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Contact Details

Phone
+64 3 479 7735
Email
peter.fineran@otago.ac.nz
Position
Professor
Department
Department of Microbiology and Immunology
Qualifications
BSc (Hons) PhD
Research summary
Molecular microbiology and bacteriophages

Research

Our research goal is to understand the interactions between mobile genetic elements, such as bacteriophages and plasmids, and their bacterial hosts. Our main interest is in phage resistance mechanisms.

The page-bacterium ‘arms race’

Accumulating evidence demonstrates that viruses are the most abundant biological entities on the planet. They outnumber bacteria by approximately 10 to 1 and there are an estimated >1030 tailed bacteriophages globally! The result is an obvious selective pressure for bacteria to acquire resistance to phage attack and for phages to acquire counter defence mechanisms. Indeed, many mechanisms of phage resistance are known, ranging from bacterial cell surface alterations, through restriction and modification, to abortive infection. Our research focuses on:

  • Abortive infection and toxin-antitoxin 'innate immune systems'
  • CRISPR-Cas 'adaptive immune systems'
  • Phages as antimicrobial agents

Publications

Kamata, K., Celeen, M., Birkholz, N., Fagerlund, R., Jackson, S., & Fineran, P. (2024). CRISPR-based bacteriophage engineering reveals essentiality of anti-CRISPR-associated gene. Journal of Biological Chemistry, 300(3, Suppl.), 1335. doi: 10.1016/j.jbc.2024.105832 Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Abstract

Sisson, H. M., Jackson, S. A., Fagerlund, R. D., Warring, S. L., & Fineran, P. C. (2024). Gram-negative endolysins: Overcoming the outer membrane obstacle [Review]. Current Opinion in Microbiology, 78, 102433. doi: 10.1016/j.mib.2024.102433 Journal - Research Article

Sisson, H. M., Fagerlund, R. D., Jackson, S. A., Briers, Y., Warring, S. L., & Fineran, P. C. (2024). Antibacterial synergy between a phage endolysin and citric acid against the Gram-negative kiwifruit pathogen Pseudomonas syringae pv. actinidiae. Applied & Environmental Microbiology. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1128/aem.01846-23 Journal - Research Article

Mayo-Muñoz, D., Pinilla-Redondo, R., Camara-Wilpert, S., Birkholz, N., & Fineran, P. C. (2024). Inhibitors of bacterial immune systems: Discovery, mechanisms and applications. Nature Reviews Genetics. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1038/s41576-023-00676-9 Journal - Research Article

Sitter, L., Schoof, M., Glare, T. R., Cox, M. P., Fineran, P. C., Gardner, P. P., & Hurst, M. R. H. (2024). Serratia-based toxin cluster elements are associated with a type I fimbria. MicrobiologyOpen, 13, e1395. doi: 10.1002/mbo3.1395 Journal - Research Article

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