S. V. Owen

This study identifies diverse and abundant plasmid-dependent phages in wastewater, revealing their underappreciated role in constraining horizontal gene transfer.

The study examines how mutation fitness effects change over 50,000 generations in E. coli, finding parallel evolution of mutation costs and increased essentiality without altering the overall fitness landscape distribution.

This study shows colibactin induces prophage lytic development in bacteria, with resistance mechanisms observed across diverse taxa.

The paper identifies BstA, a prophage-encoded phage defense protein that suppresses phage epidemics through abortive infection, with self-immunity mediated by the anti-BstA element.

This paper develops a synthetic microbial spore system for high-resolution object provenance tracking with rapid decoding and biocontainment.

The paper uses bacterial RNA-seq data to identify novel prophage accessory loci by analyzing transcriptional landscapes of Salmonella prophages.

The paper shows African S. Typhimurium lineage 2 strains evade MAIT cell recognition by overexpressing ribB, which may contribute to their pathogenicity.

The paper uses transposon insertion sequencing to analyze the fitness landscape of Salmonella Typhimurium ST313 strain D23580, identifying essential genes and plasmid-encoded factors affecting growth and macrophage infection.

The paper compares genomic and transcriptomic differences between Salmonella ST313 and ST19 isolates to identify phenotypic variations and a novel plasmid maintenance system.

This paper identifies genetically distinct ST313 Salmonella isolates causing gastroenteritis in the UK and invasive disease in Africa, highlighting their evolutionary divergence and adaptation to different environments.