Regulating the expression of gene drives is key to increasing their invasive potential and the mitigation of resistance (2021)
Journal Article
Hammond, A., Karlsson, X., Morianou, I., Kyrou, K., Beaghton, A., Gribble, M., …Nolan, T. (2021). Regulating the expression of gene drives is key to increasing their invasive potential and the mitigation of resistance. PLoS Genetics, e1009321 - ?. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1009321

Homing-based gene drives use a germline source of nuclease to copy themselves at specific target sites in a genome and bias their inheritance. Such gene drives can be designed to spread and deliberately suppress populations of malaria mosquitoes by i... Read More about Regulating the expression of gene drives is key to increasing their invasive potential and the mitigation of resistance.

Genetic validation of Leishmania genes essential for amastigote survival in vivo using N-myristoyltransferase as a model (2020)
Journal Article
Paape, D., Prendergast, C., Price, H., Doehl, J., & Smith, D. (2020). Genetic validation of Leishmania genes essential for amastigote survival in vivo using N-myristoyltransferase as a model. Parasites and Vectors, 13, Article 132. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13071-020-3999-1

Background: Proving that specifc genes are essential for the intracellular viability of Leishmania parasites within
macrophages remains a challenge for the identifcation of suitable targets for drug development. This is especially
evident in the ab... Read More about Genetic validation of Leishmania genes essential for amastigote survival in vivo using N-myristoyltransferase as a model.

Genetic and ecological processes of speciation in the Anopheles coluzzii and Anopheles gambiae sibling species (2019)
Thesis
Dawam, N. N. (2019). Genetic and ecological processes of speciation in the Anopheles coluzzii and Anopheles gambiae sibling species. (Thesis). Keele University. Retrieved from https://keele-repository.worktribe.com/output/414328

Malaria is a leading cause of death, killing thousands every year. Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest mortality rate, with pregnant women and children under the age of five most affected. The culprits responsible for transmission of the disease are m... Read More about Genetic and ecological processes of speciation in the Anopheles coluzzii and Anopheles gambiae sibling species.

Cuticular Hydrocarbon Analysis in Forensic Entomology: A Review (2019)
Journal Article
Shemilt. (2019). Cuticular Hydrocarbon Analysis in Forensic Entomology: A Review. Archaeological and Environmental Forensic Science, 127 - 138. https://doi.org/10.1558/aefs.36241

Blowflies are the first inhabitants of decomposing remains and are therefore of forensic relevance for post mortem interval estimations. Forensic entomology is becoming widely accepted as a branch of forensic science and is being utilised more within... Read More about Cuticular Hydrocarbon Analysis in Forensic Entomology: A Review.

Environmental pleiotropy and demographic history direct adaptation under antibiotic selection (2018)
Journal Article
Channon. (2018). Environmental pleiotropy and demographic history direct adaptation under antibiotic selection. Heredity, 438-448. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41437-018-0137-3

Evolutionary rescue following environmental change requires mutations permitting population growth in the new environment. If change is severe enough to prevent most of the population reproducing, rescue becomes reliant on mutations already present.... Read More about Environmental pleiotropy and demographic history direct adaptation under antibiotic selection.

RecQ helicases in the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum affect genome stability, gene expression patterns and DNA replication dynamics (2018)
Journal Article
(2018). RecQ helicases in the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum affect genome stability, gene expression patterns and DNA replication dynamics. PLOS genetics, e1007490 - ?. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1007490

The malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum has evolved an unusual genome structure. The majority of the genome is relatively stable, with mutation rates similar to most eukaryotic species. However, some regions are very unstable with high recombinati... Read More about RecQ helicases in the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum affect genome stability, gene expression patterns and DNA replication dynamics.

Critical Mutation Rate has an Exponential Dependence on Population Size for Eukaryotic-length Genomes with Crossover (2017)
Journal Article
Channon. (2017). Critical Mutation Rate has an Exponential Dependence on Population Size for Eukaryotic-length Genomes with Crossover. Scientific reports, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-14628-x

The critical mutation rate (CMR) determines the shift between survival-of-the-fittest and survival of individuals with greater mutational robustness (“flattest”). We identify an inverse relationship between CMR and sequence length in an in silico sys... Read More about Critical Mutation Rate has an Exponential Dependence on Population Size for Eukaryotic-length Genomes with Crossover.

