Outputs (6)

Quantifying the Evolutionary Dynamics of Structure and Content in Closely Related E. coli Genomes (2025)
Journal Article
Molari, M., Shaw, L. P., & Neher, R. A. (2025). Quantifying the Evolutionary Dynamics of Structure and Content in Closely Related E. coli Genomes. Molecular Biology and Evolution, 42(1), Article msae272. https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msae272

Bacterial genomes primarily diversify via gain, loss, and rearrangement of genetic material in their flexible accessory genome. Yet the dynamics of accessory genome evolution are very poorly understood, in contrast to the core genome where diversific... Read More about Quantifying the Evolutionary Dynamics of Structure and Content in Closely Related E. coli Genomes.

Recent approaches in computational modelling for controlling pathogen threats. (2024)
Journal Article
Lees, J. A., Russell, T. W., Shaw, L. P., & Hellewell, J. (2024). Recent approaches in computational modelling for controlling pathogen threats. Life Science Alliance, 7(9), Article e202402666. https://doi.org/10.26508/lsa.202402666

In this review, we assess the status of computational modelling of pathogens. We focus on three disparate but interlinked research areas that produce models with very different spatial and temporal scope. First, we examine antimicrobial resistance (A... Read More about Recent approaches in computational modelling for controlling pathogen threats..

Visualizing and quantifying structural diversity around mobile resistance genes. (2023)
Journal Article
Shaw, L. P., & Neher, R. A. (2023). Visualizing and quantifying structural diversity around mobile resistance genes. Microbial Genomics, 9(12), 10.1099/mgen.0.001168. https://doi.org/10.1099/mgen.0.001168

Understanding the evolution of mobile genes is important for understanding the spread of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Many clinically important AMR genes have been mobilized by mobile genetic elements (MGEs) on the kilobase scale, such as integron... Read More about Visualizing and quantifying structural diversity around mobile resistance genes..

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.

Regulatory fine-tuning of mcr-1 increases bacterial fitness and stabilises antibiotic resistance in agricultural settings (2023)
Journal Article
Ogunlana, L., Kaur, D., Shaw, L. P., Jangir, P., Walsh, T., Uphoff, S., & MacLean, R. C. (2023). Regulatory fine-tuning of mcr-1 increases bacterial fitness and stabilises antibiotic resistance in agricultural settings. The ISME Journal: Multidisciplinary Journal of Microbial Ecology, 17(11), 2058-2069. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41396-023-01509-7

Antibiotic resistance tends to carry fitness costs, making it difficult to understand how resistance can be maintained in the absence of continual antibiotic exposure. Here we investigate this problem in the context of mcr-1, a globally disseminated... Read More about Regulatory fine-tuning of mcr-1 increases bacterial fitness and stabilises antibiotic resistance in agricultural settings.

Restriction-modification systems have shaped the evolution and distribution of plasmids across bacteria (2023)
Journal Article
Shaw, L. P., Rocha, E. P. C., & MacLean, R. C. (2023). Restriction-modification systems have shaped the evolution and distribution of plasmids across bacteria. Nucleic Acids Research, 51(13), 6806-6818. https://doi.org/10.1093/nar/gkad452

Many novel traits such as antibiotic resistance are spread by plasmids between species. Yet plasmids have different host ranges. Restriction-modification systems (R-M systems) are by far the most abundant bacterial defense system and therefore repres... Read More about Restriction-modification systems have shaped the evolution and distribution of plasmids across bacteria.