See web page at http://www.brown.edu/research/labs/belenky/
Peter Belenky received his B.S. in biochemistry and a BA in studio art from Brandeis University. He then went on to receive his Ph.D. in biochemistry from Dartmouth Medical School. At Dartmouth he studied NAD+ metabolism and longevity with Dr. Charles Brenner. He then completed his post-doctoral training in systems and synthetic biology with Dr. James Collins as an HHMI post-doctoral associate at Boston University. At Boston University he utilized a systems biology approach to identify the metabolic and genetic responses of bacteria and fungi to antimicrobial agents. At present, Dr. Belenky is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology.
| Rowan-Nash AD, Korry BJ, Mylonakis E, Belenky P. "Cross-Domain and Viral Interactions in the Microbiome." Microbiology and molecular biology reviews : MMBR, vol. 83, no. 1, 2019. |
| Ajibola O, Rowan AD, Ogedengbe CO, Mshelia MB, Cabral DJ, Eze AA, Obaro S, Belenky P. "Urogenital schistosomiasis is associated with signatures of microbiome dysbiosis in Nigerian adolescents." Scientific reports, vol. 9, no. 1, 2019, pp. 829. |
| Cabral DJ, Wurster JI, Belenky P. "Antibiotic Persistence as a Metabolic Adaptation: Stress, Metabolism, the Host, and New Directions." Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland), vol. 11, no. 1, 2018. |
| Lee KM, Morris-Love J, Cabral DJ, Belenky P, Opal SM, Jamieson AM. "Coinfection With Influenza A Virus and <i>Klebsiella oxytoca</i>: An Underrecognized Impact on Host Resistance and Tolerance to Pulmonary Infections." Frontiers in immunology, vol. 9, 2018, pp. 2377. |
| Carmona-Gutierrez D, Bauer MA, Zimmermann A, Aguilera A, Austriaco N, Ayscough K, Balzan R, Bar-Nun S, Barrientos A, Belenky P, Blondel M, Braun RJ, Breitenbach M, Burhans WC, Büttner S, Cavalieri D, Chang M, Cooper KF, Côrte-Real M, Costa V, Cullin C, Dawes I, Dengjel J, Dickman MB, Eisenberg T, Fahrenkrog B, Fasel N, Fröhlich KU, Gargouri A, Giannattasio S, Goffrini P, Gourlay CW, Grant CM, Greenwood MT, Guaragnella N, Heger T, Heinisch J, Herker E, Herrmann JM, Hofer S, Jiménez-Ruiz A, Jungwirth H, Kainz K, Kontoyiannis DP, Ludovico P, Manon S, Martegani E, Mazzoni C, Megeney LA, Meisinger C, Nielsen J, Nyström T, Osiewacz HD, Outeiro TF, Park HO, Pendl T, Petranovic D, Picot S, Polčic P, Powers T, Ramsdale M, Rinnerthaler M, Rockenfeller P, Ruckenstuhl C, Schaffrath R, Segovia M, Severin FF, Sharon A, Sigrist SJ, Sommer-Ruck C, Sousa MJ, Thevelein JM, Thevissen K, Titorenko V, Toledano MB, Tuite M, Vögtle FN, Westermann B, Winderickx J, Wissing S, Wölfl S, Zhang ZJ, Zhao RY, Zhou B, Galluzzi L, Kroemer G, Madeo F. "Guidelines and recommendations on yeast cell death nomenclature." Microbial cell (Graz, Austria), vol. 5, no. 1, 2018, pp. 4-31. |
| Zabat MA, Sano WH, Cabral DJ, Wurster JI, Belenky P. "The impact of vegan production on the kimchi microbiome." Food microbiology, vol. 74, 2018, pp. 171-178. |
| Meylan S, Porter CB, Yang JH, Belenky P, Gutierrez A, Lobritz MA, Park J, Kim SH, Moskowitz SM, Collins JJ. "Carbon Sources Tune Antibiotic Susceptibility in Pseudomonas aeruginosa via Tricarboxylic Acid Cycle Control." Cell chemical biology, 2017. |
| Cabral DJ, Wurster JI, Flokas ME, Alevizakos M, Zabat M, Korry BJ, Rowan AD, Sano WH, Andreatos N, Ducharme RB, Chan PA, Mylonakis E, Fuchs BB, Belenky P. "The salivary microbiome is consistent between subjects and resistant to impacts of short-term hospitalization." Scientific reports, vol. 7, no. 1, 2017, pp. 11040. |
| Cohen NR, Ross CA, Jain S, Shapiro RS, Gutierrez A, Belenky P, Li H, Collins JJ. "A role for the bacterial GATC methylome in antibiotic stress survival." Nature Genetics, vol. 48, no. 5, 2016, pp. 581-6. |
