Recognition of Staphylococcus aureus Quorum-Sensing Signals Depends on Both Extracellular Loops 1 and 2 of the Transmembrane Sensor AgrC.

Look who's talking: Communication and quorum sensing in the bacterial world (2007)
Journal Article
Williams, P., Winzer, K., Chan, W. C., & Cámara, M. (2007). Look who's talking: Communication and quorum sensing in the bacterial world. Philosophical Transactions B: Biological Sciences, 362(1483), 1119-1134. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2007.2039

For many years bacteria were considered primarily as autonomous unicellular organisms with little capacity for collective behaviour. However, we now appreciate that bacterial cells are in fact, highly communicative. The generic term 'quorum sensing'... Read More about Look who's talking: Communication and quorum sensing in the bacterial world.

Density-dependent fitness benefits in quorum-sensing bacterial populations
Journal Article
Darch, S. E., West, S. A., Winzer, K., & Diggle, S. P. Density-dependent fitness benefits in quorum-sensing bacterial populations. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 109(21), https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1118131109

It has been argued that bacteria communicate using small diffusible signal molecules to coordinate, among other things, the production of factors that are secreted outside of the cells in a process known as quorum sensing (QS). The underlying assumpt... Read More about Density-dependent fitness benefits in quorum-sensing bacterial populations.