SFB 987:  Microbial Diversity in Environmental Signal Response

• Subject Area: Biology ; Medicine
• Term: from 2012 to 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 192445154

Within the framework of the Collaborative Research Centre, 15 microbiology-focussed research teams working at the Philipps-Universität and the local Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology jointly focus their research efforts on microbial diversity in environmental signal response. This topic was chosen because the Collaborative Research Centre strives for a significant advance in the current knowledge about the ability of microorganisms - either as individual cells, as consortia or in contact with eukaryotic cells - to perceive and interpret environmental conditions and to bring about adaptive responses conforming to specific situations. Understanding the mechanisms of such diverse responses to signal perception is crucial for the understanding of the functioning of both individual microbial cells and entire microbial ecosystems and for the long-term evolution of microbial species. These responses are expected to be as varied as the microorganisms that elicit them, and can only be grasped comprehensively by studying a larger set of microorganisms and fungi. Within the framework of the chosen topic, we will contribute to the following research areas: (1) sensing and adaptation to ecosystem changes, (2) sensing and adaptation to niche specific nutrients, and (3) sensing and responses to surface contact.

• DFG Programme: Collaborative Research Centres

Completed projects

• A04 - Responses of methanogenic microbial communities to desiccation stress in flooded soils (Project Head Conrad, Ralf )
• B01 - Iron homeostasis in the Gram-positive soil bacterium Bacillus subtilis (Project Head Marahiel, Mohamed A. )
• C01 - Biofilm formation by the crenarchaeon Sulfolobus in response to surface contact (Project Head Albers, Sonja Verena )
• C02 - Sensing of the leaf surface by the biotrophic fungus Ustilago maydis (Project Head Kahmann, Regine )
• D01 - Sensing of carbon starvation through the metabolic network and the stringent response system (Project Head Link, Hannes )
• D02 - Novel principles in bacterial central carbon metabolism: Linking environmental signals and metabolic responses in alphaproteobacteria (Project Head Erb, Tobias )
• D03 - Sensing and substrate specific degradation of hydrocarbons and phenolic compounds by ß-proteobaceria in anoxic soils (Project Head Heider, Johann )
• D04 - Diatoms and their response to phosphate limitation (Project Head Maier, Uwe Gallus )
• D05 - Sensing and intracellular delivery of iron by fungal monothiol glutaredoxins (Project Heads Lill, Roland ;  Mühlenhoff, Ulrich )
• D06 - Production of secondary metabolites in response to complex and changing environments (Project Head Bölker, Michael )
• D07 - Sensing of and cellular responses to changes in osmotic pressure and ectoine availability (Project Head Bremer, Erhard )
• D08 - Response of paddy soil microbial communities to salt stress (Project Head Liesack, Werner )
• D09 - Environmental drivers of microbial community structure in termite guts (Project Head Brune, Andreas )
• E01 - Sensing of light by the biotrophic fungus Ustilago maydis in the maize phyllosphere (Project Head Batschauer, Alfred )
• E02 - Cross talk between a conjugative plasmid and its Bacillus subtilis host cell during stress adaptation (Project Head Graumann, Peter )
• E03 - Surface contact and adhesion induced responses in yeast (Project Head Mösch, Hans-Ulrich )
• E04 - Adaptive evolution of cellular differentiation programs in the alpha-proteobacterium Hyphomonas neptunium (Project Head Thanbichler, Martin Rudolf )
• E05 - Opposing regulation of surface polysaccharide biosynthesis and motility in Sinorhizobium meliloti (Project Head Becker, Anke )
• E06 - Regulation of motility by the stringent response in B. subtilis (Project Head Bange, Gert )
• E07 - Environmental triggers for dispersal of Vibrio cholerae biofilms (Project Head Drescher, Ph.D., Knut )
• E08 - Surface- and contact-dependent motility in the soil bacterium Myxococcus xanthus (Project Head Sogaard-Andersen, Lotte )
• E09 - Mechanisms of sensing and response to environmental cues by fungal cell wall components (Project Head Essen, Lars-Oliver )
• MGK - Integrated Research Training Group (Project Head Bölker, Michael )
• Z - Central Tasks of the Collaborative Research Centre (Project Heads Bremer, Erhard ;  Marahiel, Mohamed A. )
• Z01 - Technical support for mass-spectrometry, protein crystallography and bioinformatics (Project Head Essen, Lars-Oliver )

• Applicant Institution: Philipps-Universität Marburg
• Participating Institution: Max-Planck-Institut für terrestrische Mikrobiologie
• Spokespersons: Professor Dr. Erhard Bremer; Professor Dr. Mohamed A. Marahiel, until 2/2015