Molecular Microbial Ecology
Dr. Soumitra Paul Chowdhury
Tel.: +49 (0)89/3187-2852
E-mail: soumitra.chowdhury@helmholtz-muenchen.de
Scientific background
Soumitra Paul Chowdhury completed his Master of Science (M.Sc.) in Botany from the University of Calcutta, Kolkata, India in 1999, with specialization in Plant Physiology, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. He received his PhD degree in Biotechnology from the Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India in 2006. The topic of his PhD thesis was “Molecular Studies on Diversity of Bacteria associated with two Ecologically Important Plants, Mimosa pudica and Lasiurus sindicus” working in the group of Dr. Anil Kumar Tripathi, Professor, School of Biotechnology, Banaras Hindu University. In 2007, he joined as a Postdoctoral research fellow in the group of Prof. Dr. Ralf Conrad at the Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology, Marburg, Germany. His postdoctoral research was focused on the topic of “Extraction and purification of Soil Hydrogenases” and involved a study of microbes and enzymes oxidizing tropospheric hydrogen in the soil sink of the H2 biogeochemical cycle. From April 2010, Soumitra joined the group Root Microbiology (Dr. Michael Schmid/Prof. Dr. Anton Hartmann) as a Postdoctoral researcher. The topic of his research is “Interaction of Bacillus amyloliquefaciens with fungal pathogen Rhizoctonia solani and the rhizosphere microbial community during root colonization” as a part of the project “Biological control of Bacillus amyloliquefaciens on soil-borne fungal pathogen Rhizoctonia solani” (PATHCONTROL).
Short introduction to research topic
The genome sequence of the plant-associated strain Bacillus amyloliquefaciens FZB42 has revealed that this strain has an ability to produce secondary metabolites and harbors gene clusters which can synthesize lipopeptides with antifungal, antibacterial and nematocidal activity. This has promoted the potential of use of this strain as a bio-control agent for plant pathogens. The major goal of the PATHCONTROL research cluster is to improve the successful application of the commercial phytostimulant bacterium Bacillus amyloliquefaciens FZB42 and to design a tailor-made biocontrol agent specifically directed against Rhizoctonia solani. The proposed project involves the study of the interaction, particularly the competition in successful colonization of B. amyloliquefaciens in the rhizosphere of lettuce (Lactuca sativa) in the presence of fungal pathogen. The effects of FZB42 on the microbial community will be investigated with different techniques, such as metagenomic analysis as well as selected 16S and 18S rDNA PCR- and DGGE-analysis and detailed root colonization studies using fluorescence in situ hybridization and confocal laser scanning microscopy. The relevance of putative key determinants of microbial interaction and root colonization, such as production of antibiotics, siderophores, phytohormones and volatiles will be studied using specific mutants of FZB42. A combination of colonization studies, metagenomics and metabolomics would be employed to elucidate more about the complex interactions and the dynamics of such an association in terms of the functional roles.
