Ann Patricia Wood is a retired British biochemist and bacteriologist who specialized in the ecology, taxonomy and physiology of sulfur-oxidizing chemolithoautotrophic bacteria and how methylotrophic bacteria play a role in the degradation of odour causing compounds in the human mouth, vagina and skin. The bacterial genus Annwoodia was named to honor her contributions to microbial research in 2017.

Ann Wood
Born1952[1]
Yorkshire, UK
Alma materQueen Elizabeth College
Scientific career
InstitutionsUniversity of Warwick, King's College London
ThesisHeterotrophic growth and metabolism of the facultative autotroph Thiobacillus A2 (1977)
Academic advisorsDonovan Kelly

Education and career

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Wood earned her Ph.D. in 1977 from Queen Elizabeth College working on the growth of Paracoccus versutus strain A2 (then "Thiobacillus sp. A2").[2] Wood worked at the University of Warwick from the mid-1970s until the late 1980s and then King's College London as a Lecturer and Senior Lecturer from June 1991 to August 2015 when she retired.[3] Wood was a member of the editorial board of Archives of Microbiology.[4]

Research

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Wood's post-2000 work is associated with odours in the mouth,[5] work that was covered in the popular press.[6][7] She has also examined the link between odours in the feet, as well as the bacteria in bacterial vaginosis and periodontitis.[4] She has also investigated the presence and role of methylotrophic bacteria in the natural world, including as symbionts of Thyasira flexuosa Montagu and living in association with Tagetes erecta L.[8][9] These natural settings have included such places as the River Thames,[10] thermal sulfur springs,[11][12] and in Antarctica.[13] Beyond studying the presence and effect of methylotrophs and sulfur oxidizing bacteria, she looked at their metabolism, taxonomy and diversity/[4]

Wood's research on microbial use of one-carbon organic compounds that contain sulfur was reviewedin a 2018 publication,[14] which named two metabolic pathways after Wood: the Padden-Wood pathway based on work with Xanthobacter tagetidis, an organism able to grow on substituted thiophenes,[8] and the Borodonia-Wood pathway based on microbial growth on dimethylsulfone and dimethylsulfide in Hyphomicrobium sulfonivorans.[15][16]

Taxa named by Wood

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The genera Acidithiobacillus and Thermithiobacillus of the class Acidithiobacillia, Halothiobacillus of the class Gammaproteobacteria and Starkeya of the Alphaproteobacteria, all in the phylum Pseudomonadota

The species Annwoodia aquaesulis (originally Thiobacillus aquaesulis) of the Betaproteobacteria; the species Methylorubrum podarium (originally Methylobacterium podarium), Methylorubrum thiocyanatum (originally Methylobacterium thiocyanatum), Hyphomicrobium sulfonivorans and Xanthobacter tagetidis of the Alphaproteobacteria; the species Guyparkeria halophila (originally Thiobacillus halophilus and later Halothiobacillus halophilus) of the Gammaproteobacteria, all in the phylum Pseudomonadota. The species Pseudarthrobacter sulfonivorans (originally Arthobacter sulfonivorans) and Arthrobacter methylotrophus of the Actinomycetota in the phylum Actinomycetota.

Selected publications

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Honors and awards

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In 2017, the bacterial genus Annwoodia was named in honor of the contributions made by Wood,[1] including her description of the type species Annwoodia aquaesulis, originally described as a member of the genus Thiobacillus,[11] and her "significant contributions to the taxonomy of the ‘sulfur bacteria’ and methylotrophic "Proteobacteria" [now Pseudomonadota], their physiology and ecology".[1]

