Dr. J. Thomas Beatty
Professor
Microbiology and Immunology
Faculty of Science
My laboratory's research activities are centered on the general areas of horizontal gene transfer, and photosynthesis. We are studying a gene transfer agent, a virus-like entity that functions solely to transfer genes from a donor cell to a recipient, which may result in the substitution of an allele. This process increases genetic diversity. We are also studying diverse photosynthetic systems, by mining DNA from natural environments to extract photosynthesis genes that encode proteins that have unusual properties, such as the ability to withstand high temperatures. We use synthetic biology approaches to modify and combine genes for expression in a genetically tractable, model photosynthetic bacterium.
Recent publications
Alim NTB, Koppenhöfer S, Lang AS, Beatty JT. Extracellular polysaccharide receptor and receptor-binding proteins of the Rhodobacter capsulatus bacteriophage-like gene transfer agent RcGTA. Genes. 2023; 14(5):1124. https://doi.org/10.3390/genes14051124
Muñoz-Gómez SA, Cadena LR, Gardiner AT, Leger MM, Sheikh S, Connell LB, Bilý T, Kopejtka K, Beatty JT, Koblížek M, Roger AJ, Slamovits CH, Lukeš J, Hashimi H. Intracytoplasmic-membrane development in alphaproteobacteria involves the homolog of the mitochondrial crista-developing protein Mic60. Curr Biol. 2023 Mar 27;33(6):1099-1111.
Bernelot-Moens R, Beatty JT (2022). DNA gyrase inhibitors increase the frequency of bacteriophage-like RcGTA-mediated gene transfer in Rhodobacter capsulatus. Genes 13, 2071. DOI: 10.3390/genes13112071.
Jun, D, Richardson-Sanchez T, Mahey A, Murphy MEP, Fernandez RC, and Beatty JT (2020). Introduction of the menaquinone biosynthetic pathway into Rhodobacter sphaeroides and de novo synthesis of menaquinone for incorporation into heterologously expressed integral membrane proteins. ACS Synth Biol, doi: 10.1021/acssynbio.0c00066.
Bárdy P, Füzik T, Hrebík D, Pantůček R, Beatty JT, Plevka P (2020) Structure and mechanism of DNA delivery of a gene transfer agent. Nat Commun. 2020;11(1):3034.