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Endogenous CRISPR/Cas systems for genome engineering in the acetogens Acetobacterium woodii and Clostridium autoethanogenum (2023)
Journal Article
Poulalier-Delavelle, M., Baker, J. P., Millard, J., Winzer, K., & Minton, N. P. (2023). Endogenous CRISPR/Cas systems for genome engineering in the acetogens Acetobacterium woodii and Clostridium autoethanogenum. Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology, 11, Article 1213236. https://doi.org/10.3389/fbioe.2023.1213236

Acetogenic bacteria can play a major role in achieving Net Zero through their ability to convert CO2 into industrially relevant chemicals and fuels. Full exploitation of this potential will be reliant on effective metabolic engineering tools, such as... Read More about Endogenous CRISPR/Cas systems for genome engineering in the acetogens Acetobacterium woodii and Clostridium autoethanogenum.

The Lanthipeptide Synthetase-like Protein CA_C0082 Is an Effector of Agr Quorum Sensing in Clostridium acetobutylicum (2023)
Journal Article
Humphreys, J. R., Bean, Z., Twycross, J., & Winzer, K. (2023). The Lanthipeptide Synthetase-like Protein CA_C0082 Is an Effector of Agr Quorum Sensing in Clostridium acetobutylicum. Microorganisms, 11(6), Article 1460. https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms11061460

Lanthipeptide synthetases are present in all domains of life. They catalyze a crucial step during lanthipeptide biosynthesis by introducing thioether linkages during posttranslational peptide modification. Lanthipeptides have a wide range of function... Read More about The Lanthipeptide Synthetase-like Protein CA_C0082 Is an Effector of Agr Quorum Sensing in Clostridium acetobutylicum.

Improving carbon monoxide tolerance of Cupriavidus necator H16 through adaptive laboratory evolution (2023)
Journal Article
Wickham-Smith, C., Malys, N., & Winzer, K. (2023). Improving carbon monoxide tolerance of Cupriavidus necator H16 through adaptive laboratory evolution. Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology, 11, https://doi.org/10.3389/fbioe.2023.1178536

Background: The toxic gas carbon monoxide (CO) is abundantly present in synthesis gas (syngas) and certain industrial waste gases that can serve as feedstocks for the biological production of industrially significant chemicals and fuels. For efficien... Read More about Improving carbon monoxide tolerance of Cupriavidus necator H16 through adaptive laboratory evolution.

Growth rate and nutrient limitation as key drivers of extracellular quorum sensing signal molecule accumulation in Pseudomonas aeruginosa (2023)
Journal Article
Dubern, J., 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. (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.

A genome-scale metabolic model of Cupriavidus necator H16 integrated with TraDIS and transcriptomic data reveals metabolic insights for biotechnological applications (2022)
Journal Article
Pearcy, N., Garavaglia, M., Millat, T., Gilbert, J. P., Song, Y., Hartman, H., …Minton, N. P. (2022). A genome-scale metabolic model of Cupriavidus necator H16 integrated with TraDIS and transcriptomic data reveals metabolic insights for biotechnological applications. PLoS Computational Biology, 18(5), Article e1010106. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1010106

Exploiting biological processes to recycle renewable carbon into high value platform chemicals provides a sustainable and greener alternative to current reliance on petrochemicals. In this regard Cupriavidus necator H16 represents a particularly prom... Read More about A genome-scale metabolic model of Cupriavidus necator H16 integrated with TraDIS and transcriptomic data reveals metabolic insights for biotechnological applications.

Required Gene Set for Autotrophic Growth of Clostridium autoethanogenum (2022)
Journal Article
Woods, C., Humphreys, C. M., Tomi-Andrino, C., Henstra, A. M., Köpke, M., Simpson, S. D., …Minton, N. P. (2022). Required Gene Set for Autotrophic Growth of Clostridium autoethanogenum. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 88(7), https://doi.org/10.1128/aem.02479-21

The majority of the genes present in bacterial genomes remain poorly characterized, with up to one-third of those that are protein encoding having no definitive function. Transposon insertion sequencing represents a high-throughput technique that can... Read More about Required Gene Set for Autotrophic Growth of Clostridium autoethanogenum.

