Elliott, J. F. K., Cozens, K., Cai, Y., Waugh, C., Watson, B. N., Westra, E., & Taylor, T. B. (2025). Phage susceptibility to a minimal, modular synthetic CRISPR-Cas system in Pseudomonas aeruginosa is nutrient dependent. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 380, 20240473. doi: 10.1098/rstb.2024.0473
Journal - Research Article
Hodgkinson-Bean, J., Ayala, R., Jayawardena, N., Rutter, G. L., Watson, B. N. J., Mayo-Muñoz, D., … Fineran, P. C., … Bostina, M. (2025). Global structural survey of the flagellotropic myophage φTE infecting agricultural pathogen Pectobacterium atrosepticum. Nature Communications, 16, 3257. doi: 10.1038/s41467-025-58514-x
Journal - Research Article
Elliott, J. F. K., McLeod, D. V., Taylor, T. B., Westra, E. R., Gandon, S., & Watson, B. N. J. (2024). Conditions for the spread of CRISPR-Cas immune systems into bacterial populations. ISME Journal, 18(1), wrae108. doi: 10.1093/ismejo/wrae108
Journal - Research Article
Watson, B. N. J., Capria, L., Alseth, E. O., Pons, B., Biswas, A., Lenzi, L., … Meaden, S. (2024). CRISPR-Cas in Pseudomonas aeruginosa provides transient population-level immunity against high phage exposures. ISME Journal, 18(1), wrad039. doi: 10.1093/ismejo/wrad039
Journal - Research Article
Forsyth, J. H., Barron, N. L., Scott, L., Watson, B. N. J., Chisnall, M. A. W., Meaden, S., … Raymond, B. (2023). Decolonizing drug-resistant E. coli with phage and probiotics: Breaking the frequency-dependent dominance of residents. Microbiology, 169, 001352. doi: 10.1099/mic.0.001352
Journal - Research Article
2025
Journal - Research Article
Elliott, J. F. K., Cozens, K., Cai, Y., Waugh, C., Watson, B. N., Westra, E., & Taylor, T. B. (2025). Phage susceptibility to a minimal, modular synthetic CRISPR-Cas system in Pseudomonas aeruginosa is nutrient dependent. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 380, 20240473. doi: 10.1098/rstb.2024.0473
Hodgkinson-Bean, J., Ayala, R., Jayawardena, N., Rutter, G. L., Watson, B. N. J., Mayo-Muñoz, D., … Fineran, P. C., … Bostina, M. (2025). Global structural survey of the flagellotropic myophage φTE infecting agricultural pathogen Pectobacterium atrosepticum. Nature Communications, 16, 3257. doi: 10.1038/s41467-025-58514-x
2024
Journal - Research Article
Elliott, J. F. K., McLeod, D. V., Taylor, T. B., Westra, E. R., Gandon, S., & Watson, B. N. J. (2024). Conditions for the spread of CRISPR-Cas immune systems into bacterial populations. ISME Journal, 18(1), wrae108. doi: 10.1093/ismejo/wrae108
Watson, B. N. J., Capria, L., Alseth, E. O., Pons, B., Biswas, A., Lenzi, L., … Meaden, S. (2024). CRISPR-Cas in Pseudomonas aeruginosa provides transient population-level immunity against high phage exposures. ISME Journal, 18(1), wrad039. doi: 10.1093/ismejo/wrad039
2023
Journal - Research Article
Forsyth, J. H., Barron, N. L., Scott, L., Watson, B. N. J., Chisnall, M. A. W., Meaden, S., … Raymond, B. (2023). Decolonizing drug-resistant E. coli with phage and probiotics: Breaking the frequency-dependent dominance of residents. Microbiology, 169, 001352. doi: 10.1099/mic.0.001352
Watson, B. N. J., Pursey, E., Gandon, S., & Westra, E. R. (2023). Transient eco-evolutionary dynamics early in a phage epidemic have strong and lasting impact on the long-term evolution of bacterial defences. PLoS Biology, 21(9), e3002122. doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3002122
2021
Journal - Research Other
Watson, B. N. J., Steens, J. A., Staals, R. H. J., Westra, E. R., & van Houte, S. (2021). Coevolution between bacterial CRISPR-Cas systems and their bacteriophages. Cell Host & Microbe, 29, 715-725. doi: 10.1016/j.chom.2021.03.018
2020
Journal - Research Article
Rollie, C., Chevallereau, A., Watson, B. N. J., Chyou, T.-y., Fradet, O., McLeod, I., Fineran, P. C., Brown, C. M., … Westra, E. R. (2020). Targeting of temperate phages drives loss of type I CRISPR-Cas systems. Nature, 578, 149-153. doi: 10.1038/s41586-020-1936-2
Journal - Research Other
Hampton, H. G., Watson, B. N. J., & Fineran, P. C. (2020). The arms race between bacteria and their phage foes. Nature, 577(7790), 327-336. doi: 10.1038/s41586-019-1894-8
2019
Journal - Research Article
Watson, B. N. J., Vercoe, R. B., Salmond, G. P. C., Westra, E. R., Staals, R. H. J., & Fineran, P. C. (2019). Type I–F CRISPR-Cas resistance against virulent phages results in abortive infection and provides population-level immunity. Nature Communications, 10, 5526. doi: 10.1038/s41467-019-13445-2
