Microbial Interactions & Microbial Ecology

Plant-microbe interactions describe a broad range of scientific study concerning the molecular biology and molecular genetics of pathological, symbiotic and associative interactions of microbes with plants. Plant—microbe encounters can be friendly or hostile. In nature, plants are attacked by a multitude of pathogens and pests that can cause major crop losses in agriculture. To protect themselves, plants can activate a sophisticated immune system. Moreover, they recruit beneficial microbes (mycorrhizal fungi and rhizobia) to their root system that help them to grow better and boost immune responses and also provide plants with mineral nutrients and fixed nitrogen, respectively, in exchange for carbon. The Plant-Microbe Interactions group aims to contribute to knowledge of the underlying mechanisms involved in the interactions of plants with pathogens and symbionts and to unravel at the molecular level how the plant immune system orchestrates interactions with beneficial microbes, pathogens and insects

 

Recently, researchers are using the full range of modern scientific techniques, including biochemistry, bioinformatics, chemistry, genetics, genomics, molecular and cellular biology, proteomics, and structural biology.