Dr Emily Belcher's Outputs (14)

Rising temperatures favour parasite virulence and parallel molecular evolution following a host jump (2025)
Working Paper
E Hector, T., M Kreiner, J., C Forward, J., L Hoang, K., J Stevens, E., Johnson, S., …C King, K. Rising temperatures favour parasite virulence and parallel molecular evolution following a host jump

Climate change is facilitating the poleward emergence of parasites, increasing the risk of jumping into new animal species, including humans. Whether more virulent or transmissible variants will spread during these climate-driven outbreaks is unclear... Read More about Rising temperatures favour parasite virulence and parallel molecular evolution following a host jump.

‘Re‐Wilding’ an Animal Model With Microbiota Shifts Immunity and Stress Gene Expression During Infection (2024)
Journal Article
Will, I., Stevens, E. J., Belcher, T., & C. King, K. (2024). ‘Re‐Wilding’ an Animal Model With Microbiota Shifts Immunity and Stress Gene Expression During Infection. Molecular Ecology, Article e17586. https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.17586

The frequency of emerging disease is growing with ongoing human activity facilitating new host–pathogen interactions. Novel infection outcomes can also be shaped by the host microbiota. Caenorhabditis elegans nematodes experimentally colonised by a w... Read More about ‘Re‐Wilding’ an Animal Model With Microbiota Shifts Immunity and Stress Gene Expression During Infection.

Within-host competition sparks pathogen molecular evolution and perpetual microbiota dysbiosis (2024)
Working Paper
Stevens, E., Li, J., Hector, T., Drew, G., Hoang, K., Greenrod, S., …King, K. Within-host competition sparks pathogen molecular evolution and perpetual microbiota dysbiosis

Pathogens newly invading a host must compete with resident microbiota. This within-host microbial warfare could lead to more severe disease outcomes or constrain the evolution of virulence. Using experimental evolution of a widespread pathogen (Staph... Read More about Within-host competition sparks pathogen molecular evolution and perpetual microbiota dysbiosis.

Dual stressors of infection and warming can destabilize host microbiomes (2024)
Journal Article
Li, J., Gao, Y., Stevens, E., & King, K. (2024). Dual stressors of infection and warming can destabilize host microbiomes. Philosophical Transactions B: Biological Sciences, 379(1901), https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2023.0069

Climate change is causing extreme heating events and intensifying infectious disease outbreaks. Animals harbour microbial communities, which are vital for their survival and fitness under stressful conditions. Understanding how microbiome structures... Read More about Dual stressors of infection and warming can destabilize host microbiomes.

Within- and between-host dynamics of producer and non-producer pathogens (2023)
Journal Article
Pike, V. L., Stevens, E. J., Griffin, A. S., & King, K. C. (2023). Within- and between-host dynamics of producer and non-producer pathogens. Parasitology, https://doi.org/10.1017/S0031182023000586

For infections to be maintained in a population, pathogens must compete to colonize hosts and transmit between them. We use an experimental approach to investigate within-and-between host dynamics using the pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa and the ani... Read More about Within- and between-host dynamics of producer and non-producer pathogens.

The evolution of colistin resistance increases bacterial resistance to host antimicrobial peptides and virulence (2023)
Journal Article
Jangir, P., Ogunlana, L., Szili, P., Czikkely, M., P Shaw, L., Stevens, E. J., …R MacLean, C. (2023). The evolution of colistin resistance increases bacterial resistance to host antimicrobial peptides and virulence. eLife, 12, 1-22. https://doi.org/10.7554/elife.84395

Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) offer a promising solution to the antibiotic resistance crisis. However, an unresolved serious concern is that the evolution of resistance to therapeutic AMPs may generate cross-resistance to host AMPs, compromising a co... Read More about The evolution of colistin resistance increases bacterial resistance to host antimicrobial peptides and virulence.

Targeted control of pneumolysin production by a mobile genetic element in Streptococcus pneumoniae (2022)
Journal Article
Stevens, E. J., Morse, D. J., Bonini, D., Duggan, S., Brignoli, T., Recker, M., …Massey, R. C. (2022). Targeted control of pneumolysin production by a mobile genetic element in Streptococcus pneumoniae. Microbial Genomics, 8(4), https://doi.org/10.1099/mgen.0.000784

Streptococcus pneumoniae is a major human pathogen that can cause severe invasive diseases such as pneumonia, septicaemia and meningitis. Young children are at a particularly high risk, with an estimated 3–4 million cases of severe disease and betwee... Read More about Targeted control of pneumolysin production by a mobile genetic element in Streptococcus pneumoniae.