References

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  1. ^ a b c Boden, Rich; Hutt, Lee P; Rae, Alex WYR 2017 (2017). "Reclassification of Thiobacillus aquaesulis (Wood & Kelly, 1995) as Annwoodia aquaesulis gen. nov., comb. nov., transfer of Thiobacillus (Beijerinck, 1904) from the Hydrogenophilales to the Nitrosomonadales, proposal of Hydrogenophilalia class. nov. within the 'Proteobacteria', and four new families within the orders Nitrosomonadales and Rhodocyclales". International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology. 67 (5): 1191–1205. doi:10.1099/ijsem.0.001927. hdl:10026.1/8740. ISSN 1466-5034. PMID 28581923.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  2. ^ Wood, Ann Patricia (1977). Heterotrophic growth and metabolism of the facultative autotroph Thiobacilius A2 (Thesis). OCLC 731237501.
  3. ^ "Ann Wood - Research Portal, King's College, London". kclpure.kcl.ac.uk. Retrieved 19 December 2021.
  4. ^ a b c "King's College London. Dr. Ann Wood". Retrieved 12 January 2021.
  5. ^ Anesti, Vasiliki; McDonald, Ian R.; Ramaswamy, Meghna; Wade, William G.; Kelly, Donovan P.; Wood, Ann P. (2005). "Isolation and molecular detection of methylotrophic bacteria occurring in the human mouth". Environmental Microbiology. 7 (8): 1227–1238. doi:10.1111/j.1462-2920.2005.00805.x. ISSN 1462-2920. PMID 16011760.
  6. ^ B., C. (2005). "Bacteria Feed on Stinky Breath". Science News. 168 (6): 93–94. doi:10.1002/scin.5591680614. ISSN 0036-8423. JSTOR 4016569.
  7. ^ Hitti, Miranda (27 July 2005). "'Good' Bacteria Fight Bad Breath". www.cbsnews.com. Retrieved 19 December 2021.
  8. ^ a b Padden, A. N.; Rainey, F. A.; Kelly, D. P.; Wood, A. P. (1997). "Xanthobacter tagetidis sp. nov., an organism associated with Tagetes species and able to grow on substituted thiophenes". International Journal of Systematic Bacteriology. 47 (2): 394–401. doi:10.1099/00207713-47-2-394. ISSN 0020-7713. PMID 9103627.
  9. ^ Wood, Ann P.; Kelly, Don P. (1989). "Methylotrophic and autotrophic bacteria isolated from lucinid and thyasirid bivalves containing symbiotic bacteria in their gills". Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom. 69 (1): 165–179. doi:10.1017/S0025315400049171. ISSN 1469-7769. S2CID 84163028.
  10. ^ Boden, Rich; Thomas, Elizabeth; Savani, Parita; Kelly, Donovan P.; Wood, Ann P. (2008). "Novel methylotrophic bacteria isolated from the River Thames (London, UK)". Environmental Microbiology. 10 (12): 3225–3236. doi:10.1111/j.1462-2920.2008.01711.x. ISSN 1462-2920. PMID 18681896.
  11. ^ a b Wood, Ann P.; Kelly, Don P. (1 February 1988). "Isolation and physiological characterisation of Thiobacillus aquaesulis sp. nov., a novel facultatively autotrophic moderate thermophile". Archives of Microbiology. 149 (4): 339–343. doi:10.1007/BF00411653. ISSN 1432-072X. S2CID 12123675.
  12. ^ Wood, Ann P.; Woodall, Claire A.; Kelly, Donovan P. (2005). "Halothiobacillus neapolitanus strain OSWA isolated from "The Old Sulphur Well" at Harrogate (Yorkshire, England)". Systematic and Applied Microbiology. 28 (8): 746–748. doi:10.1016/j.syapm.2005.05.013. PMID 16261864.
  13. ^ Moosvi, S. Azra; McDonald, Ian R.; Pearce, David A.; Kelly, Donovan P.; Wood, Ann P. (2005). "Molecular detection and isolation from antarctica of methylotrophic bacteria able to grow with methylated sulfur compounds". Systematic and Applied Microbiology. 28 (6): 541–554. doi:10.1016/j.syapm.2005.03.002. ISSN 0723-2020. PMID 16104352.
  14. ^ Boden, R.; Hutt, L. (31 October 2018), Bacterial Metabolism of C1 Sulfur Compounds, Springer Nature Switzerland, retrieved 19 December 2021
  15. ^ Borodina, Elena; Kelly, Donovan P.; Schumann, Peter; Rainey, Frederick A.; Ward-Rainey, Naomi L.; Wood, Ann P. (2002). "Enzymes of dimethylsulfone metabolism and the phylogenetic characterization of the facultative methylotrophs Arthrobacter sulfonivorans sp. nov., Arthrobacter methylotrophus sp. nov., and Hyphomicrobium sulfonivorans sp. nov". Archives of Microbiology. 177 (2): 173–183. doi:10.1007/s00203-001-0373-3. ISSN 0302-8933. PMID 11807567. S2CID 37279524.
  16. ^ Borodina, E.; Kelly, D. P.; Rainey, F. A.; Ward-Rainey, N. L.; Wood, A. P. (2000). "Dimethylsulfone as a growth substrate for novel methylotrophic species of Hyphomicrobium and Arthrobacter". Archives of Microbiology. 173 (5–6): 425–437. doi:10.1007/s002030000165. ISSN 0302-8933. PMID 10896224. S2CID 23958029.