Professor Matt Hutchings
Group Leader Harnessing Biosynthesis for Sustainable Food and Health (HBio), Advancing Plant Health (APH) , Head of Department
Matt’s group works on the specialised metabolites made by Streptomyces species and closely related actinomycete bacteria, which include more than half of all known antibiotics.
They are particularly interested in the chemical ecology of these bacteria and their natural products.
For example, antibiotic-producing actinomycete bacteria interact with insects and plants and protect them against infection by pathogenic bacteria and fungi in return for food and housing. This is called a defensive mutualism (mutually beneficial symbiosis).
Understanding these interactions will help find new and useful natural products, including new antibiotics, and will also help protect important crop plants against disease.
Selected Publications
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Devine R, Noble K, Stevenson C, Martins CdO, Saalbach G, McDonald HP, Hems ES, Wilkinson B, Hutchings MI (2025)Redox control of antibiotic biosynthesis.mBioPublisher's version: 2150-7511
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Parra J, Beaton A, Seipke RF, Wilkinson B, Hutchings MI, Duncan KR (2023)Antibiotics from rare actinomycetes, beyond the genus Streptomyces.Current opinion in microbiologyPublisher's version: 1369-5274
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Prudence SMM,Newitt JT,Worsley SF,Macey MC,Murrell JC,Lehtovirta-Morley LE,Hutchings MI (2021)Soil, senescence and exudate utilisation: characterisation of the Paragon var. spring bread wheat root microbiomeEnvironmental Microbiome (16)Publisher's version: 2524-6372