Biography

Dr. Andrew Pountain is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics in UTHealth Houston’s McGovern Medical School. Andrew attained his Ph.D. in 2018 from the University of Glasgow for his thesis work in molecular parasitology in the laboratory of Prof. Michael Barrett. He did his postdoctoral training first within MMG itself from 2018-2020, studying fungal pathogenesis within the laboratory of Dr. Michael Lorenz, then at the New York University School of Medicine where he investigated bacterial transcriptional dynamics with Dr. Itai Yanai. He joined the faculty of the Department in 2024.

Areas of Interest

Research Interests

My research program aims to identify principles underlying microbial transcriptional biology. Gene expression is shaped by multiple interconnecting factors from the transcriptional regulatory network, to the physiological state of a cell in its environment, to stochastic events at the molecular level. My goal is to develop frameworks that enable understanding of these complex factors at a systems level and their relationship to cellular physiology and decision making. Building on my background in microbial pathogens, transcriptional technologies, and systems biology, my research interests lie in two main areas:

 

  1. Modeling the drivers of transcriptional variation: Our goal is to identify how global factors, such as replication and division patterns, and local effects such as transcript stability and transcription factor binding, shape expression at a single cell level. This enables us to use transcriptional “noise” as a powerful lens into the cellular biology of microbial populations.

 

  1. Dissecting phenotypic heterogeneity in microbial pathogens: We study how a single pathogen can adopt a range of states at the level of individual cells, such as highly cytotoxic or drug-tolerant forms, with consequences for infection progression and treatment.

Publications

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Podkowik M, Perault AI, Putzel G, Pountain A, Kim J, Dumont A, Zwack E, Ulrich RJ, Karagounis TK, Zhou C, Haag AF, Shenderovich J, Wasserman GA, Kwon J, Chen J, Richardson AR, Weiser JN, Nowosad CR, Lun DS, Parker D, Pironti A, Zhao X, Drlica K, Yanai I, Torres VJ, Shopsin B. Quorum-sensing agr system of Staphylococcus aureus primes gene expression for protection from lethal oxidative stress. bioRxiv. 2024 Feb 28;. doi: 10.1101/2023.06.08.544038. PubMed PMID: 37333372; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC10274873.

Pountain AW, Jiang P, Yao T, Homaee E, Guan Y, McDonald KJC, Podkowik M, Shopsin B, Torres VJ, Golding I, Yanai I. Transcription-replication interactions reveal bacterial genome regulation. Nature. 2024 Feb;626(7999):661-669. doi: 10.1038/s41586-023-06974-w. Epub 2024 Jan 24. PubMed PMID: 38267581; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC10923101.

Miramón P, Pountain AW, Lorenz MC. Candida auris-macrophage cellular interactions and transcriptional response. Infect Immun. 2023 Nov 16;91(11):e0027423. doi: 10.1128/iai.00274-23. Epub 2023 Oct 10. PubMed PMID: 37815367; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC10652981.

Avital G, Kuperwaser F, Pountain AW, Lacey KA, Zwack EE, Podkowik M, Shopsin B, Torres VJ, Yanai I. The tempo and mode of gene regulatory programs during bacterial infection. Cell Rep. 2022 Oct 11;41(2):111477. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2022.111477. PubMed PMID: 36223751; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC9741813.

Alpizar-Sosa EA, Ithnin NRB, Wei W, Pountain AW, Weidt SK, Donachie AM, Ritchie R, Dickie EA, Burchmore RJS, Denny PW, Barrett MP. Amphotericin B resistance in Leishmania mexicana: Alterations to sterol metabolism and oxidative stress response. PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2022 Sep;16(9):e0010779. doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0010779. eCollection 2022 Sep. PubMed PMID: 36170238; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC9581426.

Pountain AW, Collette JR, Farrell WM, Lorenz MC. Interactions of Both Pathogenic and Nonpathogenic CUG Clade Candida Species with Macrophages Share a Conserved Transcriptional Landscape. mBio. 2021 Dec 21;12(6):e0331721. doi: 10.1128/mbio.03317-21. Epub 2021 Dec 14. PubMed PMID: 34903044; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC8669484.