| Aislinn D. Rowan, Damien J. Cabral and Peter Belenky. "Bactericidal antibiotics induce programmed metabolic toxicity." Microbial Cell, vol. 3, no. 4, 2016, pp. 178 - 180. |
| Lobritz MA, Belenky P, Porter CB, Gutierrez A, Yang JH, Schwarz EG, Dwyer DJ, Khalil AS, Collins JJ. "Antibiotic efficacy is linked to bacterial cellular respiration." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 112, no. 27, 2015, pp. 8173-80. |
| Belenky P, Ye JD, Porter CB, Cohen NR, Lobritz MA, Ferrante T, Jain S, Korry BJ, Schwarz EG, Walker GC, Collins JJ. "Bactericidal Antibiotics Induce Toxic Metabolic Perturbations that Lead to Cellular Damage." Cell Reports, vol. 13, no. 5, 2015, pp. 968-80. |
| Dwyer DJ, Belenky PA, Yang JH, MacDonald IC, Martell JD, Takahashi N, Chan CT, Lobritz MA, Braff D, Schwarz EG, Ye JD, Pati M, Vercruysse M, Ralifo PS, Allison KR, Khalil AS, Ting AY, Walker GC, Collins JJ. "Antibiotics induce redox-related physiological alterations as part of their lethality." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 111, no. 20, 2014, pp. E2100-9. |
| Belenky P, Camacho D, Collins JJ. "Fungicidal drugs induce a common oxidative-damage cellular death pathway." Cell Reports, vol. 3, no. 2, 2013, pp. 350-8. |
| Belenky P, Collins JJ. "Microbiology. Antioxidant strategies to tolerate antibiotics." Science, vol. 334, no. 6058, 2011, pp. 915-6. |
| Belenky P, Stebbins R, Bogan KL, Evans CR, Brenner C. "Nrt1 and Tna1-independent export of NAD+ precursor vitamins promotes NAD+ homeostasis and allows engineering of vitamin production." PLoS ONE, vol. 6, no. 5, 2011, pp. e19710. |
| Bogan, K. L., Evans, C., Belenky, P., Song, P., Burant, C. F., Kennedy, R., Brenner, C. "Identification of Isn1 and Sdt1 as glucose- and vitamin-regulated nicotinamide mononucleotide and nicotinic acid mononucleotide 5'-nucleotidases responsible for production of nicotinamide riboside and nicotinic acid riboside." Journal of Biological Chemistry, vol. 285, no. 5, 2010, pp. 3524-3524. |
| Bogan KL, Evans C, Belenky P, Song P, Burant CF, Kennedy R, Brenner C. "Identification of Isn1 and Sdt1 as glucose- and vitamin-regulated nicotinamide mononucleotide and nicotinic acid mononucleotide [corrected] 5'-nucleotidases responsible for production of nicotinamide riboside and nicotinic acid riboside." Journal of Biological Chemistry, vol. 284, no. 50, 2009, pp. 34861-9. |
| Belenky P, Christensen KC, Gazzaniga F, Pletnev AA, Brenner C. "Nicotinamide riboside and nicotinic acid riboside salvage in fungi and mammals. Quantitative basis for Urh1 and purine nucleoside phosphorylase function in NAD+ metabolism." Journal of Biological Chemistry, vol. 284, no. 1, 2009, pp. 158-64. |
| Belenky PA, Moga TG, Brenner C. "Saccharomyces cerevisiae YOR071C encodes the high affinity nicotinamide riboside transporter Nrt1." Journal of Biological Chemistry, vol. 283, no. 13, 2008, pp. 8075-9. |
| Belenky P, Bogan KL, Brenner C. "Inosine 5'-monophosphate dehydrogenase binds nucleic acids in vitro and in vivo." Biochem. J., vol. 32, 2007, pp. 12-9. |
| Tempel W, Rabeh WM, Bogan KL, Belenky P, Wojcik M, Seidle HF, Nedyalkova L, Yang T, Sauve AA, Park HW, Brenner C. "Nicotinamide riboside kinase structures reveal new pathways to NAD+." PLoS biology, vol. 5, no. 10, 2007, pp. e263. |
| Belenky P, Racette FG, Bogan KL, McClure JM, Smith JS, Brenner C. "Nicotinamide riboside promotes Sir2 silencing and extends lifespan via Nrk and Urh1/Pnp1/Meu1 pathways to NAD+." Cell, vol. 129, no. 3, 2007, pp. 473-84. |
| McLean JE, Hamaguchi N, Belenky P, Mortimer SE, Stanton M, Hedstrom L. "Inosine 5'-monophosphate dehydrogenase binds nucleic acids in vitro and in vivo." Biochem. J., vol. 379, no. Pt 2, 2004, pp. 243-51. |
