Luis A. J. Mur

Aberystwyth University | AU · Department of Life Science

Understanding the impact of long-term physiological and environmental stress on the human microbiota and metabolome may be important for the success of space flight. This work is logistically difficult and has a limited number of available participants. Terrestrial analogies present important opportunities to understand changes in the microbiota an...

Locoweeds are leguminous forbs known for their toxicity to livestock caused by the endophytic fungi Alternaria sect. Undifilum. Unlike the defensive mutualism reported in many toxin producing endophytes and their plant hosts, the benefits that A. sect. Undifilum can confer to it host plants has been unclear. Here we conducted physiological and gene...

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has been used to treat infectious diseases and could offer potential drug leads. This study evaluates the in vitro antimicrobial activities from commercially sourced Dryopteris crassirhizoma Nakai (Polypodiaceae) whose authenticity was confirmed by DNA barcoding based on the ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase ( rbc...

Here we investigate the faecal microbiome of wild European badgers Meles meles using samples collected at post-mortem as part of the All Wales Badger Found Dead study. This is the first published characterisation of the badger microbiome. We initially undertook a sex-matched age comparison between the adult and cub microbiomes, based on sequencing...

The halophyte Karelinia caspia has not only fodder and medical value but also can remediate saline-alkali soils. Our previous study showed that salt-secreting by salt glands is one of main adaptive strategies of K. caspia under high salinity. However, ROS scavenging, ion homeostasis, and photosynthetic characteristics responses to high salinity rem...

Genotype × environment interactions (GEIs) should play an important role in the selection of suitable germplasm in breeding programmes. We here assessed GEI effects on pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum L.) genotypes, selected to possess a high concentration of slowly digestible starch (SDS) and resistant starch (RS) in their grains. Entries were gro...

Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis (MAP) is the causative organism of Johne’s disease, a chronic granulomatous enteritis of ruminants. We have previously used naturally MAP-infected heifer calves to document metabolomic changes occurring in MAP infections. Herein, we used experimentally MAP-inoculated heifer calves to identify biomarke...

Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis (MAP) is the causative organism of Johne's Disease, a chronic intestinal infection of ruminants. Infected cows begin shedding MAP within the asymptomatic, subclinical stage of infection before clinical signs, such as weight loss, diarrhoea and reduced milk yields develop within the clinical stages of...

Microbiomes are rife for biotechnological exploitation, particularly the rumen microbiome, due to their complexicity and diversity. In this study, antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) from the rumen microbiome (Lynronne 1, 2, 3 and P15s) were assessed for their therapeutic potential against seven clinical strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa . All AMPs exhib...

Abstract Locoweeds are perennial forbs poisonous to livestock and cause extreme losses to animal husbandry. Locoweed toxicity is attributed to the symbiotic endophytes in Alternaria sect. Undifilum, which produce a mycotoxin swainsonine (SW). We performed a de novo whole genome sequencing of the most common locoweed in China, Oxytropis ochrocephala...

Background and Objective Recent studies have shown that colorectal cancer (CRC) patients with microsatellite instability high (MSI-H) are more likely to benefit from immunotherapy. However, current MSI testing methods are not available for all patients due to the lack of available equipment and trained personnel, as well as the high cost of the ass...

Introduction Mycobacterium bovis, the causative agent of bovine tuberculosis (bTB) in cattle, represents a major disease burden to UK cattle farming, with considerable costs associated with its control. The European badger (Meles meles) is a known wildlife reservoir for bTB and better knowledge of the epidemiology of bTB through testing wildlife is...

The use of exogenous compounds such as ‘gasotransmitter’ molecules is a well-established agronomic strategy to improve the crop tolerance to environmental stresses. In this current work, when Cr (200 µM) was combined with the nitric oxide (NO) generator sodium nitroprusside SNP, 500 µM) there was a suppression of metal-induced alterations in embryo...

It has been 20 years since Brachypodium distachyon was suggested as a model grass species, but ongoing research now encompasses the entire genus. Extensive Brachypodium genome sequencing programmes have provided resources to explore the determinants and drivers of population diversity. This has been accompanied by cytomolecular studies to make Brac...

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) has been used to treat infectious diseases and could offer potential drug leads. This study evaluates the in vitro antimicrobial activities commercially sourced Dryopteris crassirhizoma Nakai whose authenticity was confirmed by DNA barcoding based on the ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase ( rbcL ) gene. Powdered rh...

Introduction The European badger ( Meles meles ) is a known wildlife reservoir for bovine tuberculosis (bTB) and a better understanding of the epidemiology of bTB in this wildlife species is required for disease control in both wild and farmed animals. Flow infusion electrospray—high-resolution mass spectrometry (FIE-HRMS) may potentially identify...

Salicylic acid (SA) is a key phytohormone regulating plant immunity. Although the transcriptional regulation of SA biosynthesis has been well‐studied, its post‐translational regulation is largely unknown. We report that a Kelch repeats‐containing F‐box (KFB) protein, SMALL AND GLOSSY LEAVES 1 (SAGL1), negatively influences SA biosynthesis in Arabid...

After birth, as effectively monogastric animals, calves undergo substantial physiological changes to become ruminants by 3 months of age and reach sexual maturity at approximately 15 months of age. Herein, we assess longitudinal metabolomic changes in Holstein-Friesian (HF) heifers from birth until sexual maturity during this developmental process....

Alchornea cordifolia Müll. Arg. (commonly known as Christmas Bush) has been used traditionally in Africa to treat sickle cell anaemia (a recessive disease, arising from the S haemoglobin (Hb) allele), but the active compounds are yet to be identified. Herein, we describe the use of sequential fractionation coupled with in vitro anti-sickling assays...

Mosses of the genus Sphagnum are the main components of peatlands, a major carbon-storing ecosystem. Changes in precipitation patterns are predicted to affect water relations in this ecosystem, but the effect of desiccation on the physiological and molecular processes in Sphagnum are still largely unexplored. Here we show that different Sphagnum sp...

Introduction Paratuberculosis, commonly known as Johne’s disease, is a chronic granulomatous infection of ruminants caused by Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis (MAP). Clinical signs, including reduced milk yields, weight loss and diarrhoea, are typically absent until 2 to 6 years post exposure. Objectives To identify metabolomic chang...

Drought is a major abiotic stress that limits crop productivity and is driving the need to introduce new tolerant crops with better economic yield. Tef (Eragrostis tef) is a neglected (orphan) Ethiopian warm-season annual gluten-free cereal with high nutritional and health benefits. Further, tef is resilient to environmental challenges such as drou...

Here we investigate the faecal microbiome of wild European badgers Meles meles using samples collected at post-mortem as part of the All Wales Badger Found Dead study based on sequencing the V3-V4 region of the 16S rRNA gene. This is the first published characterisation of the badger microbiome. We initially undertook a sex-matched age comparison b...

Pathogenic fungi can lose virulence after protracted periods of culture, but little is known of the underlying mechanisms. Here, we present the first analysis of DNA methylation flux at a single-base resolution for the plant pathogen B. cinerea and identify differentially methylated genes/genomic regions associated with virulence erosion during in...

Tef is a highly nutritious gluten-free Ethiopian cereal with food-feed potential. However, its productivity is affected by lodging, weed infestation, terminal drought, small seed size, and shattering. Following the recent availability of tef genome sequences, we highlight the need to harness the benefits that this underutilised crop offers to impro...

The recretohalophyte Karelinia caspia is of forage and medical value and can remediate saline soils. We here assess the contribution of primary/secondary metabolism to osmotic adjustment and ROS homeostasis in K. caspia under salt stress using multi‐omic approaches. Computerized phenomic assessments, tests for cellular osmotic changes and lipid per...

Oxytropis plants are widely distributed in the grasslands in northern China. Some Oxytropis species have been reported to contain the mycotoxin swainsonine, an alkaloid which causes poisoning in livestock, referred to as locoism. Previous studies showed that endophytic fungi (Alternaria oxytropis) symbiotically associate with these Oxytropis specie...

Les courant recherche visé évaluer les protecteur rôle de nitrique oxyde (NON) contre chrome (Cr) toxicité dans maïs semis. Chrome (200 ??M) abaissé osmotique potentiel en épicotyles et principalement en radicules (par 38% et 63%, respectivement) par rapport à la contrôler. Sodium nitroprussiate (SNP, NON donneur) restauré semis biomasse (+90% pour...