Watson, B. N. J., Easingwood, R. A., Tong, B., Wolf, M., Salmond, G. P. C., Staals, R. H. J., Bostina, M., & Fineran, P. C. (2019). Different genetic and morphological outcomes for phages targeted by single or multiple CRISPR-Cas spacers. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 374(1772), 20180090. doi: 10.1098/rstb.2018.0090
2018
Journal - Research Article
Watson, B. N. J., Staals, R. H. J., & Fineran, P. C. (2018). CRISPR-Cas-mediated phage resistance enhances horizontal gene transfer by transduction. mBio, 9(1), e02406-17. doi: 10.1128/mBio.02406-17
Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Abstract
Watson, B. N. J., Easingwood, R. A., Tong, B., Wolf, M., Salmond, G. P. C., Staals, R. H. J., Bostina, M., & Fineran, P. C. (2018). Different genetic and morphological outcomes for phages targeted by single or multiple CRISPR-Cas spacers. Proceedings of the New Zealand Microbiological Society (NZMS) New Zealand Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (NZSBMB) Joint Annual Conference: Microbes & Molecules. (pp. 73). Retrieved from https://www.nzmsconference.org.nz
Fagerlund, R. D., Ferguson, T. J., Watson, B. N. J., & Fineran, P. C. (2018). Integration host factor influences CRISPR-Cas immunity. Proceedings of the New Zealand Microbiological Society (NZMS) New Zealand Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (NZSBMB) Joint Annual Conference: Microbes & Molecules. (pp. 58-59). Retrieved from https://www.nzmsconference.org.nz
Watson, B. N. J., Easingwood, R. A., Tong, B., Wolf, M., Salmond, G. P. C., Staals, R. H. J., Bostina, M., & Fineran, P. C. (2018). Different genetic and morphological outcomes for phages targeted by single or multiple CRISPR-Cas spaces. Proceedings of the New Zealand Microbiological Society (NZMS) New Zealand Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (NZSBMB) Joint Annual Conference: Microbes & Molecules. (pp. 40). Retrieved from https://www.nzmsconference.org.nz
Awarded Doctoral Degree
Watson, B. N. J. (2018). Consequences of phage resistance elicited by CRISPR-Cas in Pectobacterium atrosepticum (PhD). University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/10523/8372
2017
Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Abstract
Watson, B. N. J., Staals, R. H. J., & Fineran, P. C. (2017). CRISPR-Cas affects horizontal gene transfer by transduction. Proceedings of the 22nd Biennial Evergreen Bacteriophage Conference. (pp. 21). Retrieved from http://blogs.evergreen.edu/phage/about/meetings/2017-evergreen-meeting
2016
Journal - Research Article
Pawluk, A., Staals, R. H. J., Taylor, C., Watson, B. N. J., Saha, S., Fineran, P. C., … Davidson, A. R. (2016). Inactivation of CRISPR-Cas systems by anti-CRISPR proteins in diverse bacterial species. Nature Microbiology, 1, 16085. doi: 10.1038/nmicrobiol.2016.85
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Tong, B., Watson, B. N. J., Frampton, R. A., Young, V. L., Taylor, C., Easingwood, R. A., Pitman, A. R., Kleffmann, T., … Fineran, P. C., & Bostina, M. (2016, November). Cryo-electron microscopy structure and proteome of phages infecting plant pathogenic bacteria. Verbal presentation at the Joint Meeting of the New Zealand Microbiological Society (NZMS) and the New Zealand Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (NZSBMB), Christchurch, New Zealand.
Watson, B. N. J., Staals, R. H. J., Taylor, C., & Fineran, P. C. (2016, November). CRISPR-Cas interference limits horizontal gene transfer by inhibiting transduction. Verbal presentation at the Joint Meeting of the New Zealand Microbiological Society (NZMS) and the New Zealand Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (NZSBMB), Christchurch, New Zealand.
2014
Journal - Research Article
Richter, C., Dy, R. L., McKenzie, R. E., Watson, B. N. J., Taylor, C., Chang, J. T., McNeil, M. B., Staals, R. H. J., & Fineran, P. C. (2014). Priming in the Type I-F CRISPR-Cas system triggers strand-independent spacer acquisition, bi-directionally from the primed protospacer. Nucleic Acids Research, 42(13), 8516-8526. doi: 10.1093/nar/gku527
McNeil, M. B., Hampton, H. G., Hards, K. J., Watson, B. N. J., Cook, G. M., & Fineran, P. C. (2014). The succinate dehydrogenase assembly factor, SdhE, is required for the flavinylation and activation of fumarate reductase in bacteria. FEBS Letters, 588(3), 414-421. doi: 10.1016/j.febslet.2013.12.019
Microbial Ecologist