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Antibacterial mechanism of Malaysian Carey clay against food-borne Staphylococcus aureus (2024)
Journal Article
Azmi, N. N., Mahyudin, N. A., Wan Omar, W. H., Abdullah, A. H., Ismail, R., Ishak, C. F., & Sharples, G. J. (2024). Antibacterial mechanism of Malaysian Carey clay against food-borne Staphylococcus aureus. Natural Product Research, 1-5. https://doi.org/10.1080/14786419.2024.2355583

Depending on their chemical structure and geochemistry, clay minerals can display potent antibacterial properties against a range of bacterial pathogens. Malaysian Carey clay was evaluated for its antibacterial activity against food-borne ATCC 1356... Read More about Antibacterial mechanism of Malaysian Carey clay against food-borne Staphylococcus aureus.

A critical role for iron and zinc homeostatic systems in the evolutionary adaptation of Escherichia coli to metal restriction (2023)
Journal Article
Paterson, J. R., Wadsworth, J. M., Hu, P., & Sharples, G. J. (2023). A critical role for iron and zinc homeostatic systems in the evolutionary adaptation of Escherichia coli to metal restriction. Microbial Genomics, 9(12), Article 001153. https://doi.org/10.1099/mgen.0.001153

Host nutritional immunity utilizes metal deprivation to help prevent microbial infection. To investigate bacterial adaptation to such restrictive conditions, we conducted experimental evolution with two metal sequestering agents. Ethylenediaminetetra... Read More about A critical role for iron and zinc homeostatic systems in the evolutionary adaptation of Escherichia coli to metal restriction.

The antibacterial activity of a photoactivatable diarylacetylene against Gram-positive bacteria (2023)
Journal Article
Waite, R., Adams, C. T., Chisholm, D. R., Sims, C. H. C., Hughes, J. G., Dias, E., …Ambler, C. A. (2023). The antibacterial activity of a photoactivatable diarylacetylene against Gram-positive bacteria. Frontiers in Microbiology, 14, Article 1243818. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2023.1243818

The emergence of antibiotic resistance is a growing threat to human health, and therefore, alternatives to existing compounds are urgently needed. In this context, a novel fluorescent photoactivatable diarylacetylene has been identified and character... Read More about The antibacterial activity of a photoactivatable diarylacetylene against Gram-positive bacteria.

Effect of natural antibacterial clays against single biofilm formation by Staphylococcus aureus and Salmonella Typhimurium bacteria on a stainless-steel surface (2023)
Journal Article
Wan Omar, W. H., Mahyudin, N. A., Azmi, N. N., Mahmud Ab Rashid, N., Ismail, R., Mohd Yusoff, M. H. Y., …Sharples, G. J. (2023). Effect of natural antibacterial clays against single biofilm formation by Staphylococcus aureus and Salmonella Typhimurium bacteria on a stainless-steel surface. International Journal of Food Microbiology, 394, Article 110184. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijfoodmicro.2023.110184

Staphylococcus aureus and Salmonella Typhimurium have a propensity to develop biofilms on food contact surfaces, such as stainless-steel, that persist despite rigorous cleaning and sanitizing procedures. Since both bacterial species pose a significan... Read More about Effect of natural antibacterial clays against single biofilm formation by Staphylococcus aureus and Salmonella Typhimurium bacteria on a stainless-steel surface.

Reading Clay: The Temporal and Transformative Potential of Clay in Contemporary Scientific Practice (2022)
Journal Article
Bryant, L., Jamie, K., & Sharples, G. (2023). Reading Clay: The Temporal and Transformative Potential of Clay in Contemporary Scientific Practice. Journal of Material Culture, 28(1), 87-105. https://doi.org/10.1177/13591835221074159

Clay has a long history in the global south and has been extensively studied by ‘Western’ social scientists particularly anthropologists and archeologists in relation to histories of earlier civilisations and cultural practices. Clay in relation to c... Read More about Reading Clay: The Temporal and Transformative Potential of Clay in Contemporary Scientific Practice.

