Education

Ph.D. in Nutrition, Food Technology and Biotechnology, Wageningen University, Netherlands, 2007

Current position

Assistant Professor in Microbiology (Tenure track), Wageningen University, Netherlands (2011-present)

Publications

Peer reviewed journals

1. Jackson, R. N., Golden, S. M., van Erp, P. B., Carter, J., Westra, E. R., Brouns, S. J., van der Oost, J., Terwilliger, T. C., Read, R. J. and Wiedenheft, B. (2014). Structural biology. Crystal structure of the CRISPR RNA-guided surveillance complex from Escherichia coli. Science 345(6203): 1473-1479.
   
2. Fineran, P. C., Gerritzen, M. J., Suarez-Diez, M., Kunne, T., Boekhorst, J., van Hijum, S. A., Staals, R. H. and Brouns, S. J. (2014). Degenerate target sites mediate rapid primed CRISPR adaptation. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 111(16): E1629-1638.
   
3. Swarts, D. C., Jore, M. M., Westra, E. R., Zhu, Y., Janssen, J. H., Snijders, A. P., Wang, Y., Patel, D. J., Berenguer, J., Brouns, S. J. and van der Oost, J. (2014). DNA-guided DNA interference by a prokaryotic Argonaute. Nature 507(7491): 258-261.
   
4. KüKunne, T., Swarts, D. C. and Brouns, S. J. (2014). Planting the seed: target recognition of short guide RNAs. Trends Microbiol 22(2): 74-83. (Review)
   
5. Westra, E. R., Semenova, E., Datsenko, K. A., Jackson, R. N., Wiedenheft, B., Severinov, K. and Brouns, S. J. (2013). Type I-E CRISPR-cas systems discriminate target from non-target DNA through base pairing-independent PAM recognition. PLoS Genet 9(9): e1003742.
   
6. Quax, T. E., Wolf, Y. I., Koehorst, J. J., Wurtzel, O., van der Oost, R., Ran, W., Blombach, F., Makarova, K. S., Brouns, S. J., Forster, A. C., Wagner, E. G., Sorek, R., Koonin, E. V. and van der Oost, J. (2013). Differential translation tunes uneven production of operon-encoded proteins. Cell Rep 4(5): 938-944.
   
7. Douillard, F. P., Ribbera, A., Kant, R., Pietila, T. E., Jarvinen, H. M., Messing, M., Randazzo, C. L., Paulin, L., Laine, P., Ritari, J., Caggia, C., Lahteinen, T., Brouns, S. J., Satokari, R., von Ossowski, I., Reunanen, J., Palva, A. and de Vos, W. M. (2013). Comparative genomic and functional analysis of 100 Lactobacillus rhamnosus strains and their comparison with strain GG. PLoS Genet 9(8): e1003683.
   
8. Ruigrok, V. J., Westra, E. R., Brouns, S. J., Escude, C., Smidt, H. and van der Oost, J. (2013). A capture approach for supercoiled plasmid DNA using a triplex-forming oligonucleotide. Nucleic Acids Res 41(10): e111.
   
9. Westra, E. R., Staals, R. H., Gort, G., Hogh, S., Neumann, S., de la Cruz, F., Fineran, P. C. and Brouns, S. J. (2013). CRISPR-Cas systems preferentially target the leading regions of MOBF conjugative plasmids. RNA Biol 10(5): 749-761.
   
10. Biswas, A., Gagnon, J. N., Brouns, S. J., Fineran, P. C. and Brown, C. M. (2013). CRISPRTarget: bioinformatic prediction and analysis of crRNA targets. RNA Biol 10(5): 817-827.
    
11. Westra, E. R., Swarts, D. C., Staals, R. H., Jore, M. M., Brouns, S. J. and van der Oost, J. (2012). The CRISPRs, they are a-changin': how prokaryotes generate adaptive immunity. Annu Rev Genet 46: 311-339. (Review)
    
12. Westra, E. R., Nilges, B., van Erp, P. B., van der Oost, J., Dame, R. T. and Brouns, S. J. (2012). Cascade-mediated binding and bending of negatively supercoiled DNA. RNA Biol 9(9): 1134-1138.
    
