Skip to main content

Research Repository

Advanced Search

All Outputs (14)

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., …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.

A Pseudomonas aeruginosa PQS quorum-sensing system inhibitor with anti-staphylococcal activity sensitizes polymicrobial biofilms to tobramycin (2022)
Journal Article
Murray, E. J., Dubern, J., Chan, W. C., Chhabra, S. R., & Williams, P. (2022). A Pseudomonas aeruginosa PQS quorum-sensing system inhibitor with anti-staphylococcal activity sensitizes polymicrobial biofilms to tobramycin. Cell Chemical Biology, 29(7), 1187-1199.e6. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chembiol.2022.02.007

As single- and mixed-species biofilms, Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa cause difficult-to-eradicate chronic infections. In P. aeruginosa, pseudomonas quinolone (PQS)-dependent quorum sensing regulates virulence and biofilm developmen... Read More about A Pseudomonas aeruginosa PQS quorum-sensing system inhibitor with anti-staphylococcal activity sensitizes polymicrobial biofilms to tobramycin.

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., …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.

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., …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.

Timing is everything – impact of naturally occurring Staphylococcus aureus AgrC cytoplasmic domain adaptive mutations on auto-induction (2019)
Journal Article
Sloan, T. J., Murray, E., Yokoyama, M., Massey, R. C., Chan, W. C., Bonev, B., & Williams, P. (2019). Timing is everything – impact of naturally occurring Staphylococcus aureus AgrC cytoplasmic domain adaptive mutations on auto-induction. Journal of Bacteriology, 201(20), Article e00409-19. https://doi.org/10.1128/jb.00409-19

Mutations in the polymorphic Staphylococcus aureus agr locus responsible for quorum sensing (QS) dependent virulence gene regulation occur frequently during host adaptation. In two genomically closely related S. aureus clinical isolates exhibiting ma... Read More about Timing is everything – impact of naturally occurring Staphylococcus aureus AgrC cytoplasmic domain adaptive mutations on auto-induction.

5-Hydroxyethyl-3-tetradecanoyltetramic acid represents a novel treatment for intravascular catheter infections due to Staphylococcus aureus (2016)
Journal Article
Zapotoczna, M., Murray, E. J., Hogan, S., O'Gara, J. P., Chhabra, S. R., Chan, W. C., …Williams, P. (2017). 5-Hydroxyethyl-3-tetradecanoyltetramic acid represents a novel treatment for intravascular catheter infections due to Staphylococcus aureus. Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, 72(3), 744-753. https://doi.org/10.1093/jac/dkw482

Objectives: Biofilm infections of intravascular catheters caused by Staphylococcus aureus may be treated with catheter lock solutions (CLSs). Here we investigated the antibacterial activity, cytotoxicity and CLS potential of 5-hydroxyethyl-3-tetradec... Read More about 5-Hydroxyethyl-3-tetradecanoyltetramic acid represents a novel treatment for intravascular catheter infections due to Staphylococcus aureus.

Targeting Staphylococcus aureus quorum sensing with nonpeptidic small molecule inhibitors (2014)
Journal Article
Murray, E. J., Crowley, R. C., Truman, A., Clarke, S. R., Cottam, J. A., Jadhav, G. P., …Williams, P. (2014). Targeting Staphylococcus aureus quorum sensing with nonpeptidic small molecule inhibitors. Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, 57(6), 2813-2819. https://doi.org/10.1021/jm500215s

A series of 3-oxo-C 12 -HSL, tetramic acid, and tetronic acid analogues were synthesized to gain insights into the structural requirements for quorum sensing inhibition in Staphylococcus aureus. Compounds active against agr were noncompetitive inhibi... Read More about Targeting Staphylococcus aureus quorum sensing with nonpeptidic small molecule inhibitors.

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.

Molecular mechanism of target recognition by subtilin, a class I lanthionine antibiotic (2008)
Journal Article
Parisot, J., Carey, S., Breukink, E., Chan, W. C., Narbad, A., & Bonev, B. (2008). Molecular mechanism of target recognition by subtilin, a class I lanthionine antibiotic. Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, 52(2), 612-618. https://doi.org/10.1128/AAC.00836-07

The increasing resistance of human pathogens to conventional antibiotics presents a growing threat to the chemotherapeutic management of infectious diseases. The lanthionine antibiotics, still unused as therapeutic agents, have recently attracted sig... Read More about Molecular mechanism of target recognition by subtilin, a class I lanthionine antibiotic.

Internally quenched peptides for the study of lysostaphin: An antimicrobial protease that kills Staphylococcus aureus (2006)
Journal Article
Warfield, R., Bardelang, P., Saunders, H., Chan, W. C., Penfold, C., James, R., & Thomas, N. R. (2006). Internally quenched peptides for the study of lysostaphin: An antimicrobial protease that kills Staphylococcus aureus. Organic and Biomolecular Chemistry, 4(19), 3626-3638. https://doi.org/10.1039/b607999g

Lysostaphin (EC. 3.4.24.75) is a protein secreted by Staphylococcus simulans biovar staphylolyticus and has been shown to be active against methicillin resistant S. aureus (MRSA). The design and synthesis of three internally quenched substrates for l... Read More about Internally quenched peptides for the study of lysostaphin: An antimicrobial protease that kills Staphylococcus aureus.

Side-chain-to-tail thiolactone peptide inhibitors of the staphylococcal quorum-sensing system (2003)
Journal Article
Scott, R. J., Lian, L. Y., Muharram, S. H., Cockayne, A., Wood, S. J., Bycroft, B. W., …Chan, W. C. (2003). Side-chain-to-tail thiolactone peptide inhibitors of the staphylococcal quorum-sensing system. Bioorganic and Medicinal Chemistry Letters, 13(15), 2449-2453. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0960-894X%2803%2900497-9

The expression of many staphylococcal virulence factors are regulated by the agr locus via a two-component signal transduction system (TCSTS), which is activated in response to a secreted autoinducer peptide (AIP). By exploiting the unique chemical a... Read More about Side-chain-to-tail thiolactone peptide inhibitors of the staphylococcal quorum-sensing system.