Simon Avery

Associate Professor and Reader, Faculty of Medicine & Health Sciences

Personal Details
Research
Publications

Contact

work Room B70 Biology
University Park
Nottingham
NG7 2RD
UK
work 0115 951 3315
fax 0115 951 3251
simon.avery@nottingham.ac.uk

Biography

BSc University of Dundee1988; PhD University of Dundee 1992; Research Associate, Dublin 1991-1992; Research Associate, Cardiff 1992-1994; Lecturer, Oxford Brookes University, 1994; Assistant Professor (1996), Adjunct Faculty (2000), Georgia State University; Lecturer (2000), Senior Lecturer (2004), Associate Professor and Reader (2006) University of Nottingham. Visiting Research Scholar, University of Adelaide, 1997; Member of Editorial Boards, Process Biochemistry (1997-1999), Microbiology (1998-2003), Applied and Environmental Microbiology (2000-2003), Fungal Biology Reviews (2007-); BMS Berkeley Award, 2004; EPSRC Peer-Review College (2003-2006); Council of the British Mycological Society (2004-2006); Vice-President of the British Mycological Society (2007-).

Research Summary

The interests of the Avery group lie in the effects of stress on cells, with a focus on environmental toxicants (e.g. metals and antimicrobials). We use the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae as a… read more

Selected Publications

KHOZOIE, C, PLEASS, RJ and AVERY, SV, 2009. (External) The antimalarial drug quinine disrupts Tat2p-mediated tryptophan transport and causes Trp starvation Journal of Biological Chemistry. 284, 17968-17974
HOLLAND, SL and AVERY, SV, 2009. (External) Actin mediated endocytosis limits intracellular Cr accumulation and Cr toxicity during chromate stress. Toxicological Sciences. 111, 437-446
HALLIWELL SC, SMITH MCA, MUSTON P, HOLLAND SL and AVERY SV, 2012. (External) Heterogeneous expression of the virulence-related adhesin Epa1 between individual cells and strains of the pathogen Candida glabrata. Eukaryotic Cell. 11, 141-150
NARGUND, AM, AVERY, SV and HOUGHTON, JE, 2008. (External) Cadmium induces a heterogeneous and caspase-dependent apoptotic response in Saccharomyces cerevisiae Apoptosis. 13, 811-821

View all publications

Current Research

The interests of the Avery group lie in the effects of stress on cells, with a focus on environmental toxicants (e.g. metals and antimicrobials). We use the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae as a eukaryotic model to enable characterization of stress-effects at the whole-cell and molecular level. Current research projects in the Avery lab are focused on elucidating:

- The mechanism(s) of cellular metal toxicity, with emphasis on metal-induced oxidative stress

- The characterisation of variable phenotypes such as stress resistance between individual cells of genetically-uniform populations: phenotypic heterogeneity

- The elucidation of genes required for insusceptibility to pathogen-specific antibiotics and antimalarials (pharmacogenomics with yeast), and characterisation of novel modes of drug action

Principal experimental approaches include recombinant DNA techniques (cloning, PCR, mutagenesis), flow cytometry/cell sorting (FACS), DNA microarrays and other genome-wide screening methods, gene expression using the green fluorescent protein (GFP) reporter, protein analysis, purification and immunoblotting.

Variable expression of a GFP tagged EPA1 adhesin gene, between individual cells of the pathogenic yeast Candida glabrata .

Stop codon ( ade1-14 ) read-through during chromate stress in S.cerevisiae . Cr-induced mRNA mistranslation is a major mechanism of oxidative Cr toxicity (Holland et al., 2007).

