In the Research Unit “Microbe-Plant Interactions”, molecular and biochemical mechanisms underlying the interaction between microorganisms colonizing the surface or the inside of roots and the plant are carried out. These interactions can boost plant health or its supply with nutrients, especially under challenging conditions. It is investigated, how plant roots detoxify and decompose together with the associated microbiota anthropogenic substances such as herbicides and pharmaceuticals common in wastewater treatment plants or in contaminated soils.

 A special focus is placed on bacterial signaling substances, so-called auto-inducers, which control important properties in microbial assemblages and biofilms and are able to trigger specific reactions in microorganisms and plants and other higher organisms (including man). Bacterial signaling substances are investigated as important control factors in the interaction of human pathogens and toxin-producing bacteria with their eukaryotic hosts (plants, animals). Analytical methods, including specific monoclonal antibodies, to investigate the ecology of bacterial signalling molecules of the N-acylhomoserine lactone type in different matrices and organismic habitats are developed and applied. In cooperation with the clinical cooperation group “Pediatric Immune Regulation” and the research group “Developmental Immune Biology” of the Comprehensive Pneumology Center, small molecules with immunomodulatory activities of Gram-positive, probiotic bacteria (e.g. Lactobacilli) are searched for and characterized. In addition, the interaction of bacterial signalling compounds of the N-acylhomoserine lactone type of Gram-negative bacteria on human dentritic cell activation is studied. In cooperation with colleagues from Immunology, Developmental Genetics and Metabolite Analysis, we also investigate the influence of signaling substances of pathogenic or probiotic bacteria on the immune response. The influence of nutrition on the intestinal microbiota and its interaction with the intestinal mucosa and the metabolite status is currently studied in an interdisciplinary diabetes-related cooperation project including modeling on bacterial modulation of immune response in different mouse models.

The research interests are represented by the three working groups: