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Exploiting phenotypic heterogeneity to improve production of glutathione by yeast (2024)
Journal Article
Xu, M., Vallières, C., Finnis, C., Winzer, K., & Avery, S. V. (2024). Exploiting phenotypic heterogeneity to improve production of glutathione by yeast. Microbial Cell Factories, 23(1), Article 267. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12934-024-02536-5

Background: Gene expression noise (variation in gene expression among individual cells of a genetically uniform cell population) can result in heterogenous metabolite production by industrial microorganisms, with cultures containing both low- and hig... Read More about Exploiting phenotypic heterogeneity to improve production of glutathione by yeast.

Aspergillus ullungdoensis sp. nov., Penicillium jeongsukae sp. nov., and other fungi from Korea (2024)
Journal Article
Lee, H. B., Nguyen, T. T., Noh, S. J., Kim, D. H., Kang, K. H., Kim, S. J., Kirk, P. M., Avery, S. V., Medina, A., & Hallsworth, J. E. (2024). Aspergillus ullungdoensis sp. nov., Penicillium jeongsukae sp. nov., and other fungi from Korea. Fungal Biology, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.funbio.2024.05.014

Eurotiales fungi are thought to be distributed worldwide but there is a paucity of information about their occurrence on diverse substrates or hosts and at specific localities. Some of the Eurotiales, including Aspergillus and Penicillium species, pr... Read More about Aspergillus ullungdoensis sp. nov., Penicillium jeongsukae sp. nov., and other fungi from Korea.

A facile one step route that introduces functionality to polymer powders for laser sintering (2024)
Journal Article
Krumins, E., Crawford, L. A., Rogers, D. M., Machado, F., Taresco, V., East, M., …Howdle, S. M. (2024). A facile one step route that introduces functionality to polymer powders for laser sintering. Nature Communications, 15(1), Article 3137. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-47376-4

Laser Sintering (LS) is a type of Additive Manufacturing (AM) exploiting laser processing of polymeric particles to produce 3D objects. Because of its ease of processability and thermo-physical properties, polyamide-12 (PA-12) represents ~95% of the... Read More about A facile one step route that introduces functionality to polymer powders for laser sintering.

Adaptation to sorbic acid in low sugar promotes resistance of yeast to the preservative (2023)
Journal Article
Harvey, H. J., Hendry, A., Chirico, M., Archer, D. B., & V. Avery, S. (2023). Adaptation to sorbic acid in low sugar promotes resistance of yeast to the preservative. Heliyon, 9(11), Article e22057. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e22057

The weak acid sorbic acid is a common preservative used in soft drink beverages to control microbial spoilage. Consumers and industry are increasingly transitioning to low-sugar food formulations, but potential impacts of reduced sugar on sorbic acid... Read More about Adaptation to sorbic acid in low sugar promotes resistance of yeast to the preservative.

A potential alternative to fungicides using actives-free (meth)acrylate polymers for protection of wheat crops from fungal attachment and infection (2023)
Journal Article
Crawford, L. A., Cuzzucoli Crucitti, V., Stimpson, A., Morgan, C., Blake, J., Wildman, R. D., …Avery, S. V. (2023). A potential alternative to fungicides using actives-free (meth)acrylate polymers for protection of wheat crops from fungal attachment and infection. Green Chemistry, 25(21), 8558-8569. https://doi.org/10.1039/d3gc01911j

Fungicidal compounds are actives widely used for crop protection from fungal infection, but they can also kill beneficial organisms, enter the food chain and promote resistant pathogen strains from overuse. Here we report the first field crop trial o... Read More about A potential alternative to fungicides using actives-free (meth)acrylate polymers for protection of wheat crops from fungal attachment and infection.

Chloroquine resistance evolution in Plasmodium falciparum is mediated by the putative amino acid transporter AAT1 (2023)
Journal Article
Amambua-Ngwa, A., Button-Simons, K. A., Li, X., Kumar, S., Brenneman, K. V., Ferrari, M., …Anderson, T. J. (2023). Chloroquine resistance evolution in Plasmodium falciparum is mediated by the putative amino acid transporter AAT1. Nature Microbiology, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41564-023-01377-z

Malaria parasites break down host haemoglobin into peptides and amino acids in the digestive vacuole for export to the parasite cytoplasm for growth: interrupting this process is central to the mode of action of several antimalarial drugs. Mutations... Read More about Chloroquine resistance evolution in Plasmodium falciparum is mediated by the putative amino acid transporter AAT1.

Discovery of Natural Products With Antifungal Potential Through Combinatorial Synergy (2022)
Journal Article
Augostine, C. R., & Avery, S. V. (2022). Discovery of Natural Products With Antifungal Potential Through Combinatorial Synergy. Frontiers in Microbiology, 13, Article 866840. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2022.866840

The growing prevalence of antifungal drug resistance coupled with the slow development of new, acceptable drugs and fungicides has raised interest in natural products (NPs) for their therapeutic potential and level of acceptability. However, a number... Read More about Discovery of Natural Products With Antifungal Potential Through Combinatorial Synergy.

Potentiated inhibition of Trichoderma virens and other environmental fungi by new biocide combinations (2021)
Journal Article
Vallières, C., Alexander, C., & Avery, S. V. (2021). Potentiated inhibition of Trichoderma virens and other environmental fungi by new biocide combinations. Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology, 105, 2867-2875. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-021-11211-3

Fungi cause diverse, serious socio-economic problems, including biodeterioration of valuable products and materials that spawns a biocides industry worth ~$11 billion globally. To help combat environmental fungi that commonly colonise material produc... Read More about Potentiated inhibition of Trichoderma virens and other environmental fungi by new biocide combinations.

Influence of environmental and genetic factors on food protein quality: current knowledge and future directions (2021)
Journal Article
Szepe, K. J., Dyer, P. S., Johnson, R. I., Salter, A. M., & Avery, S. V. (2021). Influence of environmental and genetic factors on food protein quality: current knowledge and future directions. Current Opinion in Food Science, 40, 94-101. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cofs.2021.02.005

© 2021 Elsevier Ltd Dietary protein quality is commonly defined by the bioavailability of essential amino acids, a function of amino acid composition and protein digestibility. This review assesses the potential for manipulation of amino acid composi... Read More about Influence of environmental and genetic factors on food protein quality: current knowledge and future directions.

Repurposing Nonantifungal Approved Drugs for Synergistic Targeting of Fungal Pathogens (2020)
Journal Article
Vallières, C., Singh, N., Alexander, C., & Avery, S. V. (2020). Repurposing Nonantifungal Approved Drugs for Synergistic Targeting of Fungal Pathogens. ACS Infectious Diseases, 6(11), 2950-2958. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsinfecdis.0c00405

With the spread of drug resistance, new antimicrobials are urgently needed. Here, we set out to tackle this problem by high-throughput exploration for novel antifungal synergies among combinations of approved, nonantifungal drugs; a novel strategy ex... Read More about Repurposing Nonantifungal Approved Drugs for Synergistic Targeting of Fungal Pathogens.

Challenges and approaches in assessing the interplay between microorganisms and their physical micro-environments (2020)
Journal Article
Harvey, H. J., Wildman, R. D., Mooney, S. J., & Avery, S. V. (2020). Challenges and approaches in assessing the interplay between microorganisms and their physical micro-environments. Computational and Structural Biotechnology Journal, 18, 2860-2866. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.csbj.2020.09.030

© 2020 The Author(s) Spatial structure over scales ranging from nanometres to centimetres (and beyond) varies markedly in diverse habitats and the industry-relevant settings that support microbial activity. Developing an understanding of the interpla... Read More about Challenges and approaches in assessing the interplay between microorganisms and their physical micro-environments.

Top-Down Characterization of an Antimicrobial Sanitizer, Leading From Quenchers of Efficacy to Mode of Action (2020)
Journal Article
Wohlgemuth, F., Gomes, R. L., Singleton, I., Rawson, F. J., & Avery, S. V. (2020). Top-Down Characterization of an Antimicrobial Sanitizer, Leading From Quenchers of Efficacy to Mode of Action. Frontiers in Microbiology, 11, Article 575157. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2020.575157

© Copyright © 2020 Wohlgemuth, Gomes, Singleton, Rawson and Avery. We developed a top-down strategy to characterize an antimicrobial, oxidizing sanitizer, which has diverse proposed applications including surface-sanitization of fresh foods, and with... Read More about Top-Down Characterization of an Antimicrobial Sanitizer, Leading From Quenchers of Efficacy to Mode of Action.