Antibacterial Activity of Clay Soils against Food-Borne Salmonella typhimurium and Staphylococcus aureus (2021)
Journal Article
Azmi, N. N., Mahyudin, N. A., Wan Omar, W. H., Mahmud Ab Rashid, N., Ishak, C. F., Abdullah, A. H., & Sharples, G. J. (2022). Antibacterial Activity of Clay Soils against Food-Borne Salmonella typhimurium and Staphylococcus aureus. Molecules, 27(1), Article 170. https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules27010170

Natural clays have recently been proven to possess antibacterial properties. Effective natural antimicrobial agents are needed to combat bacterial contamination on food contact surfaces, which are increasingly more prevalent in the food chain. This s... Read More about Antibacterial Activity of Clay Soils against Food-Borne Salmonella typhimurium and Staphylococcus aureus.

Insights into the antibacterial mechanism of action of chelating agents by selective deprivation of iron, manganese and zinc (2021)
Journal Article
Paterson, J. R., Beecroft, M. S., Mulla, R. S., Osman, D., Reeder, N. L., Caserta, J. A., …Sharples, G. J. (2022). Insights into the antibacterial mechanism of action of chelating agents by selective deprivation of iron, manganese and zinc. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, https://doi.org/10.1128/aem.01641-21

Bacterial growth and proliferation can be restricted by limiting the availability of metal ions in their environment. Humans sequester iron, manganese and zinc to help prevent infection by pathogens, a system termed nutritional immunity. Commercially... Read More about Insights into the antibacterial mechanism of action of chelating agents by selective deprivation of iron, manganese and zinc.

Nature‐Inspired Substrate‐Independent Omniphobic and Antimicrobial Slippery Surfaces (2021)
Journal Article
Cox, H. J., Gibson, C. P., Sharples, G. J., & Badyal, J. P. S. (2022). Nature‐Inspired Substrate‐Independent Omniphobic and Antimicrobial Slippery Surfaces. Advanced Engineering Materials, 24(6), Article 2101288. https://doi.org/10.1002/adem.202101288

Inspired by the carnivorous Nepenthes pitcher plant, a range of highly liquid repellent lubricant-infused surfaces has been devised (low water droplet contact angle hysteresis and sliding angle values). This entails matching functional pulsed plasma... Read More about Nature‐Inspired Substrate‐Independent Omniphobic and Antimicrobial Slippery Surfaces.

Tea–Essential Oil–Metal Hybrid Nanocoatings for Bacterial and Viral Inactivation (2021)
Journal Article
Cox, H. J., Sharples, G. J., & Badyal, J. P. S. (2021). Tea–Essential Oil–Metal Hybrid Nanocoatings for Bacterial and Viral Inactivation. ACS Applied Nano Material, 4(11), 12619-12628. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsanm.1c03151

Natural plant-derived antimicrobial nanocoatings have been synthesized by mixing brewed tea with cinnamaldehyde oil. Concurrent addition of copper or silver salts produces hybrid tea–cinnamaldehyde–copper or tea–cinnamaldehyde–silver nanocoatings, re... Read More about Tea–Essential Oil–Metal Hybrid Nanocoatings for Bacterial and Viral Inactivation.

Bioinspired and eco-friendly high efficacy cinnamaldehyde antibacterial surfaces (2021)
Journal Article
Cox, H. J., Li, J., Saini, P., Paterson, J. R., Sharples, G. J., & Badyal, J. P. S. (2021). Bioinspired and eco-friendly high efficacy cinnamaldehyde antibacterial surfaces. Journal of Materials Chemistry B: Materials for biology and medicine, 9(12), 2918-2930. https://doi.org/10.1039/d0tb02379e

Antimicrobial essential oils are incorporated into mussel-inspired and natural plant polyphenol coatings as part of a single-step fabrication process. Polydopamine–cinnamaldehyde, polyethyleneimine–cinnamaldehyde, and tannic acid–cinnamaldehyde coati... Read More about Bioinspired and eco-friendly high efficacy cinnamaldehyde antibacterial surfaces.

