Outputs (8)

Structure and rational engineering of the PglX methyltransferase and specificity factor for BREX phage defence (2024)
Journal Article
Went, S. C., Picton, D. M., Morgan, R. D., Nelson, A., Brady, A., Mariano, G., Dryden, D. T. F., Smith, D. L., Wenner, N., Hinton, J. C. D., & Blower, T. R. (2024). Structure and rational engineering of the PglX methyltransferase and specificity factor for BREX phage defence. Nature Communications, 15, Article 7236. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-51629-7

Bacteria have evolved a broad range of systems that provide defence against their viral predators, bacteriophages. Bacteriophage Exclusion (BREX) systems recognise and methylate 6 bp non-palindromic motifs within the host genome, and prevent replicat... Read More about Structure and rational engineering of the PglX methyltransferase and specificity factor for BREX phage defence.

Diverse Durham collection phages demonstrate complex BREX defence responses (2023)
Journal Article
Kelly, A., Went, S. C., Mariano, G., Shaw, L. P., Picton, D. M., Duffner, S. J., Coates, I., Herdman-Grant, R., Gordeeva, J., Drobiazko, A., Isaev, A., Lee, Y.-J., Luyten, Y., Morgan, R. D., Weigele, P., Severinov, K., Wenner, N., Hinton, J. C., & Blower, T. R. (2023). Diverse Durham collection phages demonstrate complex BREX defence responses. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 89(9), Article e00623-23. https://doi.org/10.1128/aem.00623-23

Bacteriophages (phages) outnumber bacteria ten-to-one and cause infections at a rate of 1025 per second. The ability of phages to reduce bacterial populations makes them attractive alternative antibacterials for use in combating the rise in antimicro... Read More about Diverse Durham collection phages demonstrate complex BREX defence responses.

Crystal structure of the BREX phage defence protein BrxA (2022)
Journal Article
Beck, I., Picton, D., & Blower, T. (2022). Crystal structure of the BREX phage defence protein BrxA. Current Research in Structural Biology, 4, 211-219. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.crstbi.2022.06.001

Bacteria are constantly challenged by bacteriophage (phage) infection and have developed multitudinous and varied resistance mechanisms. Bacteriophage Exclusion (BREX) systems protect from phage infection by generating methylation patterns at non-pal... Read More about Crystal structure of the BREX phage defence protein BrxA.

A widespread family of WYL-domain transcriptional regulators co-localises with diverse phage defence systems and islands (2022)
Journal Article
Picton, D., Harling-Lee, J., Duffner, S., Went, S., Morgan, R., Hinton, J., & Blower, T. (2022). A widespread family of WYL-domain transcriptional regulators co-localises with diverse phage defence systems and islands. Nucleic Acids Research, 50(9), 5191-5207. https://doi.org/10.1093/nar/gkac334

Bacteria are under constant assault by bacteriophages and other mobile genetic elements. As a result, bacteria have evolved a multitude of systems that protect from attack. Genes encoding bacterial defence mechanisms can be clustered into “defence is... Read More about A widespread family of WYL-domain transcriptional regulators co-localises with diverse phage defence systems and islands.

The phage defence island of a multidrug resistant plasmid uses both BREX and type IV restriction for complementary protection from viruses (2021)
Journal Article
Picton, D., Luyten, Y., Morgan, R., Nelson, A., Smith, D., Dryden, D., Hinton, J., & Blower, T. (2021). The phage defence island of a multidrug resistant plasmid uses both BREX and type IV restriction for complementary protection from viruses. Nucleic Acids Research, 49(19), 11257-11273. https://doi.org/10.1093/nar/gkab906

Bacteria have evolved a multitude of systems to prevent invasion by bacteriophages and other mobile genetic elements. Comparative genomics suggests that genes encoding bacterial defence mechanisms are often clustered in “defence islands”, providing a... Read More about The phage defence island of a multidrug resistant plasmid uses both BREX and type IV restriction for complementary protection from viruses.

Isolation and characterisation of bacteriophages with activity against invasive non-typhoidal Salmonella causing blood-stream infection in Malawi (2021)
Journal Article
Rodwell, E., Wenner, N., Pulford, C., Cai, Y., Bowers-Barnard, A., Beckett, A., Rigby, J., Picton, D., Blower, T., Feasey, N., Hinton, J., & Perez-Sepulveda, B. (2021). Isolation and characterisation of bacteriophages with activity against invasive non-typhoidal Salmonella causing blood-stream infection in Malawi. Viruses, 13(3), Article 478. https://doi.org/10.3390/v13030478

In recent years, novel lineages of invasive non-typhoidal Salmonella (iNTS) serovars Typhimurium and Enteritidis have been identified in patients with bloodstream infection in sub-Saharan Africa. Here, we isolated and characterised 32 phages capable... Read More about Isolation and characterisation of bacteriophages with activity against invasive non-typhoidal Salmonella causing blood-stream infection in Malawi.

Anticancer Ruthenium Complexes with HDAC Isoform Selectivity (2020)
Journal Article
Cross, J., Blower, T., Kingdon, A., Pal, R., Picton, D., & Walton, J. (2020). Anticancer Ruthenium Complexes with HDAC Isoform Selectivity. Molecules, 25(10), Article 2383. https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules25102383

The histone deacetylase (HDAC) enzymes have emerged as an important class of molecular targets in cancer therapy, with five inhibitors in clinical use. Recently, it has been shown that a lack of selectivity between the 11 Zn-dependent HDAC isoforms m... Read More about Anticancer Ruthenium Complexes with HDAC Isoform Selectivity.

Growth rate control of flagellar assembly in Escherichia coli strain RP437 (2017)
Journal Article
Sim, M., Koirala, S., Picton, D., Strahl, H., Hoskisson, P. A., Rao, C. V., …Aldridge, P. D. (2017). Growth rate control of flagellar assembly in Escherichia coli strain RP437. Scientific Reports, 7, Article 41189. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep41189

The flagellum is a rotary motor that enables bacteria to swim in liquids and swarm over surfaces. Numerous global regulators control flagellar assembly in response to cellular and environmental factors. Previous studies have also shown that flagellar... Read More about Growth rate control of flagellar assembly in Escherichia coli strain RP437.