Agr Quorum Sensing influences the Wood-Ljungdahl pathway in Clostridium autoethanogenum (2022)
Journal Article
Piatek, P., Humphreys, C., Raut, M., Wright, P. C., Simpson, S., Köpke, M., …Winzer, K. (2022). Agr Quorum Sensing influences the Wood-Ljungdahl pathway in Clostridium autoethanogenum. Scientific Reports, 12(1), Article 411. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-03999-x

Acetogenic bacteria are capable of fermenting CO2 and carbon monoxide containing waste-gases into a range of platform chemicals and fuels. Despite major advances in genetic engineering and improving these biocatalysts, several important physiological... Read More about Agr Quorum Sensing influences the Wood-Ljungdahl pathway in Clostridium autoethanogenum.

Quantitative Bioreactor Monitoring of Intracellular Bacterial Metabolites in Clostridium autoethanogenum Using Liquid Chromatography–Isotope Dilution Mass Spectrometry (2021)
Journal Article
Safo, L., Abdelrazig, S., Grosse-Honebrink, A., Millat, T., Henstra, A. M., Norman, R., …Barrett, D. A. (2021). Quantitative Bioreactor Monitoring of Intracellular Bacterial Metabolites in Clostridium autoethanogenum Using Liquid Chromatography–Isotope Dilution Mass Spectrometry. ACS Omega, 6, 13518-13526. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsomega.0c05588

We report a liquid chromatography–isotope dilution mass spectrometry method for the simultaneous quantification of 131 intracellular bacterial metabolites of Clostridium autoethanogenum. A comprehensive mixture of uniformly 13C-labeled internal stand... Read More about Quantitative Bioreactor Monitoring of Intracellular Bacterial Metabolites in Clostridium autoethanogenum Using Liquid Chromatography–Isotope Dilution Mass Spectrometry.

Development of Clostridium saccharoperbutylacetonicum as a Whole Cell Biocatalyst for Production of Chirally Pure (R)-1,3-Butanediol (2021)
Journal Article
Grosse-Honebrink, A., Little, G. T., Bean, Z., Heldt, D., Cornock, R. H. M., Winzer, K., …Zhang, Y. (2021). Development of Clostridium saccharoperbutylacetonicum as a Whole Cell Biocatalyst for Production of Chirally Pure (R)-1,3-Butanediol. Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology, 9, Article 659895. https://doi.org/10.3389/fbioe.2021.659895

Chirally pure (R)-1,3-butanediol ((R)-1,3-BDO) is a valuable intermediate for the production of fragrances, pheromones, insecticides and antibiotics. Biotechnological production results in superior enantiomeric excess over chemical production and is... Read More about Development of Clostridium saccharoperbutylacetonicum as a Whole Cell Biocatalyst for Production of Chirally Pure (R)-1,3-Butanediol.

Physicochemical and metabolic constraints for thermodynamics-based stoichiometric modelling under mesophilic growth conditions (2021)
Journal Article
Tomi-Andrino, C., Norman, R., Millat, T., Soucaille, P., Winzer, K., Barrett, D. A., …Kim, D. (2021). Physicochemical and metabolic constraints for thermodynamics-based stoichiometric modelling under mesophilic growth conditions. PLoS Computational Biology, 17(1), Article e1007694. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1007694

© 2021 Tomi-Andrino et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source a... Read More about Physicochemical and metabolic constraints for thermodynamics-based stoichiometric modelling under mesophilic growth conditions.

