Position: Chief Officer
Contact: lvanzyl@uwc.ac.za / vanzyllj@gmail.com
Research projects: Enzyme characterization and engineering / Virome studies / Discovery of bioactive marine natural products
I was born in Walvisbay (Namibia) in 1978. After completing high school in Windhoek (Namibia) I moved to Stellenbosch (South Africa) to further my studies. Here I discovered my passion for all things microbial, and in particular the molecular underpinnings of biology. Following completion of my M.Sc. in Microbiology in 2003, studying the mechanisms by which plasmids move from one bacterium to another, I took a break from studying to work in a research lab and hone my skills. After moving to the University of the Western Cape (UWC) in mid-2008 I continued working as a research assistant until the realization that I am an academic at heart and with this came the decision to do my PhD. I attained my doctoral degree (http://etd.uwc.ac.za/xmlui/handle/11394/5845) at the beginning of 2018 and since April of 2018 I have been the manager of the single cell genomics and flow cytometry platform at UWC. Along the way I’ve worked on a wide variety of topics covering enzymology and enzyme engineering, molecular ecology, metabolic engineering, bacteriophage characterization, genomics and more.
Google Scholar h-index: 13
Publications:
Goldschmidt, G. K., M. N. Gardner, L. J. van Zyl, S. M. Deane, and D. E. Rawlings. 2003. A promiscuous, broad-host-range, IncQ-like plasmid isolated from an industrial strain of Acidithiobacillus caldus, its accessory DNA and potential to participate in the horizontal gene pool of biomining and other bacteria, p. 1249-1259.In M. Tsezos, A. Hatzikioseyian, and E. Remoundaki (ed.), Biohydrometallurgy: a sustainable technology in evolution. Selected papers from the 15th Int. Biohydrometall. Symp., Athens, Greece, 14 to 19 September 2003. National Technical University of Athens Press, Athens, Greece.
Van Zyl, L. J., S. M. Deane and D. E. Rawlings. 2003. Analysis of the Mobilization Region of the Broad-Host-Range IncQ-Like Plasmid pTC-F14 and Its Ability To Interact with a Related Plasmid, pTF-FC2. J. Bacteriol. 185: 6104-6111.
Coram, N. J., L. J. van Zyl, S.M. Deane and D. E. Rawlings. 2005. Isolation, Sequence Analysis, and Comparison of Two Plasmids (28 and 29 Kilobases) from the Biomining Bacterium Leptospirillum ferrooxidans ATCC 49879. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 71: 7515-7522.
Van Zyl, L. J., S. M. Deane, L. A. Louw and D. E. Rawlings. 2008. Presence of a Family of Plasmids (29 to 65 Kilobases) with a 26-Kilobase Common Region in Different Strains of the Sulfur-Oxidizing Bacterium Acidithiobacillus caldus. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 74: 4300-4308.
Van Zyl, L. J. and D. E. Rawlings . 2008. Construction of arsB and tetH Mutants of the Sulfur-Oxidizing Bacterium, Acidithiobacillus caldus by Marker Exchange. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. AEM.01235-08v1.
Staniland, S., Coppock, M., Tuffin, M., van Zyl, L., Roychoudhury, A. N., Cowan, D. 2010. Cobalt uptake and resistance to trace metals in Comamonas testosteroni isolated from a heavy-metal contaminated site in the Zambian Copperbelt. Geomicrobiology Journal. 27:656-668
Taylor, MP, van Zyl, L, Tuffin, IM, Leak, DJ, Cowan, DA. 2011. Genetic tool development underpins recent advances in thermophilic whole-cell biocatalysts. Microb. Biotechnol. 4:438-448.
Taylor, MP, Van Zyl, L, Tuffin, M, Cowan, DA. 2012. Extremophiles and biotechnology: How far have we come? Ch. In Extremophiles: Microbiology and Biotechnology. Antinori, R., ed. Caister Academic press.
van Zyl, LJ, Taylor, MP, Eley, K, Tuffin, M, Cowan, D. 2014. Engineering pyruvate decarboxylase-mediated ethanol production in the thermophilic host Geobacillus thermoglucosidasius. Appl. Micro. Biotechnol. 98:1247-1259
Adriaenssens, EM., van Zyl, L., De Maayer, P., Rubagotti, E., Rybicki, E., Tuffin, M., Cowan, DA. 2014. Metagenomic analysis of the viral community in Namib Desert hypoliths. Environ. Microbiol. DOI 10.1111/1462-2920.12528
Zablocki, O., van Zyl, L., Adriaenssens, EM., Rubagotti, E., Tuffin, M., Cary, Craig., Cowan, D. 2014. High diversity of tailed phages, eukaryotic viruses and virophage-like elements in the metaviromes of Antarctic soil. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. DOI:10.1128/AEM.01525-14
van Zyl, LJ., Schubert, W-D., Tuffin, IM., Cowan, D. 2014. Structure and Functional Characterization of Pyruvate decarboxylase from Gluconacetobacter diazotrophicus. BMC Struct. Biol. DOI:10.1186/s12900-014-0021-1
Zablocki, O., van Zyl, L., Adriaenssens, EM., Rubagotti, E., Tuffin, M., Craig, C., Cowan, D. 2014. Niche-depe
Olonade I, van Zyl LJ, Trindade MI. 2015. Draft genome sequence of marine isolates Thalassomonas viridans and Thalassomonas actiniarum. Genome A. doi:10.1128/genomeA.00297-15
Ohlhoff CW, Kirby BM, van Zyl LJ, Mutepfa DLR, Casanueva A, Huddy RJ, Bauer R, Cowan DA, Tuffin M. 2015. An unusual feruloyl esterase belonging to family VIII esterases and displaying a broad substrate range. J. Mol. Cat. B: Enzymatic. 118: 79-88
van Zyl LJ, Sunda F, Taylor MP, Cowan DA, Trindade MI. 2015. Identification and characterization of a novel Geobacillus thermoglucosidasius bacteriophage, GVE3. Arch. Virol. doi:10.?1007/?s00705-015-2497-9
Trindade M, van Zyl L, Navarro-Fernández J, Abd Elrazak A. 2015. Function-guided and targeted metagenomics as a tool to tap into marine natural product diversity for the discovery and production of drug candidates. Frontiers in Microbiology. 6:890. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2015.00890
van Zyl LJ, Taylor MP, Trindade M. 2015. Engineering resistance to phage GVE3 in Geobacillus thermoglucosidasius. Appl. Microbiol. Biotechnol. doi: 10.1007/s00253-015-7109-9
Adriaenssens EM, van Zyl LJ, Cowan DA, Trindade M. 2016. Metaviromics of Namib Desert Salt Pans: A Novel Lineage of Haloarchaeal Salterproviruses and a Rich Source of ssDNA Viruses. Viruses. doi:10.3390/v8010014
van Zyl LJ, Matobole R, Biteghe FAN, Klein T, Kirby B, Trindade M. 2016. Draft Genome Sequences of Three Bacillus Species from South African Marine Sponges. Genome A. doi:10.1128/genomeA.00143-16
van Zyl LJ, Nemavhulani S, Cass J, Cowan DA, Trindade M. 2016. Three novel bacteriophages isolated from the East African Rift Valley soda lakes. Virol. J. doi: 10.1186/s12985-016-0656-6
Matobole RM, Van Zyl LJ, Parker-Nance S, Davies-Coleman MT, Trindade M. 2017. Antibacterial activities of bacteria isolated from the marine sponges Isodictya compressa and Higginsia bidentifera collected from Algoa Bay, South Africa. Marine Drugs. doi: 10.3390/md15020047
Hesse U, van Heusden P, Kirby BM, Olonade I, van Zyl LJ, Trindade M. 2017. Virome assembly and annotation: a surprise in the Namib Desert. Front. Microbiol. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2017.00013
an Zyl LJ, Abrahams Y, Stander EA, Kirby-McCollough B, Jourdain R, Clavaud C, Breton L, Trindade M. 2018. Novel phages of healthy skin metaviromes from South Africa. Sci. Rep. 8: 12265
Zablocki O, van Zyl L, Trindade M. 2018. Biogeography and taxonomic overview of terrestrial hot spring thermophilic phages. Extremophiles. doi.org/10.1007/s00792-018-1052-5
Adriaenssens EM, Wittmann J, Kuhn JH. et al. 2018. Taxonomy of prokaryotic viruses: 2017 update from the ICTV Bacterial and Archaeal Viruses Subcommittee. Arch. Virol. 163: 1125. doi.org/10.1007/s00705-018-3723-z
Harris L, van Zyl LJ, Kirby-McCullough BM, Damelin LH, Tiemessen CT, Trindade M. 2018. Identification and sequence analysis of two novel cryptic plasmids isolated from the vaginal mucosa of South African women. Plasmid. 98: 56-62. doi: 10.1016/j.plasmid.2018.09.008.
Silva-Castro GA, Moyo AC, Khumalo L, van Zyl LJ, Petrik LF, Trindade M. 2018. Factors influencing pigment production by halophilic bacteria and its effect on brine evaporation rates. Microb. Biotechnol. doi.org/10.1111/1751-7915.13319
Williams W, Kunorozva L, Klaiber I, Henkel M, Pfannstiel J, Günther J, Conrad J, Van Zyl LJ, Hausmann R, Burger A, Trindade M. 2019. Novel metagenome-derived ornithine lipids identified by functional screening for biosurfactants. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol. 103:4429-4441. doi: 10.1007/s00253-019-09768-1.
Fortune B, Mhlongo S, van Zyl LJ, Huddy R, Smart M, Trindade M. 2019. Characterisation of three novel a-L-arabinofuranosidases from a compost metagenome. BMC Biotechnology 19:22
Adriaenssens, E.M., Sullivan, M.B., Knezevic, P. et al. 2020. Taxonomy of prokaryotic viruses: 2018-2019 update from the ICTV Bacterial and Archaeal Viruses Subcommittee. Arch. Virol. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00705-020-04577-8
Tang Y, Ma Q, Du Y, Ren Lu, Van Zyl LJ, Long X. 2020. Efficient purification of sophorolipids via chemical modifications coupled with extractions and their potential applications as antibacterial agents. Separ. Purif. Technol. 245: 116897
Dell’Anno F, Brunet C, van Zyl LJ, Trindade M, Golyshin PN, Dell’Anno A, Ianora A, Sansone C. 2020. Degradation of Hydrocarbons and Heavy Metal Reduction by Marine Bacteria in Highly Contaminated Sediments. Microorganisms 8: 1402.