Professor Gurdyal Besra FMedSci FRS

School of Biosciences
Bardrick Professor of Microbial Physiology and Chemistry

Contact details

Telephone: +44 (0)121 41 58125
Fax: +44 (0)121 41 45925
Email: g.besra@bham.ac.uk

Address: N105, School of Biosciences
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

Professor Besra heads a world-leading multidisciplinary team investigating key aspects of the microbial physiology of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis cell wall and the potential role of iNKT/CD1d therapeutics. He has been awarded and successfully managed over 50 research grants valued at over £35 million from The Wellcome Trust, the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and the Medical Research Council (MRC).

He has published over 480 internationally peer-reviewed articles (e.g. in Science, Nature, Immunity, Journal of Experimental Medicine, and Proceedings of the National Academy of Science USA), reviews and book chapters, been cited 34,473 times and has an H-index score of 106 (Google Scholar).

Staff details
Media information

Qualifications

University of Newcastle: Chemistry BSc (HONS)

University of Newcastle: Organic Chemistry PhD

Biography

It was during my PhD studies on TB, under the guidance of Professor David E. Minnikin (Newcastle University), that I developed a thirst for research and realised that if one was to tackle fundamental biological problems, then a multidisciplinary approach would be needed. As a result, on completing my PhD in Chemistry, I undertook a period of post-doctoral training under the direction of Professor Patrick J. Brennan (Colorado State University). This allowed me to expand my TB research capabilities into the areas of detailed biochemistry and molecular biology.

It was during this "tour abroad" that my career began to flourish: I became established as an independent researcher and continued my academic training at Colorado State University, extending further my interests into TB immunopathogenesis and the novel area of non peptide-based antigens. It was during the period 1993-1998 that my research really took off through the award of several substantial programme grants from the National Institutes of Health, USA. I decided to return to the UK in the summer of 1998 due to family commitments and accepted a position as Reader at Newcastle University. Whilst maintaining my strong collaborations in the USA, this move allowed me to establish a number of additional exciting new collaborative ventures in the UK and Europe. In 2002, I moved to The University of Birmingham to the Bardrick Research Chair of Microbial Physiology and Chemistry within the School of Biosciences.

Postgraduate supervision

For a list of possible PhD projects offered by Professor Besra www.findaphd.com/search/customlink.asp?inst=birm-Biol&supersurname=Besra

Research

Research Theme within School of Biosciences:Molecular and Cell Biology

We (GSB) have contributed over the past several years in understanding the characteristics of the cell wall of TB, which has been the site of action of a number of front-line TB agents. We have now opted for a broader strategy: identification of new drug targets and drug development (with Professor Minnikin); vaccine development; identification of mechanisms of intracellular survival, replication and pathogenesis; definition of the fundamental genome of the tubercle bacillus, its phenotype and the functionality of the phenotypic characteristics through derivation of mutants.

It is a widely held view that efforts to relieve the disease burden imposed by tuberculosis must benefit from concerted attempts to understand the basic biochemistry of the organism, particularly in view of the current availability genomic data from the M. Tuberculosis genome. Thus, providing a timely insight into these remarkable bacteria and several novel areas of mycobacterial cell wall physiology

The cell wall of Mycobacterium tuberculosis: A focus for new drug targets and vaccines

There has been no significant decrease in worldwide mortality due to tuberculosis (TB) since before the time of Koch; the advent of sanatoria and chemotherapy, which drastically reduced TB in the more developed countries, has had no profound effect on the global problem. The reasons for the transient increase have been well documented: the HIV/AIDS epidemic, increased immigration and transmission from high-prevalence countries, and the emergence of multi-drug resistant strains of TB.