Assessing the impact of physicochemical parameters in the predictive capabilities of thermodynamics-based stoichiometric approaches under mesophilic and thermophilic conditions (2020)
Working Paper
Tomi-Andrino, C., Norman, R., Millat, T., Soucaille, P., Winzer, K., Barrett, D. A., …Kim, D. Assessing the impact of physicochemical parameters in the predictive capabilities of thermodynamics-based stoichiometric approaches under mesophilic and thermophilic conditions

Metabolic engineering in the post-genomic era is characterised by the development of new methods for metabolomics and fluxomics, supported by the integration of genetic engineering tools and mathematical modelling. Particularly, constraint-based stoi... Read More about Assessing the impact of physicochemical parameters in the predictive capabilities of thermodynamics-based stoichiometric approaches under mesophilic and thermophilic conditions.

A complete genome sequence of Cupriavidus necator H16 (DSM 428) (2019)
Journal Article
Little, G. T., Ehsaan, M., Arenas-López, C., Jawed, K., Winzer, K., Kovacs, K., & Minton, N. P. (2019). A complete genome sequence of Cupriavidus necator H16 (DSM 428). Microbiology Resource Announcements, 8(37), 1-2. https://doi.org/10.1128/MRA.00814-19

The hydrogen-utilizing strain Cupriavidus necator H16 (DSM 428) was sequenced using a combination of PacBio and Illumina sequencing. Annotation of this strain reveals 6,543 protein-coding genes, 263 pseudogenes, 64 tRNA genes, and 15 rRNA genes.

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.

A novel conjugal donor strain for improved DNA transfer into Clostridium spp. (2019)
Journal Article
Woods, C., Humphreys, C. M., Rodrigues, R. M., Ingle, P., Rowe, P., Henstra, A. M., …Minton, N. P. (2019). A novel conjugal donor strain for improved DNA transfer into Clostridium spp. Anaerobe, 59, 184-191. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anaerobe.2019.06.020

© 2019 The Authors Importance: The ability to transfer genetic material into a target organism is crucial for the development of a wide range of targeted genetic manipulation techniques. Overcoming the organisms’ native restriction systems which targ... Read More about A novel conjugal donor strain for improved DNA transfer into Clostridium spp..

The genetic basis of 3-hydroxypropanoate metabolism in Cupriavidus necator H16 (2019)
Journal Article
Arenas-López, C., Locker, J., Orol, D., Walter, F., Busche, T., Kalinowski, J., …Winzer, K. (2019). The genetic basis of 3-hydroxypropanoate metabolism in Cupriavidus necator H16. Biotechnology for Biofuels, 12, Article 150. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13068-019-1489-5

Background 3-Hydroxypropionic acid (3-HP) is a promising platform chemical with various industrial applications. Several metabolic routes to produce 3-HP from organic substrates such as sugars or glycerol have been implemented in yeast, enterobacter... Read More about The genetic basis of 3-hydroxypropanoate metabolism in Cupriavidus necator H16.

Genome-scale model of C. autoethanogenum reveals optimal bioprocess conditions for high-value chemical production from carbon monoxide (2019)
Journal Article
Norman, R. O., Millat, T., Schatschneider, S., Henstra, A. M., Breitkopf, R., Pander, B., …Hodgman, C. (2019). Genome-scale model of C. autoethanogenum reveals optimal bioprocess conditions for high-value chemical production from carbon monoxide. Engineering Biology, 3(2), 32-40. https://doi.org/10.1049/enb.2018.5003

Clostridium autoethanogenum is an industrial microbe used for the commercial-scale production of ethanol from carbon monoxide. While significant progress has been made in the attempted diversification of this bioprocess, further improvements are desi... Read More about Genome-scale model of C. autoethanogenum reveals optimal bioprocess conditions for high-value chemical production from carbon monoxide.