13. van Duijn, E., Barbu, I. M., Barendregt, A., Jore, M. M., Wiedenheft, B., Lundgren, M., Westra, E. R., Brouns, S. J., Doudna, J. A., van der Oost, J. and Heck, A. J. (2012). Native tandem and ion mobility mass spectrometry highlight structural and modular similarities in clustered-regularly-interspaced shot-palindromic-repeats (CRISPR)-associated protein complexes from Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Mol Cell Proteomics 11(11): 1430-1441.
    
14. Brouns, S. J. (2012). Molecular biology. A Swiss army knife of immunity. Science 337(6096): 808-809. (Invited commentary)
15. Westra, E. R. and Brouns, S. J. (2012). The rise and fall of CRISPRs--dynamics of spacer acquisition and loss. Mol Microbiol 85(6): 1021-1025.
    
16. Swarts, D. C., Mosterd, C., van Passel, M. W. and Brouns, S. J. (2012). CRISPR interference directs strand specific spacer acquisition. PLoS One 7(4): e35888.
    
17. Westra, E. R., van Erp, P. B., Kunne, T., Wong, S. P., Staals, R. H., Seegers, C. L., Bollen, S., Jore, M. M., Semenova, E., Severinov, K., de Vos, W. M., Dame, R. T., de Vries, R., Brouns, S. J. and van der Oost, J. (2012). CRISPR immunity relies on the consecutive binding and degradation of negatively supercoiled invader DNA by Cascade and Cas3. Mol Cell 46(5): 595-605.
    
18. Wiedenheft, B., Lander, G. C., Zhou, K., Jore, M. M., Brouns, S. J., van der Oost, J., Doudna, J. A. and Nogales, E. (2011). Structures of the RNA-guided surveillance complex from a bacterial immune system. Nature 477(7365): 486-489.
    
19. Semenova, E., Jore, M. M., Datsenko, K. A., Semenova, A., Westra, E. R., Wanner, B., van der Oost, J., Brouns, S. J. and Severinov, K. (2011). Interference by clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat (CRISPR) RNA is governed by a seed sequence. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 108(25): 10098-10103.
    
20. Makarova, K. S., Haft, D. H., Barrangou, R., Brouns, S. J., Charpentier, E., Horvath, P., Moineau, S., Mojica, F. J., Wolf, Y. I., Yakunin, A. F., van der Oost, J. and Koonin, E. V. (2011). Evolution and classification of the CRISPR-Cas systems. Nat Rev Microbiol 9(6): 467-477.
    
21. Jore, M. M., Lundgren, M., van Duijn, E., Bultema, J. B., Westra, E. R., Waghmare, S. P., Wiedenheft, B., Pul, U., Wurm, R., Wagner, R., Beijer, M. R., Barendregt, A., Zhou, K., Snijders, A. P., Dickman, M. J., Doudna, J. A., Boekema, E. J., Heck, A. J., van der Oost, J. and Brouns, S. J. (2011). Structural basis for CRISPR RNA-guided DNA recognition by Cascade. Nat Struct Mol Biol 18(5): 529-536.
    
22. Jore, M. M., Brouns, S. J. and van der Oost, J. (2012). RNA in defense: CRISPRs protect prokaryotes against mobile genetic elements. Cold Spring Harb Perspect Biol 4(6). (Review; appeared as book chapter previously)
    
23. Al-Attar, S., Westra, E. R., van der Oost, J. and Brouns, S. J. (2011). Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPRs): the hallmark of an ingenious antiviral defense mechanism in prokaryotes. Biol Chem 392(4): 277-289. (Review)
24. Blombach, F., Brouns, S. J. and van der Oost, J. (2011). Assembling the archaeal ribosome: roles for translation-factor-related GTPases. Biochem Soc Trans 39(1): 45-50.
    
25. Westra, E. R., Pul, U., Heidrich, N., Jore, M. M., Lundgren, M., Stratmann, T., Wurm, R., Raine, A., Mescher, M., Van Heereveld, L., Mastop, M., Wagner, E. G., Schnetz, K., Van Der Oost, J., Wagner, R. and Brouns, S. J. (2010). H-NS-mediated repression of CRISPR-based immunity in Escherichia coli K12 can be relieved by the transcription activator LeuO. Mol Microbiol 77(6): 1380-1393.
    
26. Mojica, F. J. and Díez‐Villaseñor, C. (2010). The on–off switch of CRISPR immunity against phages in Escherichia coli. Mol Microbiol 77(6): 1341-1345.
    