Volcanism and global plague pandemics: Towards an interdisciplinary synthesis (2020)
Journal Article
Fell, H. G., Baldini, J. U., Dodds, B., & Sharples, G. J. (2020). Volcanism and global plague pandemics: Towards an interdisciplinary synthesis. Journal of Historical Geography, 70, 36-46. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhg.2020.10.001

Understanding the prevalence and dissemination of bacterial pathogens such as Yersinia pestis, the bacterial agent of plague, is key to identifying the origins and demographic impact of historic pandemic episodes and mitigating future risk. Climate m... Read More about Volcanism and global plague pandemics: Towards an interdisciplinary synthesis.

The social and material life of medicinal clay: Exploring antimicrobial resistance, medicines' materiality and medicines optimization (2020)
Journal Article
Jamie, K., & Sharples, G. (2020). The social and material life of medicinal clay: Exploring antimicrobial resistance, medicines' materiality and medicines optimization. Frontiers in Sociology, 5, Article 26. https://doi.org/10.3389/fsoc.2020.00026

While sociologists have made significant theoretical contributions to the antimicrobial resistance (AMR) debate, little attention has been given to the antimicrobial products themselves. Here we advocate a significant new direction which centres on t... Read More about The social and material life of medicinal clay: Exploring antimicrobial resistance, medicines' materiality and medicines optimization.

A bacteriophage mimic of the bacterial nucleoid-associated protein Fis (2020)
Journal Article
Sharples, G. J., Heddle, J. G., Kozak, M., Taube, M., Hughes, T. R., Pålsson, L.-O., …Chakraborti, S. (2020). A bacteriophage mimic of the bacterial nucleoid-associated protein Fis. Biochemical Journal, 477(7), 1345-1362. https://doi.org/10.1042/bcj20200146

We report the identification and characterization of a bacteriophage λ-encoded protein, NinH. Sequence homology suggests similarity between NinH and Fis, a bacterial nucleoid-associated protein involved in numerous DNA topology manipulations, includi... Read More about A bacteriophage mimic of the bacterial nucleoid-associated protein Fis.

Bioinspired Multifunctional Polymer–Nanoparticle–Surfactant Complex Nanocomposite Surfaces for Antibacterial Oil–Water Separation (2018)
Journal Article
Ritchie, A., Cox, H., Barrientos-Palomo, S., Sharples, G., & Badyal, J. (2019). Bioinspired Multifunctional Polymer–Nanoparticle–Surfactant Complex Nanocomposite Surfaces for Antibacterial Oil–Water Separation. Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochemical and Engineering Aspects, 560, 352-359. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.colsurfa.2018.10.030

Bioinspired polymer–nanoparticle–fluorosurfactant complex composite coatings are shown to display fast-switching oleophobic–hydrophilic properties. The large switching parameters (difference between the equilibrium oil and water static contact angles... Read More about Bioinspired Multifunctional Polymer–Nanoparticle–Surfactant Complex Nanocomposite Surfaces for Antibacterial Oil–Water Separation.

On the antibacterial activity of azacarboxylate ligands: lowered metal ion affinities for bis-amide derivatives of EDTA do not mean reduced activity (2018)
Journal Article
Mulla, R., Beecroft, M., Pal, R., Aguilar, J., Pitarch-Jarque, J., García‐España, E., …Williams, J. (2018). On the antibacterial activity of azacarboxylate ligands: lowered metal ion affinities for bis-amide derivatives of EDTA do not mean reduced activity. Chemistry - A European Journal, 24(28), 7137-7148. https://doi.org/10.1002/chem.201800026

EDTA is widely used as an inhibitor of bacterial growth, affecting the uptake and control of metal ions by microorganisms. We describe the synthesis and characterisation of two symmetrical bis‐amide derivatives of EDTA, featuring glycyl or pyridyl su... Read More about On the antibacterial activity of azacarboxylate ligands: lowered metal ion affinities for bis-amide derivatives of EDTA do not mean reduced activity.