HALLIWELL SC, SMITH MCA, MUSTON P, HOLLAND SL and AVERY SV, 2012. (External) Heterogeneous expression of the virulence-related adhesin Epa1 between individual cells and strains of the pathogen Candida glabrata. Eukaryotic Cell. 11, 141-150
AVERY, SV, 2011. (External) Molecular targets of oxidative stress. Biochemical Journal. 434, 201-10
HOLLAND SL and AVERY SV, 2011. (External) Chromate toxicity and the role of sulfur. Metallomics. 3(11), 1119-23
HOLLAND SL, DYER PS, BOND CJ, JAMES SA, ROBERTS IN and AVERY SV, 2011. (External) Candida argentea sp. nov., a copper and silver resistant yeast species. Fungal Biology. 115(9), 909-18
HOLLAND, SL, GHOSH, E and AVERY, S V, 2010. (External) Chromate-induced sulfur starvation and mRNA mistranslation in yeast are linked in a common mechanism of Cr toxicity. Toxicology in Vitro. 24, 1764-7
SIDERI, TC, WILLETTS, SA, AVERY, SV, 2009. (External) Methionine sulphoxide reductases protect iron-sulphur clusters from oxidative inactivation in yeast. Microbiology. 155, 612-23
KHOZOIE, C, PLEASS, RJ and AVERY, SV, 2009. (External) The antimalarial drug quinine disrupts Tat2p-mediated tryptophan transport and causes Trp starvation Journal of Biological Chemistry. 284, 17968-17974
HOLLAND, SL and AVERY, SV, 2009. (External) Actin mediated endocytosis limits intracellular Cr accumulation and Cr toxicity during chromate stress. Toxicological Sciences. 111, 437-446
PAYNE, T, FINNIS, C, EVANS, L R, MEAD, D J, AVERY, S V, ARCHER, D B and SLEEP, D, 2008. (External) Modulation of chaperone gene expression in mutagenized Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains developed for recombinant human albumin production results in increased production of multiple heterologous proteins. Applied and Environmental Microbiology. 74, 7759-7766
PAYNE, T, HANFREY, C, BISHOP, AL, MICHAEL, AJ, AVERY, SV and ARCHER, DB, 2008. (External) Transcript-specific translational regulation in the unfolded protein response of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. FEBS Letters. 582, 503-9
NARGUND, AM, AVERY, SV and HOUGHTON, JE, 2008. (External) Cadmium induces a heterogeneous and caspase-dependent apoptotic response in Saccharomyces cerevisiae Apoptosis. 13, 811-821
BISHOP, A.L., RAB, F.A., SUMNER, E.R. and AVERY, S.V., 2007. (External) Phenotypic heterogeneity can enhance rare-cell survival in 'stress-sensitive' yeast populations Molecular Microbiology. 63(2), 507-520
HOLLAND, S, LODWIG, E, SIDERI, T, READER, T, CLARKE, I, GKARGKAS, K, HOYLE, DC, DELNERI, D, OLIVER, SG and AVERY, SV, 2007. (External) Application of the comprehensive set of heterozygous yeast deletion mutants to elucidate the molecular basis of cellular chromium toxicity. Genome Biology. 8, R268
SMITH, MCA, SUMNER, ER and AVERY, SV, 2007. (External) Glutathione and Gts1p drive beneficial variability in the cadmium resistances of individual yeast cells. Molecular Microbiology. 66, 699-712
AVERY, S.V., 2006. (External) Microbial cell individuality and the underlying sources of heterogeneity Nature Reviews: Microbiology. 4(8), 577-587
PAYNE, T., SLEEP, D., ARCHER, D, B. and AVERY, S, V., 2006. Gene expression technique PCT/GB2006/002289 01/01/1900 00:00:00 (In Press.)
SUMNER, E.R., SHANMUGANATHAN, A., SIDERI, T.C., WILLETTS, S.A., HOUGHTON, J.E. and AVERY, S.V., 2005. (External) Oxidative protein damage causes chromium toxicity in yeast Microbiology. 151(6), 1939-1948
AVERY, S. V., 2005. (External) Cell individuality: the bistability of competence development Trends in Microbiology. 13(10), 459-462
AVERY, A.M., WILLETTS, S.A. and AVERY, S.V., 2004. (External) Genetic dissection of the phospholipid hydroperoxidase activity of yeast Gpx3 reveals its functional importance Journal of Biological Chemistry. 279(45), 46652-46658