I am internationally recognised for my work in Mycobacterium tuberculosis cell wall physiology. I have contributed to many areas of this field including, microbial pathogenesis, mechanisms of antibiotic resistance and drug development. More specifically, I have been involved in the structural elucidation of a number of glycolipids from mycobacteria, such as the phenolic glycolipid of M. haemophilum; the acylated trehaloses of M. tuberculosis H37Rv; the lipooligosaccharides from M. gordonae and the glycopeptidolipids of M. xenopi and M. senegalense. I have extended our knowledge of the mycolyl-arabinogalactan complex from M. tuberculosis and have obtained a more sophisticated impression of the primary and secondary relationship of these entities.

More recently, my research interests have also included:

i) the biosynthesis and molecular basis of mycolic acids, glycoproteins, and the complex polysaccharides, arabinogalactan and lipoarabinomannan, which has resulted in the development of new acyltransferase and glycosyltransferase assays, and the identification of key intermediates and characterisation of new products resulting from enzymic synthesis;

ii) the isolation and molecular characterisation of M. tuberculosis cell wall mutants, generated through either chemical or genetic means, which has allowed me to evaluate the role of various cell wall structures as virulence determinants;

iii) the mode of action of anti-tuberculosis drugs, such as isoniazid, ethionamide, thiolactomycin and ethambutol, which has resulted in the identification of resistance genes and the structural elucidation of secondary metabolites;

and finally iv) the synthesis of custom-designed antagonists against M. tuberculosis. For instance, one of my early key achievements, which was ground-breaking in this area of research, was published in Science:the identification of the major excreted protein antigen [antigen 85] as a key mycolyltransferase enzyme involved in the biogenesis of the cell wall of M. tuberculosis.

In a second research strand, I have been at the forefront in the discovery of M. tuberculosis T-cell antigens and the CD1 antigen presentation pathway. For instance, the initial identification of glucose monomycolate (GMM) as a CD1b-presented glycolipid and its precise structural requirements, antigen processing and presentation to CD1b-restricted T cells were key discoveries published in Science, EMBO J. and Nature Immunology.

More recently, I have described in ground-breaking articles published in Nature and Journal of Experimental Medicine that the T-cell antigen receptor, CD1c protein-mediated recognition is governed by a family of M. tuberculosis glycolipids. My research continues to extend significantly the state of the art in both research areas. At the same time I have bridged several research disciplines to set the research agenda in the biosynthesis of the mycobacterial cell wall and the CD1 field, which is evidenced by the quality of my internationally refereed papers, significant funding in the form of several long-term Programme Grants, and ability to attract first-rate international Research Fellows and PhD students.

My research has also been recognised by the award of several prizes (e.g. the W.H. Pierce Memorial Prize from the Society for Applied Microbiology; the Carbohydrate Chemistry Award from the Royal Society of Chemistry; Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award; the internationally prestigious Biochemical Society Award), and numerous plenary lecture invitations (e.g. Keystone Research Conferences)

Publications

Iyer, S.S., T. Gensollen, A. Gandhi, S.F. Oh, J.F. Neves, F. Collin, R. Lavin, C. Serra, J. Glickman, P.S.A. de Silva, R.B. Sartor, G.S. Besra, R. Hauser, A. Maxwell, A. Llebaria, and R.S. Blumberg (2018) Dietary and microbial oxazoles induce intestinal inflammation by modulating aryl hydrocarbon receptor responses. Cell, 173(5): 1123.

Jankute, M., L.J. Alderwick, S. Noack, N. Veerapen, J. Nigou, and G.S. Besra (2017) Biosynthesis of mycobacterial lipoarabinomannan: disruption of AftB results in complete of loss of terminal beta(1-2) arabinofuranose residues. ACS Chem. Biol. 12(1): 183-190.

Newman, R., H. Ahlfors, A. Saveliev, A. Galloway, D.J. Hodson, R. Williams, G.S. Besra, C.N. Cook, A.F. Cunningham, S.E. Bell, and M. Turner (2017) Maintenance of the marginal-zone B cell compartment specifically requires the RNA-binding protein ZFP36L1. Nat. Immunol. 18(6): 683-693.

