Dr Paul O'Brien
Research Officer
School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences

Publications
Journal Articles
Turnlund, Abigail C., O’Brien, Paul A., Rix, Laura, Webster, Nicole, Lurgi, Miguel and Vanwonterghem, Inka (2025). Understanding the role of micro-organisms in the settlement of coral larvae through community ecology. Marine Biology, 172 (3) 43. doi: 10.1007/s00227-025-04607-6
O'Brien, Paul A., Bell, Sara C., Rix, Laura, Turnlund, Abigail C., Kjeldsen, Shannon R., Webster, Nicole S., Negri, Andrew P., Wahab, Muhammad A. Abdul and Vanwonterghem, Inka (2025). Light and dark biofilm adaptation impacts larval settlement in diverse coral species. Environmental Microbiome, 20 (1) 11. doi: 10.1186/s40793-025-00670-0
O'Brien, Paul A., Robbins, Steven J., Tan, Shangjin, Rix, Laura, Miller, David J., Webster, Nicole S., Zhang, Guojie and Bourne, David G. (2024). Comparative genomics identifies key adaptive traits of sponge-associated microbial symbionts. Environmental Microbiology, 26 (9) e16690, 1-17. doi: 10.1111/1462-2920.16690
Turnlund, Abigail C., Vanwonterghem, Inka, Botté, Emmanuelle S., Randall, Carly J., Giuliano, Christine, Kam, Lisa, Bell, Sara, O’Brien, Paul, Negri, Andrew P., Webster, Nicole S. and Lurgi, Miguel (2023). Linking differences in microbial network structure with changes in coral larval settlement. ISME Communications, 3 (1) 114, 1-12. doi: 10.1038/s43705-023-00320-x
O'Brien, Paul A., Tan, Shangjin, Frade, Pedro R., Robbins, Steven J., Engelberts, J. Pamela, Bell, Sara C., Vanwonterghem, Inka, Miller, David J., Webster, Nicole S., Zhang, Guojie and Bourne, David G. (2023). Validation of key sponge symbiont pathways using genome‐centric metatranscriptomics. Environmental Microbiology, 25 (12), 1-18. doi: 10.1111/1462-2920.16509
Botté, Emmanuelle S., Cantin, Neal E., Mocellin, Véronique J. L., O’Brien, Paul A., Rocker, Melissa M., Frade, Pedro R. and Webster, Nicole S. (2022). Reef location has a greater impact than coral bleaching severity on the microbiome of Pocillopora acuta. Coral Reefs, 41 (1), 63-79. doi: 10.1007/s00338-021-02201-y
O’Brien, Paul A., Andreakis, Nikos, Tan, Shangjin, Miller, David J., Webster, Nicole S., Zhang, Guojie and Bourne, David G. (2021). Testing cophylogeny between coral reef invertebrates and their bacterial and archaeal symbionts. Molecular Ecology, 30 (15) mec.16006, 1-15. doi: 10.1111/mec.16006
Yang, Chentao, Zheng, Yuxuan, Tan, Shangjin, Meng, Guanliang, Rao, Wei, Yang, Caiqing, Bourne, David G., O'Brien, Paul A., Xu, Junqiang, Liao, Sha, Chen, Ao, Chen, Xiaowei, Jia, Xinrui, Zhang, Ai-bing and Liu, Shanlin (2020). Efficient COI barcoding using high throughput single-end 400bp sequencing. BMC Genomics, 21 (1). doi: 10.1186/s12864-020-07255-w
O’Brien, Paul A., Tan, Shangjin, Yang, Chentao, Frade, Pedro R., Andreakis, Nikos, Smith, Hillary A., Miller, David J., Webster, Nicole S., Zhang, Guojie and Bourne, David G. (2020). Diverse coral reef invertebrates exhibit patterns of phylosymbiosis. The ISME Journal, 14 (9), 2211-2222. doi: 10.1038/s41396-020-0671-x
O'Brien, Paul A., Webster, Nicole S., Miller, David J. and Bourne, David G. (2019). Host-microbe coevolution: applying evidence from model systems to complex marine invertebrate holobionts. mBio, 10 (1) e02241-18, 1-14. doi: 10.1128/mBio.02241-18
O'Brien, Paul A., Smith, Hillary A., Fallon, Stewart, Fabricius, Katharina, Willis, Bette L., Morrow, Kathleen M. and Bourne, David G. (2018). Elevated CO2 Has Little Influence on the Bacterial Communities Associated With the pH-Tolerant Coral, Massive Porites spp. Frontiers in Microbiology, 9 2621. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2018.02621
O'Brien, Paul A., Morrow, Kathleen M., Willis, Bette L. and Bourne, David G. (2016). Implications of Ocean Acidification for Marine Microorganisms from the Free-Living to the Host-Associated. Frontiers in Marine Science, 3 47. doi: 10.3389/fmars.2016.00047