Background: Osteoporosis is a common metabolic skeletal disease and usually lacks obvious symptoms. Many individuals are not diagnosed until osteoporotic fractures occur. Bone mineral density (BMD) measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) is the gold standard for osteoporosis detection. However, only a limited percentage of people with o...

Silicon (Si), the second most abundant element in Earth’s crust, exerts beneficial effects on the growth and productivity of a variety of plant species under various environmental conditions. However, the benefits of Si and its importance to plants are controversial due to differences among the species, genotypes, and the environmental conditions....

Alchornea cordifolia MÜll. Arg. (commonly known as Christmas Bush) has been used traditionally in Africa to treat sickle cell anaemia (a recessive disease, arising from the S haemoglobin [Hb] allele) but the active compounds are yet to be characterised. Herein we describe the use of sequential fractionation coupled with in vitro anti-sickling assay...

Tef ( Eragrostis tef ), is a gluten-free orphan cereal, crop of nutritional and economical significance. Here we used untargeted metabolomics to survey metabolite variation in 14 diverse tef accessions at 15-days post germination. Tef genotypes were classified into four metabolomic groups where variation was linked to flavones and flavonols. Furthe...

As efforts are made to increase food security, millets are gaining increasing importance due to their excellent nutritional credentials. Among the millets, pearl millet is the predominant species possessing several health benefiting nutritional traits in its grain that are helpful in mitigating chronic illnesses such as type−2 diabetes and obesity....

We recently applied untargeted metabolomic profiling on the plasma obtained from consecutive attenders referred for conventional Level 3 home-sleep studies with excessive daytime somnolence, comparing 17 OSAHS patients (AHI≥15, Epworth Score 13.5±4.5) with 16 age, gender, and BMI matched sleepy subjects (sleepy snorers (SS)) with negative home poly...

Johne’s disease, caused by Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (MAP), causes weight loss, diarrhoea, and reduced milk yields in clinically infected cattle. Asymptomatic, subclinically infected cattle shed MAP bacteria but are frequently not detected by diagnostic tests. Herein, we compare the metabolite profiles of sera from subclinically i...

Phytophthora capsici is one of the most destructive pathogens causing quick wilt (foot rot) disease in black pepper (Piper nigrum L.) to which no effective resistance has been defined. To better understand the P. nigrum-P. capsici pathosystem, we employed metabolomic approaches based on flow-infusion electrospray-high-resolution mass spectrometry....

Please cite this article as: D. Cao, P. Sun, S. Bhowmick, et al., Secondary metabolites of endophytic fungi isolated from Huperzia serrata, Fitoterapia (2018), https://doi. Abstract The natural product Huperzine A isolated from Huperzia serrata is a targeted inhibitor of acetylcholinesterase that has been approved for clinical use in the treatment...

Please cite this article as: D. Cao, P. Sun, S. Bhowmick, et al., Secondary metabolites of endophytic fungi isolated from Huperzia serrata, Fitoterapia (2018), https://doi. Abstract The natural product Huperzine A isolated from Huperzia serrata is a targeted inhibitor of acetylcholinesterase that has been approved for clinical use in the treatment...

Wild plant populations show extensive genetic subdivision and are far from the ideal of panmixia which permeates population genetic theory. Understanding the spatial and temporal scale of population structure is therefore fundamental for empirical population genetics – and of interest in itself, as it yields insights into the history and biology of...

This article discusses the role of chlorophyll metabolism in plant responses and adaptations to biotic and abiotic stresses. The metabolic pathways of chlorophyll (Chl) biosynthesis and catabolism are summarised. The precursor of tetrapyrrole synthesis is δ‐aminolaevulinic acid. Protoporphyrin IX is the branchpoint intermediate between the haem/bil...

Climate change and an increasing population, present a massive global challenge with respect to environmentally sustainable nutritious food production. Crop yield enhancements, through breeding, are decreasing, whilst agricultural intensification is constrained by emerging, re-emerging, and endemic pests and pathogens, accounting for ~30% of global...

Legumes express two major types of hemoglobins: symbiotic (leghemoglobins) and non-symbiotic (phytoglobins). The latter are categorized into three classes according to phylogeny and biochemistry. Using knock-out mutants, we show that all three phytoglobin classes are required for optimal vegetative and reproductive development of Lotus japonicus. F...