Soil aggregates by design: Manufactured aggregates with defined microbial composition for interrogating microbial activities in soil microhabitats (2020)
Journal Article
Harvey, H. J., Wildman, R. D., Mooney, S. J., & Avery, S. V. (2020). Soil aggregates by design: Manufactured aggregates with defined microbial composition for interrogating microbial activities in soil microhabitats. Soil Biology and Biochemistry, 148, Article 107870. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soilbio.2020.107870

Differences in the structure of microbial communities are reported to exist between the inside and outside of soil aggregates, but the impacts of soil aggregation on microbial activity in soils, essential for soil health, have proven difficult to stu... Read More about Soil aggregates by design: Manufactured aggregates with defined microbial composition for interrogating microbial activities in soil microhabitats.

Heterologous expression of a novel drug transporter from the malaria parasite alters resistance to quinoline antimalarials (2018)
Journal Article
Tindall, S. M., Vallières, C., Lakhani, D. H., Islahudin, F., Ting, K.-N., & Avery, S. V. (in press). Heterologous expression of a novel drug transporter from the malaria parasite alters resistance to quinoline antimalarials. Scientific Reports, 8(1), https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-20816-0

Antimalarial drug resistance hampers effective malaria treatment. Critical SNPs in a particular, putative amino acid transporter were recently linked to chloroquine (CQ) resistance in malaria parasites. Here, we show that this conserved protein (PF3D... Read More about Heterologous expression of a novel drug transporter from the malaria parasite alters resistance to quinoline antimalarials.

Mitochondrial Ferredoxin Determines Vulnerability of Cells to Copper Excess (2017)
Journal Article
Vallières, C., Holland, S. L., & Avery, S. V. (2017). Mitochondrial Ferredoxin Determines Vulnerability of Cells to Copper Excess. Cell Chemical Biology, 24(10), 1228-1237.e3. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chembiol.2017.08.005

The essential micronutrient copper is tightly regulated in organisms, as environmental exposure or homeostasis defects can cause toxicity and neurodegenerative disease. The principal target(s) of copper toxicity have not been pinpointed, but one key... Read More about Mitochondrial Ferredoxin Determines Vulnerability of Cells to Copper Excess.

The next generation fungal diversity researcher (2017)
Journal Article
Grube, M., Gaya, E., Kauserud, H., Smith, A. M., Avery, S. V., Fernstad, S. J., …Bendiksby, M. (2017). The next generation fungal diversity researcher. Fungal Biology Reviews, 31(3), 124-130. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fbr.2017.02.001

Fungi are more important to our lives than is assumed by the general public. They can comprise both devastating pathogens and plant-associated mutualists in nature, and several species have also become important workhorses of biotechnology. Fungal di... Read More about The next generation fungal diversity researcher.

Metal-based combinations that target protein synthesis by fungi (2017)
Journal Article
Vallières, C., & Avery, S. V. (2017). Metal-based combinations that target protein synthesis by fungi. Advances in Microbial Physiology, 70, 105-121. https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.ampbs.2017.01.001

A wide range of fungicides (or antifungals) are used in agriculture and medicine, with activities against a spectrum of fungal pathogens. Unfortunately, the evolution of fungicide resistance has become a major issue. Therefore, there is an urgent nee... Read More about Metal-based combinations that target protein synthesis by fungi.

Open Source Drug Discovery with the Malaria Box Compound Collection for Neglected Diseases and Beyond (2016)
Journal Article
Phillips, M. A., Van Voorhis, W. C., Adams, J. H., Adelfio, R., Ahyong, V., Akabas, M. H., …Willis, P. A. (2016). Open Source Drug Discovery with the Malaria Box Compound Collection for Neglected Diseases and Beyond. PLoS Pathogens, 12(7), Article e1005763. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.ppat.1005763

A major cause of the paucity of new starting points for drug discovery is the lack of interaction between academia and industry. Much of the global resource in biology is present in universities, whereas the focus of medicinal chemistry is still larg... Read More about Open Source Drug Discovery with the Malaria Box Compound Collection for Neglected Diseases and Beyond.

Phenotypic heterogeneity is a selected trait in natural yeast populations subject to environmental stress (2013)
Journal Article
Holland, S. L., Reader, T., Dyer, P. S., & Avery, S. V. (2014). Phenotypic heterogeneity is a selected trait in natural yeast populations subject to environmental stress. Environmental Microbiology, 16(6), 1729-1740. https://doi.org/10.1111/1462-2920.12243

Populations of genetically uniform microorganisms exhibit phenotypic heterogeneity, where individual cells have varying phenotypes. Such phenotypes include fitness-determining traits. Phenotypic heterogeneity has been linked to increased population-l... Read More about Phenotypic heterogeneity is a selected trait in natural yeast populations subject to environmental stress.