Overall common research goals are the regulation of metabolic pathways and developmental processes in plants and their cellular expression systems aiming at the improvement of agronomically relevant traits in crops or biotechnological procedures. For this purpose, our department employs either physiological and biochemical approaches or molecular biological or cell biological approaches (Figure).
Nutrient transport, sensing and metabolism are investigated in the research group “Molecular Plant Nutrition” (Prof. Nicolaus von Wirén) with the primary goal to identify morphogenetic effects on nutrients or bottlenecks in the efficient acquisition and use of mineral elements. In the “Applied Biochemistry” group (Dr. Hans-Peter Mock) proteome and metabolome profiles are generated from plant tissues to investigate stress responses in secondary metabolism. The “Systems Biology” group (Dr. Björn Junker) combines a biochemical and modelling approach to identify rate-limiting steps in selected pathways of primary carbon metabolism.
In the “Yeast Genetics” group (Prof. Gotthard Kunze) different yeast species and strains are used to investigate degradation pathways of secondary metabolites or to develop hormone sensors for environmental monitoring. To improve biotechnological applications, the research group “Plant Reproductive Biology” identifies key processes in pollen embryogenesis and establishes new transformation procedures for cereal crop plants. Microscopic analyses and methodological improvements in electron and confocal microscopy are provided by the “Structural Cell Biology” group (Dr. Michael Melzer).
Overview of Physiology and Cell Biology Department's research groups