Jankute, M., V. Nataraj, O.Y. Lee, H.H.T. Wu, M. Ridell, N.J. Garton, M.R. Barer, D.E. Minnikin, A. Bhatt, and G.S. Besra (2017) The role of hydrophobicity in tuberculosis evolution and pathogenicity. Sci. Reports 7(1): 1315.

Machutta, C.A., C.S. Kollmann, K.E. Lind, X. Bai, P.F. Chan, J. Huang, L. Ballell, S. Belyanskaya, G. S. Besra, D. Barros-Aguirre, R.H. Bates, P.A. Centrella, S.S. Chang, J. Chai, A.E. Choudhry, A. Coffin, C.P. Davie, H. Deng, J. Deng, Y. Ding, J.W. Dodson, D.T. Fosbenner, E.N. Gao, T.L. Graham, T.L. Graybill, K. Ingraham, W.P. Johnson, B.W. King, C.R. Kwiatkowski, J. Lelièvre, Y. Li, X. Liu, Q. Lu, R. Lehr, A. Mendoza-Losana, J. Martin, L. McCloskey, P. McCormick, H.P. O’Keefe, T. O’Keeffe, C. Pao, C.B. Phelps, H. Qi, K. Rafferty, G.S. Scavello, M.S. Steiginga, F.S. Sundersingh, S.M. Sweitzer, L.M. Szewczuk, A. Taylor, M. Fern Toh, J. Wang, M. Wang, D.J. Wilkins, B. Xia, G. Yao, J. Zhang, J. Zhou, C.P. Donahue, J.A. Messer, D. Holmes, C.C. Arico-Muendel, A.J. Pope, J.W. Gross, and G. Evindar (2017) Prioritizing multiple therapeutic targets in parallel using automated DNA-encoded library screening. Nature Communications. 8: 16081.

Brennan, P.J., T.Y. Cheng, D.G. Pellicci, G.F. Watts, N. Veerapen, D.C. Young, J. Rossjohn, G.S. Besra, D.I. Godfrey, M.B. Brenner, and D.B. Moody (2017) Structural determination of lipid antigens captured at the CD1d-T cell receptor interface. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, 114(31): 8348.

Moynihan, P.J. and G.S. Besra (2017) Colworth Prize Lecture: Exploiting new biological targets from a whole-cell phenotypic screening campaign for TB drug discovery. Microbiology, 163(10: 1385.

Abrahams, K.A., J.A.G. Cox, K. Futterer, J. Rullas, F. Ortega-Muro, N.J. Loman, P.J. Moynihan, E. Perez-Herran, E. Jimenez, J. Esquivias, D. Barros, L. Ballell, C. Alemparte, and G. S. Besra (2017) Inhibiting mycobacterial tryptophan synthase by targeting the inter-subunit interface. Scientific Reports, 7(1): 9430.

R. Liu, X. Lyu, S.M Batt, Mei-Hui Hsu, M. B Harbut, C. Vilchèze, B. Cheng,K. Ajayi, B. Yang, Y. Yang, H. Guo,C. Lin, F. Gan,C. Wang, S.G. Franzblau, W.R. Jacobs Jr., G.S Besra, E.F. Johnson, M. Petrassi, A.K. Chatterjee, K. Fütterer, and F. Wang (2017) Determinants of the inhibition of DprE1 and CYP2C9 by antitubercular thiophenes. Angewandte Chemie, 56(42): 13011.

Torreno-Pina, J.A., C. Manzo, M. Salio, M.C. Aichinger, A. Oddone, M. Lakadamyali, D. Shepherd, G.S. Besra, V. Cerundolo, and M.F. Garcia-Parajo (2016) The actin cytoskeleton modulates the activation of iNKT cells by segregating CD1d nanoclusters on antigen-presenting cells. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 113(6): E772-781.

