Molecular tools and genetic markers for the generation of transgenic sexing strains in Anopheline mosquitoes. (2018)
Journal Article
Bernardini, F., Elaine Haghighat-Khah, R., Galizi, R., Marc Hammond, A., Nolan, T., & Crisanti, A. (2018). Molecular tools and genetic markers for the generation of transgenic sexing strains in Anopheline mosquitoes. Parasites and Vectors, 660 - ?. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13071-018-3207-8

Malaria is a serious global health burden, affecting more than 200 million people each year in over 90 countries, predominantly in Africa, Asia and the Americas. Since the year 2000, a concerted effort to combat malaria has reduced its incidence by m... Read More about Molecular tools and genetic markers for the generation of transgenic sexing strains in Anopheline mosquitoes..

Opposing effects of final population density and stress on Escherichia coli mutation rate (2018)
Journal Article
Channon. (2018). Opposing effects of final population density and stress on Escherichia coli mutation rate. ISME Journal, 2981-2987. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41396-018-0237-3

Evolution depends on mutations. For an individual genotype, the rate at which mutations arise is known to increase with various stressors (stress-induced mutagenesis-SIM) and decrease at high final population density (density-associated mutation-rate... Read More about Opposing effects of final population density and stress on Escherichia coli mutation rate.

Structural basis for activation of plasma-membrane Ca2+-ATPase by calmodulin. (2018)
Journal Article
(2018). Structural basis for activation of plasma-membrane Ca2+-ATPase by calmodulin. Communications Biology, 206 - ?. https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-018-0203-7

Plasma-membrane Ca2+-ATPases expel Ca2+ from the cytoplasm and are key regulators of Ca2+ homeostasis in eukaryotes. They are autoinhibited under low Ca2+ concentrations. Calmodulin (CaM)-binding to a unique regulatory domain releases the autoinhibit... Read More about Structural basis for activation of plasma-membrane Ca2+-ATPase by calmodulin..

The perplexing PEXEL protein secretory pathway (2018)
Journal Article
Russo, L. (2018). The perplexing PEXEL protein secretory pathway. Nature Reviews Microbiology, 969 - 970. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41564-018-0235-2

Plasmodium parasites possess a unique PEXEL sorting pathway to deliver secretory proteins into the host cells in which they reside. A new study shows the existence of independent sorting/entry complexes to detect and deliver PEXEL proteins into the p... Read More about The perplexing PEXEL protein secretory pathway.

Variable changes in nematode infection prevalence and intensity after Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease Virus emerged in wild rabbits in Scotland and New Zealand (2018)
Journal Article
(2018). Variable changes in nematode infection prevalence and intensity after Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease Virus emerged in wild rabbits in Scotland and New Zealand. International Journal for Parasitology: Parasites and Wildlife, 187 -195. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijppaw.2018.05.002

The myxoma virus (a microparasite) reduced wild rabbit numbers worldwide when introduced in the 1950s, and is known to interact with co-infecting helminths (macroparasites) causing both increases and decreases in macroparasite population size. In the... Read More about Variable changes in nematode infection prevalence and intensity after Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease Virus emerged in wild rabbits in Scotland and New Zealand.

Development of NanoLuc-PEST expressing Leishmania mexicana as a new drug discovery tool for axenic- and intramacrophage-based assays. (2018)
Journal Article
Price, H., Berry, S., Hameed, H., Thomason, A., Maciej-Hulme, M., Saif Abou-Akkada, S., & Horrocks, P. (2018). Development of NanoLuc-PEST expressing Leishmania mexicana as a new drug discovery tool for axenic- and intramacrophage-based assays. PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, 12(7), Article e0006639 . https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0006639

The protozoan parasite Leishmania causes leishmaniasis; a spectrum of diseases of which there are an estimated 1 million new cases each year. Current treatments are toxic, expensive, difficult to administer, and resistance to them is emerging. New th... Read More about Development of NanoLuc-PEST expressing Leishmania mexicana as a new drug discovery tool for axenic- and intramacrophage-based assays..

Improved CRISPR-based suppression gene drives mitigate resistance and impose a large reproductive load on laboratory-contained mosquito populations (2018)
Preprint / Working Paper
Hammond, A. M., Kyrou, K., Gribble, M., Karlsson, X., Morianou, I., Galizi, R., Beaghton, A., Crisanti, A., & Nolan, T. (2018). Improved CRISPR-based suppression gene drives mitigate resistance and impose a large reproductive load on laboratory-contained mosquito populations

Abstract CRISPR-based genes drives bias their own inheritance and can be used to modify entire populations of insect vectors of disease as a novel form of sustainable disease control. Gene drives designed to interfere with female fertility can suppre... Read More about Improved CRISPR-based suppression gene drives mitigate resistance and impose a large reproductive load on laboratory-contained mosquito populations.

Structural definition of hSP-D recognition of Salmonella enterica LPS inner core oligosaccharides 1 reveals alternative binding modes for the same LPS (2018)
Journal Article
Littlejohn, J. R., da Silva, R. F., Neale, W. A., Smallcombe, C. C., Clark, H. W., Mackay, R.-M. A., Watson, A. S., Madsen, J., Hood, D. W., Burns, I., Greenhough, T. J., & Shrive, A. K. (2018). Structural definition of hSP-D recognition of Salmonella enterica LPS inner core oligosaccharides 1 reveals alternative binding modes for the same LPS. PloS one, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0199175

The crystal structures of a biologically and therapeutically active recombinant homotrimeric fragment of native human SP-D (hSP-D) complexed with the inner core oligosaccharide of the Salmonella enterica sv Minnesota rough strains R5 and R7 (rough mu... Read More about Structural definition of hSP-D recognition of Salmonella enterica LPS inner core oligosaccharides 1 reveals alternative binding modes for the same LPS.

Plasmodium falciparum dipeptidyl aminopeptidase 3 activity is important for efficient erythrocyte invasion by the malaria parasite (2018)
Journal Article
Russo, I. (2018). Plasmodium falciparum dipeptidyl aminopeptidase 3 activity is important for efficient erythrocyte invasion by the malaria parasite. PLoS Pathogens, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.ppat.1007031

Parasite egress from infected erythrocytes and invasion of new red blood cells are essential processes for the exponential asexual replication of the malaria parasite. These two tightly coordinated events take place in less than a minute and are in p... Read More about Plasmodium falciparum dipeptidyl aminopeptidase 3 activity is important for efficient erythrocyte invasion by the malaria parasite.