J. A. Lees

Inter-species gene flow drives ongoing evolution of Streptococcus pyogenes and Streptococcus dysgalactiae subsp. equisimilis

The paper shows extensive genomic overlap between Streptococcus pyogenes and Streptococcus dysgalactiae subsp. equisimilis, including shared genes and recombination events, with implications for vaccine development.

An inverse agonist of orphan receptor GPR61 reveals a novel allosteric mechanism

The paper reports the first structural characterization of GPR61 and identifies a potent inverse agonist, revealing an allosteric mechanism.

BlpC-mediated selfish program leads to rapid loss of Streptococcus pneumoniae clonal diversity during infection

The paper shows that BlpC-mediated intra-strain competition reduces clonal diversity in Streptococcus pneumoniae during infection and transmission.

Pneumococcal genetic variability influences age-dependent bacterial carriage

This study identifies pneumococcal genetic factors associated with age-dependent carriage, suggesting vaccine formulations should target serotypes rather than proteins.

Negative frequency-dependent selection and asymmetrical transformation stabilise multi-strain bacterial population structures

The paper tests whether negative frequency-dependent selection and asymmetrical recombination can explain the stability of multi-strain bacterial populations using simulations and genomic data.

Improved inference and prediction of bacterial genotype-phenotype associations using pangenome-spanning regressions

This paper introduces a joint modeling framework for bacterial GWAS that improves statistical power and phenotype prediction while maintaining interpretability and computational efficiency.