Peter Fineran
Professor
Microbiology & Immunology
Otago University
New Zealand
Biography
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 phage 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
Research Interest
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.
Publications
-
Wilkinson, M.E., Nakatani, Y., Staals, R.H.J., Kieper, S.N., Opel-Reading, H.K., McKenzie, R.E., Fineran, P.C.# and Krause, K.L.# (2016). Structural plasticity and in vivo activity of Cas1 from the type I-F CRISPR-Cas system. Biochemical Journal. 473. 1063-1072
-
Panda, P., Vanga, B.R., Lu, A., Fiers, M., Fineran, P.C., Butler, R., Armstrong, K., Ronson, C.W. and Pitman, A.R. (2016). Pectobacterium atrosepticum and Pectobacterium carotovorum harbor distinct, independently acquired integrative and conjugative elements encoding coronafacic acid that enhance virulence on potato stems. Frontiers in Microbiology. 7. 397
-
Hampton, H.G., McNeil, M.B., Paterson, T.J., Ney, B., Williamson, N.R., Easingwood, R.A., Bostina, M., Salmond, G.P.C. and Fineran, P.C.# (2016). CRISPR-Cas gene editing reveals RsmA and RsmC act through FlhDC to repress the SdhE flavinylation factor and control motility and prodigiosin production in Serratia. Microbiology. 162. 1047-1058