Engineering of vitamin prototrophy in Clostridium ljungdahlii and Clostridium autoethanogenum (2019)
Journal Article
Annan, F. J., Al-Sinawi, B., Humphreys, C. M., Norman, R., Winzer, Köpke, M., …Henstra, A. M. (2019). Engineering of vitamin prototrophy in Clostridium ljungdahlii and Clostridium autoethanogenum. Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology, 103(11), 4633–4648. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-019-09763-6

Clostridium autoethanogenum and Clostridium ljungdahlii are physiologically and genetically very similar strict anaerobic acetogens capable of growth on carbon monoxide as sole carbon source. While exact nutritional requirements have not been reporte... Read More about Engineering of vitamin prototrophy in Clostridium ljungdahlii and Clostridium autoethanogenum.

Gsmodutils: a python based framework for test-driven genome scale metabolic model development (2019)
Journal Article
Gilbert, J., Pearcy, N., Norman, R., Millat, T., Winzer, K., King, J., …Twycross, J. (2019). Gsmodutils: a python based framework for test-driven genome scale metabolic model development. Bioinformatics, 35(18), 3397-3403. https://doi.org/10.1093/bioinformatics/btz088

© 2019 The Author(s) 2019. Published by Oxford University Press. Motivation: Genome scale metabolic models (GSMMs) are increasingly important for systems biology and metabolic engineering research as they are capable of simulating complex steady-stat... Read More about Gsmodutils: a python based framework for test-driven genome scale metabolic model development.

Gsmodutils: A python based framework for test-driven genome scale metabolic model development (2018)
Other
Gilbert, J. P., Pearcy, N., Norman, R., Millat, T., Winzer, K., King, J., …Twycross, J. (2018). Gsmodutils: A python based framework for test-driven genome scale metabolic model development

Motivation Genome scale metabolic models (GSMMs) are increasingly important for systems biology and metabolic engineering research as they are capable of simulating complex steady-state behaviour. Constraints based models of this form can include tho... Read More about Gsmodutils: A python based framework for test-driven genome scale metabolic model development.

Functional genetic elements for controlling gene expression in Cupriavidus necator H16 (2018)
Journal Article
Alagesan, S., Hanko, E. K., Malys, N., Ehsaan, M., Winzer, K., & Minton, N. P. (2018). Functional genetic elements for controlling gene expression in Cupriavidus necator H16. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, https://doi.org/10.1128/AEM.00878-18

A robust and predictable control of gene expression plays an important role in synthetic biology and biotechnology applications. Development and quantitative evaluation of functional genetic elements such as constitutive and inducible promoters, as w... Read More about Functional genetic elements for controlling gene expression in Cupriavidus necator H16.

The butanol producing microbe Clostridium beijerinckii NCIMB 14988 manipulated using forward and reverse genetic tools (2018)
Journal Article
Little, G. T., Willson, B. J., Heap, J. T., Winzer, K., & Minton, N. P. (2018). The butanol producing microbe Clostridium beijerinckii NCIMB 14988 manipulated using forward and reverse genetic tools. Biotechnology Journal, https://doi.org/10.1002/biot.201700711

The solventogenic anaerobe Clostridium beijerinckii has potential for use in the sustainable bioconversion of plant-derived carbohydrates into solvents, such as butanol or acetone. However, relatively few strains have been extensively characterised e... Read More about The butanol producing microbe Clostridium beijerinckii NCIMB 14988 manipulated using forward and reverse genetic tools.

Quantitative isotope-dilution high-resolution-mass-apectrometry analysis of multiple intracellular metabolites in Clostridium autoethanogenum with uniformly 13C-labeled standards derived from Spirulina (2018)
Journal Article
Schatschneider, S., Abdelrazig, S. M., Safo, L., Henstra, A. M., Millat, T., Kim, D., …Barrett, D. A. (2018). Quantitative isotope-dilution high-resolution-mass-apectrometry analysis of multiple intracellular metabolites in Clostridium autoethanogenum with uniformly 13C-labeled standards derived from Spirulina. Analytical Chemistry, 90(7), https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.analchem.7b04758

We have investigated the applicability of commercially available lyophilized spirulina (Arthrospira platensis), a microorganism uniformly labeled with 13C, as a readily accessible source of multiple 13C-labeled metabolites suitable as internal standa... Read More about Quantitative isotope-dilution high-resolution-mass-apectrometry analysis of multiple intracellular metabolites in Clostridium autoethanogenum with uniformly 13C-labeled standards derived from Spirulina.

Polymers for binding of the gram-positive oral pathogen Streptococcus mutans (2017)
Journal Article
Magennis, E. P., Francini, N., Mastrotto, F., Catania, R., Redhead, M., Fernandez-Trillo, F., …Mantovani, G. (2017). Polymers for binding of the gram-positive oral pathogen Streptococcus mutans. PLoS ONE, 12(7), Article e018008. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0180087

Streptococcus mutans is the most significant pathogenic bacterium implicated in the formation of dental caries and, both directly and indirectly, has been associated with severe conditions such as multiple sclerosis, cerebrovascular and peripheral ar... Read More about Polymers for binding of the gram-positive oral pathogen Streptococcus mutans.

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.

Mathematical modelling of clostridial acetone-butanol-ethanol fermentation (2017)
Journal Article
Millat, T., & Winzer, K. (in press). Mathematical modelling of clostridial acetone-butanol-ethanol fermentation. Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology, 101(6), https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-017-8137-4

Clostridial acetone-butanol-ethanol (ABE) fermentation features a remarkable shift in the cellular metabolic activity from acid formation, acidogenesis, to the production of industrial-relevant solvents, solventogensis. In recent decades, mathematica... Read More about Mathematical modelling of clostridial acetone-butanol-ethanol fermentation.

Metabolic engineering of Clostridium autoethanogenum for selective alcohol production (2017)
Journal Article
Liew, F., Henstra, A. M., Kӧpke, M., Winzer, K., Simpson, S. D., & Minton, N. P. (2017). Metabolic engineering of Clostridium autoethanogenum for selective alcohol production. Metabolic Engineering, 40, 104-114. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ymben.2017.01.007

Gas fermentation using acetogenic bacteria such as Clostridium autoethanogenum offers an attractive route for production of fuel ethanol from industrial waste gases. Acetate reduction to acetaldehyde and further to ethanol via an aldehyde: ferredoxin... Read More about Metabolic engineering of Clostridium autoethanogenum for selective alcohol production.

Development and implementation of rapid metabolic engineering tools for chemical and fuel production in Geobacillus thermoglucosidasius NCIMB 11955 (2017)
Journal Article
Sheng, L., Kovács, K., Winzer, K., Zhang, Y., & Minton, N. P. (2017). Development and implementation of rapid metabolic engineering tools for chemical and fuel production in Geobacillus thermoglucosidasius NCIMB 11955. Biotechnology for Biofuels, 10(1), Article 5. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13068-016-0692-x

Background The thermophile Geobacillus thermoglucosidasius has considerable attraction as a chassis for the production of chemicals and fuels. It utilises a wide range of sugars and oligosaccharides typical of those derived from lignocellulose and... Read More about Development and implementation of rapid metabolic engineering tools for chemical and fuel production in Geobacillus thermoglucosidasius NCIMB 11955.

A genetic assay for gene essentiality in Clostridium (2016)
Journal Article
Walker, D. J., Heap, J. T., Winzer, K., & Minton, N. P. (2016). A genetic assay for gene essentiality in Clostridium. Anaerobe, 42, 40-43. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anaerobe.2016.07.007

Essential genes of pathogens are potential therapeutic targets, but are difficult to verify. Here, gene essentiality was determined by targeted knockout following engineered gene duplication. Null mutants of candidate essential genes of Clostridium d... Read More about A genetic assay for gene essentiality in Clostridium.

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.

