Staff Profile

I am a member of the Biosciences Institute and my work contributes to the Molecular and Cellular Microbiology research theme.

(https://www.ncl.ac.uk/medical-sciences/research/research-themes/microbiology/)

As part of the Newcastle Fungal Group my research lab has an interest in nutrient sensing and its role in the regulation of fungal morphology. (https://research.ncl.ac.uk/newcastlefungalgroup/people/)

Ammonium sensing and the regulation of fungal morphology. Fungi regulate their pattern of growth in response to nutrient availability.  Ammonium is an important nitrogen source for these organisms and some dimorphic yeasts switch to a filamentous form when ammonium levels are limiting.  A conserved family of ammonium transporters regulates this morphology switch.  We aim to understand the mechanisms that underpin this type of nutrient sensing and define the signal transduction pathways that link ammonium import and fungal morphology.  We are particularly interested in the extent to which this process is conserved in fungal pathogens.

• van den Berg B, Lister S, Rutherford JC. Ammonium transceptors: Novel regulators of fungal development. PLoS Pathogens 2019, 15(11).
• Rutherford J, Bahn Y, Berg B, Heitman J, Xue C. Nutrient and Stress Sensing in Pathogenic Yeasts. Frontiers in Microbiology 2019, 10, 442.
• Van Dijck P, Brown NA, Goldman GH, Rutherford J, Xue C, Van Zeebroeck G. Nutrient sensing at the plasma membrane of fungal cells. Microbiology Spectrum 2017, 5(2), FUNK-0031-2016.
• van den Berg B, Chembath A, Jefferies D, Basle A, Khalid S, Rutherford JC. Structural basis for Mep2 ammonium transceptor activation by phosphorylation. Nature Communications 2016, 7, 11337.
• Rutherford JC. The Emerging Role of Urease as a General Microbial Virulence Factor. PLoS Pathogens 2014, 10(5), e1004062.
• Foster AW, Dainty SJ, Patterson CJ, Pohl E, Blackburn H, Wilson C, Hess CR, Rutherford JC, Quaranta L, Corran A, Robinson NJ. A chemical potentiator of copper-accumulation used to investigate the iron-regulons of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Molecular Microbiology 2014, 93(2), 317-330.
• Singh A, Panting RJ, Varma A, Saijo T, Waldron KJ, Jong A, Ngamskurungroj P, Chang YC, Rutherford JC, Kwon-Chung KJ. Factors required for Activation of Urease as a Virulence Determinant in Cryptococcus neoformans. mBio 2013, 4(3), e00220-13.
• Dong K, Addinall S, Lydall D, Rutherford JC. The Yeast Copper Response Is Regulated by DNA Damage. Molecular and Cellular Biology 2013, 33(20), 4041-4050.
• Fomenko DE, Koc A, Agisheva N, Jacobsen M, Kaya A, Malinouski M, Rutherford JC, Siu KL, Jin DY, Winge DR, Gladyshev VN. Thiol peroxidases mediate specific genome-wide regulation of gene expression in response to hydrogen peroxide. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 2011, 108(7), 2729-2734.
• Voelz K, Johnston SA, Rutherford JC, May RC. Automated Analysis of Cryptococcal Macrophage Parasitism Using GFP-Tagged Cryptococci. PLoS ONE 2010, 5(12), e15968.
• Waldron KJ, Rutherford JC, Ford D, Robinson NJ. Metalloproteins and metal sensing. Nature 2009, 460(7257), 823-830.
• Rutherford JC, Chua G, Hughes T, Cardenas ME, Heitman J. A Mep2-dependent Transcriptional Profile Links Permease Function to Gene Expression during Pseudohyphal Growth in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Molecular Biology of the Cell 2008, 19(7), 3028-3039.
• Rutherford JC, Lin X, Nielsen K, Heitman J. Amt2 permease is required to induce ammonium-responsive invasive growth and mating in Cryptococcus neoformans. Eukaryotic Cell 2008, 7(2), 237-246.
• Teichert S, Rutherford JC, Wottawa M, Heitman J, Tudzynski B. Impact of ammonium permeases MepA, MepB, and MepC on nitrogen-regulated secondary metabolism in Fusarium fujikuroi. Eukaryotic Cell 2008, 7(2), 187-201.
• Bahn YS, Xue C, Idnurm A, Rutherford JC, Heitman J, Cardenas ME. Sensing the environment: lessons from fungi. Nature Reviews Microbiology 2007, 5(1), 57-69.
• Ojeda L, Keller G, Muhlenhoff U, Rutherford JC, Lill R, Winge DR. Role of glutaredoxin-3 and glutaredoxin-4 in the iron-regulation of the Aft1 transcriptional activator in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Journal of Biological Chemistry 2006, 281(26), 17661-17669.
• Rutherford JC, Ojeda L, Balk J, Mulenhoff U, Lill R, Winge DR. Activation of the Iron Regulon by the Yeast Aft1/Aft2 Transcription Factors Depends on Mitochondrial but Not Cytosolic Iron-Sulphur Protein Biogenesis. The Journal of Biological Chemistry 2005, 280(11), 10135-10140.
• Rutherford JC, Bird AJ. Metal-responsive transcription factors that regulate iron, zinc and copper homeostasis in eukaryotic cells. Eukaryotic Cell 2004, 3(1), 1-13.
• Koc A, Gasch AP, Rutherford JC, Kim HY, Gladyshev VN. Methionine sulfoxide reductase regulation of yeast lifespan reveals reactive oxygen species-dependent and -independent components of aging. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 2004, 101(21), 7999-8004.
• Rutherford JC, Jaron S, Winge DR. Aft1p and Aft2p Mediate Iron-responsive Gene Expression in Yeast through Related Promoter Elements. Journal of Biological Chemistry 2003, 278(30), 27636-27643.
• Rutherford JC, Jaron S, Ray E, Brown PO, Winge DR. A second iron-regulatory system in yeast independent of Aft1p. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 2001, 98(25), 14322-14327.
• Rutherford JC, Cavet JS, Robinson NJ. Cobalt-dependent transcriptional switching by a dual-effector MerR-like protein regulates a cobalt-exporting variant CPx-type ATPase. Journal of Biological Chemistry 1999, 274(36), 25827-25832.