27. Wu, H., Sun, L., Blombach, F., Brouns, S. J., Snijders, A. P., Lorenzen, K., van den Heuvel, R. H., Heck, A. J., Fu, S., Li, X., Zhang, X. C., Rao, Z. and van der Oost, J. (2010). Structure of the ribosome associating GTPase HflX. Proteins 78(3): 705-713.
    
28. van der Oost, J. and Brouns, S. J. (2009). RNAi: prokaryotes get in on the act. Cell 139(5): 863-865. (Invited commentary)
29. van der Oost, J., Jore, M. M., Westra, E. R., Lundgren, M. and Brouns, S. J. (2009). CRISPR-based adaptive and heritable immunity in prokaryotes. Trends Biochem Sci 34(8): 401-407. (Review)
30. de Koning, B., Blombach, F., Wu, H., Brouns, S. J. and van der Oost, J. (2009). Role of multiprotein bridging factor 1 in archaea: bridging the domains? Biochem Soc Trans 37(Pt 1): 52-57. (Review)
31. Brouns, S. J., Jore, M. M., Lundgren, M., Westra, E. R., Slijkhuis, R. J., Snijders, A. P., Dickman, M. J., Makarova, K. S., Koonin, E. V. and van der Oost, J. (2008). Small CRISPR RNAs guide antiviral defense in prokaryotes. Science 321(5891): 960-964.
    Faculty of 1000 Biology
    Among 20 nominees for best Science publication of 2008
    Perspective in Science, Secret Weapon, Young RF. 2008. 321, 922-3
    Molecular Biology Select in Cell, CRISPR insights into prokaryotic antiviral defense, Bao MZ. 2008. 135, 7
    Research Highlight in Nat Struct Mol Biol, Cascade defense, Chen I, Eggleston AK, Finkelstein JM, Lall S. 2008. 15, 901
    
32. Machielsen, R., Leferink, N. G., Hendriks, A., Brouns, S. J., Hennemann, H. G., Daussmann, T. and van der Oost, J. (2008). Laboratory evolution of Pyrococcus furiosus alcohol dehydrogenase to improve the production of (2S,5S)-hexanediol at moderate temperatures. Extremophiles 12(4): 587-594.
    
33. Brouns, S. J., Barends, T. R., Worm, P., Akerboom, J., Turnbull, A. P., Salmon, L. and van der Oost, J. (2008). Structural insight into substrate binding and catalysis of a novel 2-keto-3-deoxy-D-arabinonate dehydratase illustrates common mechanistic features of the FAH superfamily. J Mol Biol 379(2): 357-371.
    
34. Ortmann, A. C., Brumfield, S. K., Walther, J., McInnerney, K., Brouns, S. J., van de Werken, H. J., Bothner, B., Douglas, T., van de Oost, J. and Young, M. J. (2008). Transcriptome analysis of infection of the archaeon Sulfolobus solfataricus with Sulfolobus turreted icosahedral virus. J Virol 82(10): 4874-4883.
    
35. Brouns, S. J., Turnbull, A. P., Willemen, H. L., Akerboom, J. and van der Oost, J. (2007). Crystal structure and biochemical properties of the D-arabinose dehydrogenase from Sulfolobus solfataricus. J Mol Biol 371(5): 1249-1260.
    
36. Wu, H., Sun, L., Brouns, S. J., Fu, S., Akerboom, J., Li, X. and van der Oost, J. (2007). Purification, crystallization and preliminary crystallographic analysis of a GTP-binding protein from the hyperthermophilic archaeon Sulfolobus solfataricus. Acta Crystallogr Sect F Struct Biol Cryst Commun 63(Pt 3): 239-241.
    
37. van den Heuvel, R. H., van Duijn, E., Mazon, H., Synowsky, S. A., Lorenzen, K., Versluis, C., Brouns, S. J., Langridge, D., van der Oost, J., Hoyes, J. and Heck, A. J. (2006). Improving the performance of a quadrupole time-of-flight instrument for macromolecular mass spectrometry. Anal Chem 78(21): 7473-7483.
    
38. Brouns, S. J., Walther, J., Snijders, A. P., van de Werken, H. J., Willemen, H. L., Worm, P., de Vos, M. G., Andersson, A., Lundgren, M., Mazon, H. F., van den Heuvel, R. H., Nilsson, P., Salmon, L., de Vos, W. M., Wright, P. C., Bernander, R. and van der Oost, J. (2006). Identification of the missing links in prokaryotic pentose oxidation pathways: evidence for enzyme recruitment. J Biol Chem 281(37): 27378-27388. (Faculty of 1000 Biology)
39. Berrisford, J. M., Hounslow, A. M., Akerboom, J., Hagen, W. R., Brouns, S. J., van der Oost, J., Murray, I. A., Michael Blackburn, G., Waltho, J. P., Rice, D. W. and Baker, P. J. (2006). Evidence supporting a cis-enediol-based mechanism for Pyrococcus furiosus phosphoglucose isomerase. J Mol Biol 358(5): 1353-1366.
    