Mutant generation by allelic exchange and genome resequencing of the biobutanol organism Clostridium acetobutylicum ATCC 824 (2016)
Journal Article
Ehsaan, M., Kuit, W., Zhang, Y., Cartman, S. T., Heap, J. T., Winzer, K., & Minton, N. P. (2016). Mutant generation by allelic exchange and genome resequencing of the biobutanol organism Clostridium acetobutylicum ATCC 824. Biotechnology for Biofuels, 9(1), Article 4. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13068-015-0410-0

Background Clostridium acetobutylicum represents a paradigm chassis for the industrial production of the biofuel biobutanol and a focus for metabolic engineering. We have previously developed procedures for the creation of in-frame, marker-less de... Read More about Mutant generation by allelic exchange and genome resequencing of the biobutanol organism Clostridium acetobutylicum ATCC 824.

Whole genome sequence and manual annotation of Clostridium autoethanogenum, an industrially relevant bacterium (2015)
Journal Article
Humphreys, C. M., McLean, S., Schatschneider, S., Millat, T., Henstra, A. M., Annan, F. J., …Minton, N. P. (2015). Whole genome sequence and manual annotation of Clostridium autoethanogenum, an industrially relevant bacterium. BMC Genomics, 16(1), Article 1085. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12864-015-2287-5

© 2015 Humphreys et al. Background: Clostridium autoethanogenum is an acetogenic bacterium capable of producing high value commodity chemicals and biofuels from the C1 gases present in synthesis gas. This common industrial waste gas can act as the so... Read More about Whole genome sequence and manual annotation of Clostridium autoethanogenum, an industrially relevant bacterium.

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.

Coenzyme A-transferase-independent butyrate re-assimilation in Clostridium acetobutylicum - evidence from a mathematical model (2014)
Journal Article
Millat, T., Voigt, C., Janssen, H., Cooksley, C. M., Winzer, K., Minton, N. P., …Wolkenhauer, O. (2014). Coenzyme A-transferase-independent butyrate re-assimilation in Clostridium acetobutylicum - evidence from a mathematical model. Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology, 98(21), https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-014-5987-x

The hetero-dimeric CoA-transferase CtfA/B is believed to be crucial for the metabolic transition from acidogenesis to solventogenesis in Clostridium acetobutylicum as part of the industrial-relevant acetone-butanol-ethanol (ABE) fermentation. Here, t... Read More about Coenzyme A-transferase-independent butyrate re-assimilation in Clostridium acetobutylicum - evidence from a mathematical model.

Bacteria-instructed synthesis of polymers for self-selective microbial binding and labelling (2014)
Journal Article
Magennis, E. P., Fernandez-Trillo, F., Sui, C., Spain, S. G., Bradshaw, D., Churchley, D., …Alexander, C. (2014). Bacteria-instructed synthesis of polymers for self-selective microbial binding and labelling. Nature Materials, 13(7), 748-755. https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat3949

The detection and inactivation of pathogenic strains of bacteria continues to be an important therapeutic goal. Hence, there is a need for materials that can bind selectively to specific microorganisms for diagnostic or anti-infective applications, b... Read More about Bacteria-instructed synthesis of polymers for self-selective microbial binding and labelling.

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.

Integration of DNA into bacterial chromosomes from plasmids without a counter-selection marker (2012)
Journal Article
Heap, J. T., Ehsaan, M., Cooksley, C. M., Ng, Y., Cartman, S. T., Winzer, K., & Minton, N. P. (2012). Integration of DNA into bacterial chromosomes from plasmids without a counter-selection marker. Nucleic Acids Research, 40(8), Article 10. https://doi.org/10.1093/nar/gkr1321

Most bacteria can only be transformed with circular plasmids, so robust DNA integration methods for these rely upon selection of single-crossover clones followed by counter-selection of double-crossover clones. To overcome the limited availability of... Read More about Integration of DNA into bacterial chromosomes from plasmids without a counter-selection marker.

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.