Le Nours, J., T. Praveena, D.G. Pellicci, N.A. Gheradin, R.F. Ross, R.T. Lim, G.S. Besra, S. Keshipeddy, S.K. Richardson, A.R. Howell, S. Gras, D.I. Godfrey, J. Rossjohn, and A.P. Uldrich (2016) Atypical natural kill T-cell receptor recognition of CD1d-lipid antigens. Nature Communications 7: 10570.

Usha, V., A.J. Lloyd, D.I. Roper, C.G. Dowson, G. Kozlov, K. Gehring, S. Chauhan, H.T. Imam, C.A. Blindauer, and G.S. Besra (2016) Reconstruction of diaminopimelic acid biosynthesis allows characterisation of Mycobacterium tuberculosis N-succinyl-L,L-diaminopimelic acid desuccinylase. Scientific Reports 6: 23191.

Cox, J.A.G., K. A. Abrahams, C. Alemparte, S. Ghidelli-Disse, J. Rullas, I. Angulo-Barturen, A. Singh, S.S. Gurcha, V. Nataraj, S. Bethell,M.J. Remuiñán, L. Encinas, P.J. Jervis, N.C. Cammack, A. Bhatt, U. Kruse, M. Bantscheff, K. Fütterer**, D. Barros, L. Ballell**, G. Drewes, and G.S. Besra**(2016) Target assignment of THPP inhibitors reveals EchA6 as an essential fatty acid shuttle in mycobacteria. Nature Microbiology 1:15006 DOI: 10.1038/NMICROBIOL.2015.6 [**co-corresponding authors].

Fullam, E., I Prokes, K. Fütterer^,and G.S. Besra (2016) Structural and functional analysis of the solute-binding protein UspC from Mycobacterium tuberculosis that is specific for amino sugars. Open Biology 6(6): pii: 160105.

Harrison, J., G. Lloyd, M. Joe, T.L. Lowary, E. Reynolds, H. Walters-Morgan, A. Bhatt, A. Lovering, G.S. Besra, and L.J. Alderwick (2016) Lcp1 is a phosphotransferase responsible for ligating arabinogalactan to peptidoglycan in Mycobacterium tuberculosis. MBio. 7(4): pii:e00972-16.

Abrahams, K.A., C-W Chung, S. Ghidelli-Disse, J. Rullas, M.J. Rebollo-López, S.S. Gurcha, J.A.G. Cox, A. Mendoza, E. Jiménez-Navarro, M.S. Martínez-Martínez, M. Neu, A. Shillings, P. Homes, A. Argyrou, R. Casanueva, N.J. Loman, P.J. Moynihan, J. Lelievre, C. Selenski, M. Axtman, L. Kremer, M. Bantscheff, I. Angulo-Barturen, M.C Izquierdo, N. Cammack, G. Drewes, L. Ballell, D. Barros, G.S. Besra**, and R.H. Bates** (2016) Identification of KasA as the cellular target of an anti-tubercular scaffold. Nature Communications. 7:12581 DOI: 10.1038/ncomms12581. [**co-corressponding authors].

Singh, A., C. Varela, K. Bhatt, N. Veerapen, O.Y. Lee, H.H. Wu, G.S. Besra, D.E. Minnikin, N. Fujiwara, K. Teramoto, and A. Bhatt (2016) Identification of a desaturase involved in mycolic acid biosynthesis in Mycobacterium smegmatis. PLoS ONE 11(10): e0164253.

Saez de Guinoa, J., R. Jimeno, N. Farhadi, P.J. Jervis, L.R. Cox, G.S. Besra, and P. Barral (2016) CD1d-mediated activation of group 3 innate lymphoid cells droves IL-22 production. EMBO Reports 18(1): 39-47.

Abrahams, K. and G.S. Besra (2016) Mycobacterial cell wall biosynthesis: a multifaceted antibiotic target. Parasitology 15: 1-18.

