Peter Newell

Research

Interactions between animals and microbes, particularly those between invertebrates and their gut microbiota; Interactions between microbes within host-associated microbial communities; Adaptations of bacteria to a host-associated lifestyle.

Specialty areas:

• Microbiology
• Genetics
• Genomics of bacteria

Publications

* Indicates undergraduate research student

• Solomon GM*, Dodangoda H*, McCarthy-Walker T*, Ntim-Gyakari R*, and Newell PD. (2019). The Microbiota of Drosophila suzukii Influences the Larval Development of Drosophila melanogaster. PeerJ 7:e8097 
• Sommer, AJ* and Newell, PD (2019) Metabolic Basis for Mutualism Between Gut Bacteria and Its Impact on Their Host Drosophila melanogaster. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 85:e01882-18.
• Koyle, ML, Veloz, M, Judd, A, Wong, CAN, Dobson, AJ, Newell, PD, Douglas, AE, and Chaston, JM. (2016) Rearing the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster under axenic and gnotobiotic conditions. J Vis Exp. Jul 30;(113). doi: 10.3791/54219
• Yoshioka, S**, and Newell, PD. (2016) Disruption of de novo purine biosynthesis in Pseudomonas fluorescens Pf0-1 leads to reduced biofilm formation and a reduction in cell size of surface-attached but not planktonic cells. PeerJ. DOI: 10.7717/peerj.1543
• Chaston, JM, Dobson, AJ, Newell, PD, and Douglas, AE. (2015) Host genetic control of the microbiota mediates Drosophila nutritional phenotype. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. In press.
• Dobson, AJ, Chaston, JM, Newell, PD, Donahue, L, Hermann, SL, Sannino, DR, Westmiller, S, Wong, AC, Clark, AG, Lazzaro, BP, Douglas, AE. (2015) Host genetic determinants of microbiota-dependent nutrition revealed by genome-wide analysis of Drosophila melanogaster. Nature Communications 6:6312.
• Newell, PD, Chaston, JM, Wang, Y, Winans, NJ*, Sannino, DR**,Wong, ACN, Dobson, AJ, Kagle, J, and Douglas, AE. (2014) In vivo function and comparative-genomic analyses of the Drosophila gut microbiota identify candidate symbiosis factors. Frontiers in Microbiology. 5:576.
• Newell, PD, Chaston, JM, Wang, Y, Winans, NJ*, Sannino, DR**,Wong, ACN, Dobson, AJ, Kagle, J, and Douglas, AE. (2014) In vivo function and comparative-genomic analyses of the Drosophila gut microbiota identify candidate symbiosis factors. Frontiers in Microbiology. In Press.Chaston, JM, Newell, PD, and Douglas, AE. (2014) Metagenome-wide association of microbial determinants of host phenotype in Drosophila melanogaster. MBio. 5(5):e01631-14.
• Newell, PD, and Douglas, AE. (2014) Interspecies interactions determine the impact of the gut microbiota on nutrient allocation in Drosophila melanogaster. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 80(2): 788-96.
• Newell, PD, Fricker, AD, Roco, CA, Chandrangsu, P, and Merkel, SM. (2013) A Small-Group Activity Introducing the Use and Interpretation of BLAST. J. Microbiol. Biol. Educ. 14(2): 238-43.
• Russell, CW, Bouvaine, S, Newell, PD, and Douglas, AE. (2013) Shared metabolic pathways in a coevolved insect-bacterial symbiosis. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 79 (19): 6117-23.
• Newell, PD, Boyd, CB, Sondermann, H, and O'Toole, GA (2011) A c-di-GMP effector system controls cell adhesion by inside-out signaling and surface protein cleavage. PLoS Biol 9(2): e1000587.
• Navarro, MVAS, Newell, PD, Krasteva, PV, Chatterjee, D, and O'Toole, GA, Sondermann, H (2011) Structural Basis for c-di-GMP-mediated Inside-out Signaling Controlling Periplasmic Proteolysis. PLoS Biol 9(2): e1000588.
• Newell, PD, Yoshioka, S, Hvorecny, KL, Monds, RD, and O'Toole, GA (2011) Systematic analysis of diguanylate cyclases that promote biofilm formation by Pseudomonas fluorescens Pf0-1.  J Bacteriol 193(18):4685-98.
• Newell, PD, Monds, RD, and O'Toole, GA (2009) LapD is a bis-(3',5')-cyclic dimeric GMP binding protein that regulates surface attachment by Pseudomonas fluorescens Pf0-1. PNAS 106(9):3461-3466. 

Education

• Ph.D., Molecular Microbiology, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth
• BA, Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, Middlebury College