We study the responses of microbial communities and isolated microbes to external stress such as antimicrobial agents. This work is particularly pressing because unlike at any other time in human history, we are currently exposed to a wide array of natural and artificial antimicrobial agents in the form of antibiotics, chemical disinfectants, chemotherapeutic agents and other stressors. Understanding how these extracellular stressors affect our microbiome will provide critical biological insight into the development of dysbiosis, disease, and antibiotic resistance. Relying on recent advances in high-throughput DNA and RNA sequencing we are studying the effects of antimicrobial agents on these highly complex microbial communities to identify microbial mechanisms that lead to improved antimicrobial tolerance and the development of resistance.
Microbiome responses to bactericidal antibiotics.
For the most part broad-spectrum antibiotics are used to target specific pathogenic bacteria. However, these agents are also toxic to many of the benign and beneficial bacteria that make up the human microbiome. As a result numerous studies have correlated treatment with antibiotics to the development of dysbiosis and associated disorders. To formulate therapies that do not induce these complications we need to understand how the untargeted organisms respond to antibiotics. Currently our understanding of how antimicrobial agents impact the microbiome is limited by the difficulty of isolating and culturing the bacteria that make up this complicated community. To avoid this problem, we will study the microbial community as whole in the setting of the human and murine gut. We utilize metagenomics and metatranscriptomics to profile the activation of well know stress responses in these unstudied and unculturable organisms. These results have the potential to identify and profile bacteria negatively impacted by these drugs and provide insights for the development for less toxic therapeutics options.
The impact of antibiotics on horizontal Gene transfer within the microbiome
Exposure to antibiotics has been proposed to induce various forms of genome instability in bacteria. At the same time we are beginning to understand the important role that horizontal gene transfer plays in spread of antibiotic resistance. Thus, understanding how antibiotic treatment impacts genome instability and horizontal gene transfer in the microbiome will provide critical insight into the mechanism underlying the spread of resistance. To address this question we are utilizing engineered transfer elements to track the movement of genetic information in microbial communities.
Engineering the microbiome with synthetic probiotics
Probiotic members of the human microbiome can be genetically modified to combat infections and to address various metabolic disorders. Our current efforts are focused on combating intestinal pathogens and regulating lipid metabolism.
| Year | Degree | Institution |
|---|---|---|
| 2009 | PhD | Dartmouth College |
| 2004 | BS | Brandeis University |
2002 Howard Hughes Medical Institute Undergraduate Fellow
Brandeis University, Waltham, MA
2003 Howard Hughes Medical Institute Undergraduate Fellow
Brandeis University, Waltham, MA
2007-2008 John H. Copenhaver, Jr. and William H. Thomas, MD 1952 Fellow
Dartmouth Medical School, Hanover, NH
2008-2009 Institutional NIH NRSA Trainee in Molecular and Cellular Biology
Dartmouth Medical School, Hanover, NH
2009 John W. Strohbehn Medal for Excellence in Biomedical Research
Dartmouth Medical School, Hanover, NH
2009 Harold M. Weintraub Graduate Student Award
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA
- Assistant Professor of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology
- Trainer in the Graduate Program in Molecular Biology, Cell Biology and Biochemistry (MCB)
| BIOL 0510 - Introductory Microbiology |
| BIOL 1250 - Host-microbiome Interactions in Health and Disease |