The creation and selection of mutations resistant to a gene drive over multiple generations in the malaria mosquito (2017)
Journal Article
M. Hammond, A., Kyrou, K., Bruttini, M., North, A., Galizi, R., Karlsson, X., …Nolan, T. (2017). The creation and selection of mutations resistant to a gene drive over multiple generations in the malaria mosquito. PLoS Genetics, e1007039 - ?. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1007039

Gene drives have enormous potential for the control of insect populations of medical and agricultural relevance. By preferentially biasing their own inheritance, gene drives can rapidly introduce genetic traits even if these confer a negative fitness... Read More about The creation and selection of mutations resistant to a gene drive over multiple generations in the malaria mosquito.

A CRISPR-Cas9 sex-ratio distortion system for genetic control (2016)
Journal Article
Galizi, R., Hammond, A., Kyrou, K., Taxiarchi, C., Bernardini, F., O’Loughlin, S. M., …Crisanti, A. (2016). A CRISPR-Cas9 sex-ratio distortion system for genetic control. Scientific Reports, 31139 - ?. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep31139

Genetic control aims to reduce the ability of insect pest populations to cause harm via the release of modified insects. One strategy is to bias the reproductive sex ratio towards males so that a population decreases in size or is eliminated altogeth... Read More about A CRISPR-Cas9 sex-ratio distortion system for genetic control.

Critical Mutation Rate has an Exponential Dependence on Population Size for Eukaryotic-Length Genomes (2016)
Book Chapter
(2016). Critical Mutation Rate has an Exponential Dependence on Population Size for Eukaryotic-Length Genomes. In Proceedings of the Artificial Life Conference 2016 (172-179)

Monotonicity of fitness landscapes and mutation rate control (2016)
Journal Article
Channon. (2016). Monotonicity of fitness landscapes and mutation rate control. Journal of Mathematical Biology, 1491-1524. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00285-016-0995-3

A common view in evolutionary biology is that mutation rates are minimised. However, studies in combinatorial optimisation and search have shown a clear advantage of using variable mutation rates as a control parameter to optimise the performance of... Read More about Monotonicity of fitness landscapes and mutation rate control.

The genomic basis of parasitism in the Strongyloides clade of nematodes. (2016)
Journal Article
(2016). The genomic basis of parasitism in the Strongyloides clade of nematodes. Nature genetics, 299 - 307. https://doi.org/10.1038/ng.3495

Soil-transmitted nematodes, including the Strongyloides genus, cause one of the most prevalent neglected tropical diseases. Here we compare the genomes of four Strongyloides species, including the human pathogen Strongyloides stercoralis, and their c... Read More about The genomic basis of parasitism in the Strongyloides clade of nematodes..

Human mesenchymal stem cells stimulate EaHy926 endothelial cell migration: combined proteomic and in vitro analysis of the influence of donor-donor variability (2015)
Journal Article
Walter, M., Kohli, N., Major, T., Fuller, H., Wright, K., Kuiper, J., & Johnson, W. (2015). Human mesenchymal stem cells stimulate EaHy926 endothelial cell migration: combined proteomic and in vitro analysis of the influence of donor-donor variability. Journal of Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine, 11(1), 18-24. https://doi.org/10.46582/jsrm.1101004

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) stimulate angiogenesis within a wound environment and this effect is mediated through paracrine interactions with the endothelial cells present. Here we report that human MSC-conditioned medium (n=3 donors) significantly... Read More about Human mesenchymal stem cells stimulate EaHy926 endothelial cell migration: combined proteomic and in vitro analysis of the influence of donor-donor variability.

The germline of the malaria mosquito produces abundant miRNAs, endo-siRNAs, piRNAs and 29-nt small RNAs. (2015)
Journal Article
Castellano, L., Rizzi, E., Krell, J., Di Cristina, M., Galizi, R., Mori, A., …Nolan, T. (2015). The germline of the malaria mosquito produces abundant miRNAs, endo-siRNAs, piRNAs and 29-nt small RNAs. BMC Genomics, 100 - ?. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12864-015-1257-2

BACKGROUND: Small RNAs include different classes essential for endogenous gene regulation and cellular defence against genomic parasites. However, a comprehensive analysis of the small RNA pathways in the germline of the mosquito Anopheles gambiae ha... Read More about The germline of the malaria mosquito produces abundant miRNAs, endo-siRNAs, piRNAs and 29-nt small RNAs..

Site-specific genetic engineering of the Anopheles gambiae Y chromosome. (2014)
Journal Article
Bernardini, F., Galizi, R., Menichelli, M., Papathanos, P., Dritsou, V., Marois, E., …Windbichler, N. (2014). Site-specific genetic engineering of the Anopheles gambiae Y chromosome. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 7600 - 7605. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1404996111

Despite its function in sex determination and its role in driving genome evolution, the Y chromosome remains poorly understood in most species. Y chromosomes are gene-poor, repeat-rich and largely heterochromatic and therefore represent a difficult t... Read More about Site-specific genetic engineering of the Anopheles gambiae Y chromosome..

Mutation rate plasticity in rifampicin resistance depends on Escherichia coli cell-cell interactions (2014)
Journal Article
Channon, A. (2014). Mutation rate plasticity in rifampicin resistance depends on Escherichia coli cell-cell interactions. Nature communications, 3742 -?. https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms4742

Variation of mutation rate at a particular site in a particular genotype, in other words mutation rate plasticity (MRP), can be caused by stress or ageing. However, mutation rate control by other factors is less well characterized. Here we show that... Read More about Mutation rate plasticity in rifampicin resistance depends on Escherichia coli cell-cell interactions.

Killer bee molecules: antimicrobial peptides as effector molecules to target sporogonic stages of Plasmodium (2013)
Journal Article
(2013). Killer bee molecules: antimicrobial peptides as effector molecules to target sporogonic stages of Plasmodium. PLOS pathogens a peer-reviewed open-access journal published by the Public Library of Science, e1003790 -?. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.ppat.1003790

A new generation of strategies is evolving that aim to block malaria transmission by employing genetically modified vectors or mosquito pathogens or symbionts that express anti-parasite molecules. Whilst transgenic technologies have advanced rapidly,... Read More about Killer bee molecules: antimicrobial peptides as effector molecules to target sporogonic stages of Plasmodium.

Site-specific integration and expression of an anti-malarial gene in transgenic Anopheles gambiae significantly reduces Plasmodium infections (2011)
Journal Article
(2011). Site-specific integration and expression of an anti-malarial gene in transgenic Anopheles gambiae significantly reduces Plasmodium infections. PloS one, e14587 -?. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0014587

Diseases transmitted by mosquitoes have a devastating impact on global health and this is worsening due to difficulties with existing control measures and climate change. Genetically modified mosquitoes that are refractory to disease transmission are... Read More about Site-specific integration and expression of an anti-malarial gene in transgenic Anopheles gambiae significantly reduces Plasmodium infections.

The introduction history of invasive garden ants in Europe: integrating genetic, chemical and behavioural approaches (2008)
Journal Article
Drijfhout. (2008). The introduction history of invasive garden ants in Europe: integrating genetic, chemical and behavioural approaches. BMC Biology, 11 -?. https://doi.org/10.1186/1741-7007-6-11

BACKGROUND: The invasive garden ant, Lasius neglectus, is the most recently detected pest ant and the first known invasive ant able to become established and thrive in the temperate regions of Eurasia. In this study, we aim to reconstruct the invasio... Read More about The introduction history of invasive garden ants in Europe: integrating genetic, chemical and behavioural approaches.

A sensitive and rapid assay for homologous recombination in mosquito cells: impact of vector topology and implications for gene targeting (2001)
Journal Article
(2001). A sensitive and rapid assay for homologous recombination in mosquito cells: impact of vector topology and implications for gene targeting. BMC Genetics, 21 -?. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2156-2-21

BACKGROUND: Recent progress in insect transgenesis has been dramatic but existing transposon-based approaches are constrained by position effects and potential instability. Gene targeting would bring a number of benefits, however progress requires a... Read More about A sensitive and rapid assay for homologous recombination in mosquito cells: impact of vector topology and implications for gene targeting.