Cox, J.A.G., G. Mugumbate, L. Vela-Glez del Peral, M. Jankute, K.A. Abrahams, P. Jervis, s. Jackenkroll, A. Perez, C. Alemparte, J. Esquivias, J. Lelievre, F. Ramon, D. Barros, L. Ballell, and G.S. Besra (2016) Novel inhibitors of Mycobacterium tuberculosis GuaB2 identified by a target based high-throughput phenotypic screen. Scientific Reports 6: 38986.

Fineran, P., E. Lloyd-Evans, N.A. Lack, N. Platt, L.C. Davis, A.J. Morgan, D, Hoglinger, R.V. Tatituri, S. Clark, I.M. Williams, P. Tynan, N. Al Eisa, E. Nazarova, A. Willaims, A. Galione, D.S. Ory, G.S. Besra, D.G. Russell, M.B. Brenner, E. Sim, and F.M. Platt (2016) Pathogenic mycobacteria achieve persistence by inhibiting the Niemann-Pick Type C disease cellular pathway. Wellcome Open Res. 1:18.

Wilkinson, K.A., N.F. Walker, G. Meintjes, A. Deffur, M.P. Nicol, K.H. Skolimowska, K. Matthews, R. Tadokera, R. Seldon, G. Maartens, M.X. Rangaka, G.S. Besra, and R.J. Wilkinson (2015) Cytotoxic mediators in paradoxical HIV-Tuberculosis immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome. Journal of Immunology 194(4): 1748-1754.

Wilson, G.J., M.J. Marakalala, J.C. Hoving, A. van Laarhoven, R.A. Drummond, B. Kerscher, R. Keeton, E van de Vosse, T.H. Ottenhoff, T.S. Plantinga, B. Alisjahbana, D. Govender, G.S. Besra, M.G. Netea, D.M. Reid, J.A. Willment, M. Jacobs, S. Yamasaki, R. van Crevel, and G.D. Brown (2015) The C-type lectin receptor CLECSF8/CLEC4D is a key component of anti-mycobacterial immunity. Cell Host Microbe 17(2): 252-259.

Minnikin, D.E., O.Y. Lee, H.H. Wu, G.S. Besra, A. Bhatt, V. Nataraj, B.M. Rothschild, M. Spigelman, and H.D. Donoghue (2015) Ancient mycobacterial lipids: key reference biomarkers in charting the evolution of tuberculosis. Tuberculosis S1472-S9792, 8-6.

Mugumbate, G., K.A. Abrahams, J.A. Cox, G. Papadatos, G. van Westen, J. Lelievre, S.T. Claus, N.J. Loman, L. Ballell, D. Barros, J.P. Overington, and G.S. Besra (2015) Mycobacterial dihydrofolate reductase inhibitors identified using chemogenomic methods and in vitro validation. PLoS ONE 10(3): e0121492.

Nataraj, V., P.C. Pang, S.M. Haslam, N. Veerapen, D.E. Minnikin, A. Dell, G.S. Besra, and A. Bhatt (2015) MKAN27435 is required for the biosynthesis of higher sub-classes of lipooligosaccharides in Mycobacterium kansasii. PLoS ONE 10(3): e0122804.

Jankute, M., J.A.G. Cox, J. Harrison, and G.S. Besra (2015) Assembly of the mycobacterial cell wall. Annual Reviews Microbiology 69: 405-423

Batt, S.M., M.C. Izquierdo, J.C. Pichel, C.J. Stubbs, L.Vela-Glez Del Peral, E. Perez-Herran, N. Dhar, B. Mouzon, M. Rees, J.P. Hutchinson, R.J. Young, J.D. McKinney, D.B. Aguirre, L. Ballell*, G.S. Besra**, and A. Argyrou** (2015) Whole cell target engagement identifies novel inhibitors of Mycobacterium tuberculosis decaprenylphosphoryl-beta-D-ribose oxidase. ACS Infectious Diseases 1(12): 615-626 [**co-corresponding author].

View all publications in research portal

Expertise

Research into tuberculosis (TB) to elucidate new biochemical pathways leading to new drug targets, drugs and vaccines

Alternative contact number available for this expert: contact the press office