Host microbiota can facilitate pathogen infection (2021)
Journal Article
J. Stevens, E., A. Bates, K., & C. King, K. (2021). Host microbiota can facilitate pathogen infection. PLoS Pathogens, 17(5), Article e1009514. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.ppat.1009514

Animals live in symbiosis with numerous microbe species. While some can protect hosts from infection and benefit host health, components of the microbiota or changes to the microbial landscape have the potential to facilitate infections and worsen di... Read More about Host microbiota can facilitate pathogen infection.

Microbial evolution and transitions along the parasite–mutualist continuum (2021)
Journal Article
Drew, G. C., Stevens, E. J., & King, K. C. (2021). Microbial evolution and transitions along the parasite–mutualist continuum. Nature Reviews Microbiology, 19, 623-638. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41579-021-00550-7

Virtually all plants and animals, including humans, are home to symbiotic microorganisms. Symbiotic interactions can be neutral, harmful or have beneficial effects on the host organism. However, growing evidence suggests that microbial symbionts can... Read More about Microbial evolution and transitions along the parasite–mutualist continuum.

Host genotype and genetic diversity shape the evolution of a novel bacterial infection (2021)
Journal Article
Ekroth, A. K., Gerth, M., Stevens, E. J., Ford, S. A., & King, K. C. (2021). Host genotype and genetic diversity shape the evolution of a novel bacterial infection. ISME Journal, 15, 2146–2157

Pathogens continue to emerge from increased contact with novel host species. Whilst these hosts can represent distinct environments for pathogens, the impacts of host genetic background on how a pathogen evolves post-emergence are unclear. In a novel... Read More about Host genotype and genetic diversity shape the evolution of a novel bacterial infection.

Microbiome: Evolution in a World of Interaction. (2020)
Journal Article
King, K. C., Stevens, E., & Drew, G. C. (2020). Microbiome: Evolution in a World of Interaction. Current Biology, 30(6), R265-R267. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2020.02.010

Ecological interactions can generate strong selection. Two new studies reveal that the tempo and patterns of evolutionary change in a mammalian gut commensal can be altered dramatically during interactions with both the host and its microbiome.

Epistasis analysis uncovers hidden antibiotic resistance-associated fitness costs hampering the evolution of MRSA (2018)
Journal Article
Yokoyama, M., Stevens, E., Laabei, M., Bacon, L., Heesom, K., Bayliss, S., …Massey, R. C. (2018). Epistasis analysis uncovers hidden antibiotic resistance-associated fitness costs hampering the evolution of MRSA. Genome Biology, 19, Article 94. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13059-018-1469-2

Background
Fitness costs imposed on bacteria by antibiotic resistance mechanisms are believed to hamper their dissemination. The scale of these costs is highly variable. Some, including resistance of Staphylococcus aureus to the clinically important... Read More about Epistasis analysis uncovers hidden antibiotic resistance-associated fitness costs hampering the evolution of MRSA.

Cytolytic toxin production by Staphylococcus aureus is dependent upon the activity of the protoheme IX farnesyltransferase (2017)
Journal Article
Stevens, E., Laabei, M., Gardner, S., Somerville, G. A., & Massey, R. C. (2017). Cytolytic toxin production by Staphylococcus aureus is dependent upon the activity of the protoheme IX farnesyltransferase. Scientific reports, 7(1), https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-14110-8

Staphylococcus aureus is a medically important pathogen with an abundance of virulence factors that are necessary for survival within a host, including the production of cytolytic toxins. The regulation of toxin production is mediated by the Agr quor... Read More about Cytolytic toxin production by Staphylococcus aureus is dependent upon the activity of the protoheme IX farnesyltransferase.

Clonal differences in Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemia-associated mortality (2017)
Journal Article
Recker, M., Laabei, M., Toleman, M. S., Reuter, S., Saunderson, R. B., Blane, B., …Massey, R. C. (2017). Clonal differences in Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemia-associated mortality. Nature Microbiology, 2, 1381–1388

The bacterium Staphylococcus aureus is a major human pathogen for which the emergence of antibiotic resistance is a global public health concern. Infection severity, and in particular bacteraemia-associated mortality, has been attributed to several h... Read More about Clonal differences in Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemia-associated mortality.