Nitrogen forms (nitrate (NO3−) or ammonium (NH4+)) are vital to plant growth and metabolism. In stevia (Stevia rebaudiana), it is important to assess whether nitrogen forms can influence the synthesis of the high-value terpene metabolites-steviol glycosides (SGs), together with the underlying mechanisms. Field and pot experiments were performed whe...

The natural product Huperzine A isolated from Huperzia serrata is a targeted inhibitor of acetylcholinesterase that has been approved for clinical use in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease. Given the large demand for natural sources of Huperzine A, efforts have been made to explore whether Huperzine A (Hup. A) is also produced by endophytic fungi...

Global wheat production is constantly threatened by rust diseases. Identifying resistant genes is a useful tactic to control wheat rust pathogen. Twenty-six wheat varieties were screened with twelve Simple Sequence Repeats (SSR) markers to detect rust resistant genes and the efficacy of genes was validated through field testing. The alleles Lr32, L...

Persistent mating-induced endometritis is a major cause of poor fertility rates in the mare. Endometritis can be investigated using an ex vivo equine endometrial explant system which measures uterine inflammation using prostaglandin F2α as a biomarker. However, this model has yet to undergo a wide-ranging assessment through transcriptomics. In this...

Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (MAP) is the causative agent of Johne’s Disease, a chronic intestinal infection of ruminants causing weight loss and diarrhoea in infected cattle. Subclinically infected cattle shed MAP bacteria in their milk and faeces, despite showing no visible symptoms. Thus, these cattle are a major source of disease...

Fusarium wilt is one of the major biotic factors limiting cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) growth and yield. The outcomes of cucumber-Fusarium interactions can be influenced by the form of nitrogen nutrition (nitrate [NO3⁻] or ammonium [NH4⁺]); however, the physiological mechanisms of N-regulated cucumber disease resistance are still largely unclear....

Plants in the Oxytropis genus can live with the endophytic fungi Alternaria sect. Undifilum. Swainsonine, the mycotoxin produced by the endophyte render the host plant toxic and this has been detrimental to grazing livestock in both China and U.S.A. Despite previous efforts, many questions remain to be solved, such as the transmission mode and life...

Citation: Skalska, A.; Wolny, E.; Beckmann, M.; Doonan, J.H.; Hasterok, R.; Mur, L.A.J. Allotetraploidization in Brachypodium May Have Led to the Dominance of One Parent's Metabolome in Germinating Seeds. Cells 2021, 10, 828.

Application: Diets containing high levels of starch alter phenylalanine and tyrosine metabolism and increase milk protein concentration. This information can be used to more accurately formulate diets to alter milk protein content in dairy cows. Introduction: Starch is frequently included in dairy cow rations to fulfil energy and protein requiremen...

Application: Identified metabolites successfully differentiated between Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis (MAP) inoculated and control cattle during the incubation stage of infection. If validated, these metabolites would enable farmers to identify MAP exposed cattle before shedding or clinical signs develop. Introduction: Paratubercu...

Brachypodium distachyon (Brachypodium) is a non-domesticated model grass that has been used to assess population level genomic variation. We have previously established a collection of 55 Brachypodium accessions that were sampled to reflect five different climatic regions of Turkey; designated 1a, 1c, 2, 3 and 4. Genomic and methylomic variation di...

With diverse genetic backgrounds, soybean landraces are valuable resource for breeding programs. Herein, we apply multi‐omic approaches to extensively characterise the molecular basis of drought tolerance in the soybean landrace LX. Initial screens established that LX performed better with PEG6000 treatment than control cultivars. LX germinated bet...

Excess salinity is a major stress that limits crop yields. Here, we used the model grass Brachypodium distachyon (Brachypodium) reference line Bd21 in order to define the key molecular events in the responses to salt during germination. Salt was applied either throughout the germination period (“salt stress”) or only after root emergence (“salt sho...

Tuberculosis (TB) is a major global threat, mostly due to the development of antibiotic-resistant forms of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the causal agent of the disease. Driven by the pressing need for new anti-mycobacterial agents several natural products (NPs) have been shown to have in vitro activities against M. tuberculosis. The utility of any N...

Drought priming is a promising approach to improve tolerance to further drought in wheat. The root apex plays important roles in drought however, its contribution to drought priming remains unknown. To provide mechanistic insights into this process, the transcriptomes and proteomes at three different zones along the root axis under drought stress w...