AVERY, A. M., GODDARD, H. J., SUMNER, E. R. and AVERY, S. V., 2004. (External) Iron Blocks the Accumulation and Activity of Tetracyclines in Bacteria Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy. VOL 48(PART 5), 1892-1894
SHANMUGANATHAN, A., AVERY, S. V., WILLETTS, S. A. and HOUGHTON, J. E., 2004. (External) Copper-induced oxidative stress in Saccharomyces cerevisiae targets enzymes of the glycolytic pathway FEBS Letters. VOL 556(NUMBER 1-3), 253-259
SUMNER, E.R., AVERY, A.M., HOUGHTON, J.E., ROBINS, R.A. and AVERY, S V., 2003. (External) Cell cycle- and age-dependent activation of Sod1p drives the formation of stress resistant cell subpopulations within clonal yeast cultures Molecular Microbiology. 50(3), 857-870
BLACKBURN, A.S. and AVERY, S.V., 2003. (External) Genome-wide screening of Saccharomyces cerevisiae to identify genes required for antibiotic insusceptibility of eukaryotes Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy. 47(2), 676-681
COLLINSON, E.J., WHEELER, G.L., GARRIDO, E.O., AVERY, A.M., AVERY, S.V. and GRANT, C.M., 2002. (External) The yeast glutaredoxins are active as glutathione peroxidases Journal of Biological Chemistry. 277(19), 16712-16717
NOBLE, JUDITH A, AHEARN, DONALD G, AVERY, SIMON V and CROW, SIDNEY A, 2002. (External) Phagocytosis affects biguanide sensitivity of Acanthamoeba spp. Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy. 46(7), 2069-76
SUMNER, E. R. and AVERY, S. V., 2002. Phenotypic heterogeneity: differential stress resistance among individual cells of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae Microbiology. VOL 148(PART 2), 345-351
AVERY, A.M. and AVERY, S.V., 2001. (External) Saccharomyces cerevisiae expresses three phospholipid hydroperoxide glutathione peroxidases Journal of Biological Chemistry. 276(36), 33730-33735
AVERY, S. V., 2001. (External) Metal Toxicity in Yeasts and the Role of Oxidative Stress Advances in Applied Microbiology. VOL 49, 111-142
ANGRAVE, F.E and AVERY, S.V, 2001. (External) Antioxidant functions required for insusceptibility of Saccharomyces cerevisiae to tetracycline antibiotics Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy. 45(10), 2939-2942
MATEUS, C. and AVERY, S. V., 2000. (External) Destabilized green fluorescent protein for monitoring dynamic changes in yeast gene expression with flow cytometry Yeast. VOL 16(PART 14), 1313-1324
AVERY, S. V., MALKAPURAM, S., MATEUS, C. and BABB, K. S., 2000. (External) Copper/Zinc-Superoxide Dismutase Is Required for Oxytetracycline Resistance of Saccharomyces cerevisiae Journal of Bacteriology. VOL 182(PART 1), 76-80
BORAZJANI, R. N., MAY, L. L., NOBLE, J. A., AVERY, S. V. and AHEARN, D. G., 2000. (External) Flow Cytometry for Determination of the Efficacy of Contact Lens Disinfecting Solutions against Acanthamoeba spp Applied and Environmental Microbiology. VOL 66(PART 3), 1057-1061
AVERY, S. V., SMITH, S. L., GHAZI, A. M. and HOPTROFF, M. J., 1999. Stimulation of Strontium Accumulation in Linoleate-Enriched Saccharomyces cerevisiae Is a Result of Reduced Sr^2^+ Efflux Applied and Environmental Microbiology. VOL 65(NUMBER 3), 1191-1197
HOWLETT, N G and AVERY, S V, 1997. Induction of lipid peroxidation during heavy metal stress in Saccharomyces cerevisiae and influence of plasma membrane fatty acid unsaturation. Applied and Environmental Microbiology. 63(8), 2971-6
AVERY, S. V., HOWLETT, N. G. and RADICE, S., 1996. Copper Toxicity towards Saccharomyces cerevisiae: Dependence on Plasma Membrane Fatty Acid Composition Applied and Environmental Microbiology. VOL 62(NUMBER 11), 3960-3966

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