40. Brouns, S. J., Smits, N., Wu, H., Snijders, A. P., Wright, P. C., de Vos, W. M. and van der Oost, J. (2006). Identification of a novel alpha-galactosidase from the hyperthermophilic archaeon Sulfolobus solfataricus. J Bacteriol 188(7): 2392-2399.
    
41. Snijders, A. P., Walther, J., Peter, S., Kinnman, I., de Vos, M. G., van de Werken, H. J., Brouns, S. J., van der Oost, J. and Wright, P. C. (2006). Reconstruction of central carbon metabolism in Sulfolobus solfataricus using a two-dimensional gel electrophoresis map, stable isotope labelling and DNA microarray analysis. Proteomics 6(5): 1518-1529.
    
42. Godde, C., Sahm, K., Brouns, S. J., Kluskens, L. D., van der Oost, J., de Vos, W. M. and Antranikian, G. (2005). Cloning and expression of islandisin, a new thermostable subtilisin from Fervidobacterium islandicum, in Escherichia coli. Appl Environ Microbiol 71(7): 3951-3958.
    
43. Brouns, S. J., Wu, H., Akerboom, J., Turnbull, A. P., de Vos, W. M. and van der Oost, J. (2005). Engineering a selectable marker for hyperthermophiles. J Biol Chem 280(12): 11422-11431. (Faculty of 1000 Biology)
44. Berrisford, J. M., Akerboom, J., Brouns, S., Sedelnikova, S. E., Turnbull, A. P., van der Oost, J., Salmon, L., Hardré, R., Murray, I. A. and Blackburn, G. M. (2004). The Structures of Inhibitor Complexes of Pyrococcus furiosus Phosphoglucose Isomerase Provide Insights into Substrate Binding and Catalysis. J Mol Biol 343(3): 649-657.
    
45. Kaper, T., Brouns, S. J., Geerling, A. C., De Vos, W. M. and Van der Oost, J. (2002). DNA family shuffling of hyperthermostable beta-glycosidases. Biochem J 368(Pt 2): 461-470.
    

Books

1. Staals, R. H. J. and Brouns, S. J. J. (2013). Distribution and mechanism of Type I CRISPR-Cas systems. In: Barrangou, R. and Van der Oost, J. (eds). CRISPR-Cas Immune systems. Springer Verlag, 145-69. (Review)
   
2. Westra, E. R., Jore, M. M., Al-Attar, S, Brouns, S. J. J. and Van der Oost, J. (2013). Small RNAs in Bacteria. In: Encyclopedia of Biological Chemistry 2nd Edition. Elsevier, 249-55. (Review)
   
3. Westra, E. R., Van der Oost, J. and Brouns, S. J. J. (2011). McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology 2010, 10th ed. 63-6. (Review)
   
4. Jore, M. M., Brouns, S. J. J. and Van der Oost, J. (2010). RNA in defense: CRISPRs protect prokaryotes against mobile genetic elements. In: Atkins, J. F., Gesteland, R. F. and Cech, T. R. (eds). RNA Worlds: from life's origins to diversity in gene regulation. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press. 231-42. (Review)
   
5. Van de Werken, H. J. G. G., Brouns, S. J. J. and Van der Oost, J. (2008). Pentose metabolism in Archaea. In: Blum, P. (ed). Archaea: new models for prokaryotic biology. Horizon Scientific Press, 71-94. (Review)
   
6. Brouns, S. J. J., Ettema, T. J. G., Stedman, K. M., Walther, J., Smidt, H., Snijders, A. P. L., Young, M., Bernander, R., Wright, P. C., Siebers, B. and Van der Oost, J. (2005). The hyperthermophilic archaeon Sulfolobus solfataricus: from exploration to exploitation. In: Inskeep, W. P. and McDermott, T. R. (eds). Geothermal biology and geochemistry in Yellowstone national park. Thermal Biology Institute. Montana State University, 261-76. (Review)