The intracellular immune receptor Rx1 regulates the DNA-binding activity of a Golden2-like transcription factor (2017)
Journal Article
Townsend, P., Dixon, C., Slootweg, E., Sukarta, O., Yang, A., Hughes, T., …Cann, M. (2018). The intracellular immune receptor Rx1 regulates the DNA-binding activity of a Golden2-like transcription factor. Journal of Biological Chemistry, 293(9), 3218-3233. https://doi.org/10.1074/jbc.ra117.000485

Plant NLR proteins enable the immune system to recognise and respond to pathogen attack. An early consequence of immune activation is transcriptional reprogramming and some NLRs have been shown to act in the nucleus and interact with transcription fa... Read More about The intracellular immune receptor Rx1 regulates the DNA-binding activity of a Golden2-like transcription factor.

Medicinal Mascarene Aloe s: An audit of their phytotherapeutic potential (2017)
Journal Article
Lobine, D., Cummins, I., Govinden-Soulange, J., Ranghoo-Sanmukhiya, M., Lindsey, K., Chazot, P., …Howes, M. (2018). Medicinal Mascarene Aloe s: An audit of their phytotherapeutic potential. Fitoterapia, 124, 120-126. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fitote.2017.10.010

A phytochemical and biological investigation of the endemic Mascarene Aloes (Aloe spp.), including A. tormentorii (Marais) L.E.Newton & G.D.Rowley, A. purpurea Lam, A. macra Haw., A. lomatophylloides Balf.f and A. vera (synonym A. barbadensis Mill.),... Read More about Medicinal Mascarene Aloe s: An audit of their phytotherapeutic potential.

Exploring the links between peptoid antibacterial activity and toxicity (2017)
Journal Article
Bolt, H. L., Eggimann, G. A., Jahoda, C. A., Zuckermann, R. N., Sharples, G. J., & Cobb, S. L. (2017). Exploring the links between peptoid antibacterial activity and toxicity. MedChemComm, 8(5), 886-896. https://doi.org/10.1039/c6md00648e

Peptoids are a promising class of antimicrobial agents with reported activities against a range of both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, fungi and most recently parasites. However, at present the available toxicty data is somewhat limited an... Read More about Exploring the links between peptoid antibacterial activity and toxicity.

Glycosylated nanoparticles as efficient antimicrobial delivery agents (2016)
Journal Article
Eissa, A., Abdulkarim, A., Sharples, G., & Cameron, N. (2016). Glycosylated nanoparticles as efficient antimicrobial delivery agents. Biomacromolecules, 17(8), 2672-2679. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.biomac.6b00711

Synthetic polymer nanoparticles that can be tailored through multivalent ligand display on the surface, while at the same time allowing encapsulation of desired bioactive molecules, are especially useful in providing a versatile and robust platform i... Read More about Glycosylated nanoparticles as efficient antimicrobial delivery agents.

Mycobacterium tuberculosis RuvX is a Holliday junction resolvase formed by dimerisation of the monomeric YqgF nuclease domain (2016)
Journal Article
Nautiyal, A., Rani, P., Sharples, G., & Muniyappa, K. (2016). Mycobacterium tuberculosis RuvX is a Holliday junction resolvase formed by dimerisation of the monomeric YqgF nuclease domain. Molecular Microbiology, 100(4), 656-674. https://doi.org/10.1111/mmi.13338

The Mycobacterium tuberculosis genome possesses homologues of the ruvC and yqgF genes that encode putative Holliday junction (HJ) resolvases. However, their gene expression profiles and enzymatic properties have not been experimentally defined. Here... Read More about Mycobacterium tuberculosis RuvX is a Holliday junction resolvase formed by dimerisation of the monomeric YqgF nuclease domain.