Paul o' Toole
Name: Dr. Paul O' Toole
Position: Lecturer
T: 353 (0)21 4903997
F: 353 (0)21 4903101
E: pwotoole@ucc.ie
Biography
Academic Career
1980-1984: BA (Mod) Microbiology TCD
1984-1987: PhD TCD
Additional Positions and Awards
1988-1992: University Research Fellow. Department of Medical Microbiology, Lund University, Sweden.
1992-1994: Research Associate, Department Biochem. Microbiol., Univ. of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.
1995-1997: Lecturer in Microbiology, Department of Microbiology & Genetics, Massey University, New Zealand.
1998-2001: Senior Lecturer, Institute of Molecular BioSciences, Massey University, New Zealand
Teaching areas
- Genetics
- Microbiology
Research interests and expertise
- Genomics of host interaction mechanisms in gastrointestinal bacteria
- Composition and function of the human gut microbiota
Research
Research Overview
Paul O’Toole has been a Senior Lecturer in Microbiology at University College Cork since 2002, following periods in Sweden, Canada and New Zealand. His main research theme is the genomics of gastrointestinal bacteria – comparative and functional genomics with emphasis on human associated species and colonization factors including motility; genome architecture and genome evolution in the lactobacilli and helicobacters; lactobacillus-host interaction; lactobacillus metabolism.
In recent years he has begun to investigate the composition and function of the gut microbiota, its dependence on diet, and its relationship to health, ageing and well-being in humans and animals. He is co-ordinator of ELDERMET (eldermet.ucc.ie), a national initiative to characterize the gut microbiota in 500 elderly Irish subjects, with the aim of developing novel functional foods and food ingredients for the Irish food industry.
Selected Recent Publications
Peer-reviewed research journals
Snelling, W.J., Moran, A.P., Ryan, K.A., Scully, P., McGourty, K., Cooney, J.C, Annuk, H. and P. W. O’Toole. 20 HorB (HP0127) is a gastric epithelial cell adhesin. 20 Helicobacter 12: 200-2
Corr, S.C., Li, Y., Riedel, C.U., O’Toole, P.W., Gahan, C.G.M., and Hill, C. 20 Bacteriocin production as a mechanism for the anti-infective activity of Lactobacillus salivarius UCC1 Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA, 104: 7617-76
Li, Y., C. Canchaya, F. Fang, E. Raftis, K.A. Ryan, J-P. van Pijkeren, D. van Sinderen, and P.W. O’Toole. 20 Distribution of megaplasmids in Lactobacillus salivarius and other lactobacilli. J. Bacteriol. 189: 6129-61
Ryan K.A., P. Daly, Y. Li, C. Hooton, and P. W. O’Toole. 20 Strain specific inhibition of Helicobacter pylori by Lactobacillus salivarius. J. Antimicrob. Chemother. 61: 831-8
Fang, F., S. Flynn, Y. Li, M. J. Claesson, J-P. van Pijkeren, J. K. Collins, Douwe van Sinderen, and P. W. O’Toole. 20 Characterization of endogenous plasmids from Lactobacillus salivarius UCC1 Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 74: 3216-32
Claesson, M.J., D. van Sinderen, and P.W. O’Toole. 20 Lactobacillus phylogenomics - towards a reclassification of the genus. Int. J. Sys. Evol. Microbiol.58: 2945-29
Ryan, K.A., Jayaraman, T., Daly, P., Canchaya, C., Curran, S., Fang, F., Quigley, E.M., and P.W. O’Toole. 20 Isolation of lactobacilli with probiotic properties from the human stomach. 20 Letts. App. Microbiol. 47: 269-2
Douillard, F.P., K.A. Ryan, D.L.. Caly, J. Hinds, A.A. Witney, S.E. Husain and P.W. O’Toole. 20 Post-transcriptional regulation of flagellin synthesis in Helicobacter pylori by the RpoN chaperone HP09 J. Bacteriol. 190: 7975-79
Kagawa, T.F., M. O’Connell, P. Mouat, M. Paoli, P.W. O’Toole, and J. C. Cooney. 20 Model for substrate interactions in the C5a peptidase from Streptococcus pyogenes: A 1.9 Å crystal structure of the active form of ScpA. J. Mol. Biol., 386: 754-7
Douillard, F.P., K. A. Ryan, J. Hinds, and P. W. O’Toole. 20 The effect of FliK mutation on the transcriptional activity of the sigma54 sigma factor RpoN in Helicobacter pylori. Microbiology, 155: 1901-19
Ryan, K.A., O’Hara, A.M., van Pijkeren, J.P., J.-P., Douillard, F., and P. W. O’Toole. 20 Lactobacillus salivarius modulates cytokine induction and virulence factor gene expression in Helicobacter pylori. J. Med. Microbiol. 58: 996-10
Fang, F., Y. Li, M. Bumann, E. Raftis, P. G. Casey, J. C. Cooney, M. A. Walsh, and P. W. O’Toole. 20 Allelic variation of bile salt hydrolase genes in Lactobacillus salivarius does not determine bile resistance levels. J. Bacteriol. 191: 5743–57
Claesson, M.J., O. O’Sullivan , Q. Wang , J. Nikkilä, J.R. Marchesi, H. Smidt, W. M. de Vos, R. P. Ross, and P. W. O’Toole. 20 Comparative analysis of pyrosequencing and a phylogenetic microarray for exploring microbial community structures in the human distal intestine. 20 PLOS One, 4(8): e66
Book Chapters
Van Pijkeren, J-P., and P.W. O’Toole. 20 Comparative and functional genomics of the genus Lactobacillus. Chapter 3 (pp. 59-82) In A. Ljungh, and T. Wadstrom, ed.’s. Lactobacillus Molecular Biology: From Genomics to Probiotics. Caister Academic Press, Norfolk, UK.
Rafts, E., and O’Toole, P.W. 20 Megaplasmids in Lactobacillus salivarius. pp. 311-325 In Microbial megaplasmids. Springer Science and Business Media, Microbiology Monographs series, ed. E. Schwartz.
Reviews
Claesson, M.J., van Sinderen, D., and P.W. O'Toole. 20 The genus Lactobacillus - a genomic basis for understanding its diversity. FEMS Microbiol. Letts, 269: 22-
Waters, R.C., P.W. O’Toole, and K.A. Ryan. 20 The FliK Protein and Flagellar Hook-Length Control. Protein Science 16: 769-7
O’Toole, P.W. and J.C. Cooney. 20 The influence of probiotics on the intestinal microbiota. In The Human Microbiome and Infectious Diseases: Beyond Koch. V.B. Young, and R.A. Britton, ed.’s. Interdisc. Perspect. Inf. Dis. 2008:1752
Fang, F., and P.W. O’Toole. Genetic tools for investigating the biology of commensal lactobacilli. 20 Frontiers in Bioscience 14: 3111-31
Ventura, M., Turroni, F., Canchaya, C., Vaughan, E., O’Toole, P.W. and D. van Sinderen. 20 Microbial diversity in the human intestine and novel insights from metagenomics. Frontiers in Bioscience 14: 3214-221
Ventura, M., F. Turroni, S. O’Flaherty, M.J. Claesson, T.R. Klaenhammer, D. van Sinderen, and P.W. O’Toole. 20 Genome-scale analyses of health-promoting bacteria: probiogenomics. Nature Reviews Microbiology 7: 61-
Research funding and grants
|
Dept. Ag., Food, Fisheries (co-PI) |
FHRI |
2007 |
ELDERMET: gut microbiota as an indicator & agent of intestinal health |
|
Science Foundation Ireland Principal Investigator award |
PI programme |
2008 |
Functional genomics of two commensal lactobacilli from humans and animals |
|
Science Foundation Ireland (co-PI) |
CSET programme |
2008 |
SFI CSET – the Alimentary Pharmabiotic Centre UCC Programme 4b Genomics & Metagenomics |
|
Science Foundation Ireland Research Frontiers Programme |
RFP |
2009 |
Transcriptional regulation in H. pylori flagellum biogenesis |
|
Irish Research Council for Science, Eng. & Tech. |
Embark |
2009 |
Structure-function analysis of bacterial flagellum production |
Research
Groups and collaborators
Scientists: 7 post-graduate students, 4 post-doctoral fellows, 2 Research assistants, 1 clinical co-ordinator, 2 registered nurses
Collaborators: D. van Sinderen, G. Fitzgerald, D. Clarke, Dept. Microbiology UCC
The Alimentary Pharmabioic Centre, Cork (http://apc.ucc.ie)
Prof. R.P. Ross, Teagasc Moorepark, Fermoy, Co. Cork Ireland.
The ELDERMET consortium (http://eldermet.ucc.ie)
Prof. Stanley A. Moore, Dept. Biochemistry, Univ. Saskatchewan, Canada
Research Projects in the group
Genomics of commensal lactobacilli – comparative and functional genomics with emphasis on human associated species; genome architecture and genome evolution in the lactobacilli; lactobacillus-host interaction; lactobacillus metabolism, food interaction, colonization.
Composition of the gut microbiota, its dependence on diet, and its relationship to health, ageing and well-being in humans and animals. Functional foods and their ability to modulate the microbiota.
Genomics of commensal bacteria and pathogens; model systems (Lactobacillus salivarius and H. pyori); anti-inflammatory properties of commensal lactobacilli.
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