Giordani F, Paape D, Vincent IM, Pountain AW, Fernández-Cortés F, Rico E, Zhang N, Morrison LJ, Freund Y, Witty MJ, Peter R, Edwards DY, Wilkes JM, van der Hooft JJJ, Regnault C, Read KD, Horn D, Field MC, Barrett MP. Veterinary trypanocidal benzoxaboroles are peptidase-activated prodrugs. PLoS Pathog. 2020 Nov;16(11):e1008932. doi: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1008932. eCollection 2020 Nov. PubMed PMID: 33141865; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC7710103.

Miramón P, Pountain AW, van Hoof A, Lorenz MC. The Paralogous Transcription Factors Stp1 and Stp2 of Candida albicans Have Distinct Functions in Nutrient Acquisition and Host Interaction. Infect Immun. 2020 Apr 20;88(5). doi: 10.1128/IAI.00763-19. Print 2020 Apr 20. PubMed PMID: 32094252; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC7171245.

Pountain AW, Barrett MP. Untargeted metabolomics to understand the basis of phenotypic differences in amphotericin B-resistant Leishmania parasites. Wellcome Open Res. 2019;4:176. doi: 10.12688/wellcomeopenres.15452.1. eCollection 2019. PubMed PMID: 32133420; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC7041363.

Miller JL, Hill ML, Brun J, Pountain A, Sayce AC, Zitzmann N. Iminosugars counteract the downregulation of the interferon γ receptor by dengue virus. Antiviral Res. 2019 Oct;170:104551. doi: 10.1016/j.antiviral.2019.104551. Epub 2019 Jul 12. PubMed PMID: 31306674; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6891261.

Pountain AW, Weidt SK, Regnault C, Bates PA, Donachie AM, Dickens NJ, Barrett MP. Genomic instability at the locus of sterol C24-methyltransferase promotes amphotericin B resistance in Leishmania parasites. PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2019 Feb;13(2):e0007052. doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0007052. eCollection 2019 Feb. PubMed PMID: 30716073; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6375703.
Kovářová J, Pountain AW, Wildridge D, Weidt S, Bringaud F, Burchmore RJS, Achcar F, Barrett MP. Deletion of transketolase triggers a stringent metabolic response in promastigotes and loss of virulence in amastigotes of Leishmania mexicana. PLoS Pathog. 2018 Mar;14(3):e1006953. doi: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1006953. eCollection 2018 Mar. PubMed PMID: 29554142; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5882173.
Rattigan KM, Pountain AW, Regnault C, Achcar F, Vincent IM, Goodyear CS, Barrett MP. Metabolomic profiling of macrophages determines the discrete metabolomic signature and metabolomic interactome triggered by polarising immune stimuli. PLoS One. 2018;13(3):e0194126. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0194126. eCollection 2018. PubMed PMID: 29538444; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5851634.
Ponte-Sucre A, Gamarro F, Dujardin JC, Barrett MP, López-Vélez R, García-Hernández R, Pountain AW, Mwenechanya R, Papadopoulou B. Drug resistance and treatment failure in leishmaniasis: A 21st century challenge. PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2017 Dec;11(12):e0006052. doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0006052. eCollection 2017 Dec. Review. PubMed PMID: 29240765; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5730103.
Mwenechanya R, Kovářová J, Dickens NJ, Mudaliar M, Herzyk P, Vincent IM, Weidt SK, Burgess KE, Burchmore RJS, Pountain AW, Smith TK, Creek DJ, Kim DH, Lepesheva GI, Barrett MP. Sterol 14α-demethylase mutation leads to amphotericin B resistance in Leishmania mexicana. PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2017 Jun;11(6):e0005649. doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0005649. eCollection 2017 Jun. PubMed PMID: 28622334; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5498063.
Weir W, Capewell P, Foth B, Clucas C, Pountain A, Steketee P, Veitch N, Koffi M, De Meeûs T, Kaboré J, Camara M, Cooper A, Tait A, Jamonneau V, Bucheton B, Berriman M, MacLeod A. Population genomics reveals the origin and asexual evolution of human infective trypanosomes. Elife. 2016 Jan 26;5:e11473. doi: 10.7554/eLife.11473. PubMed PMID: 26809473; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4739771.