Laboratory of Molecular Biology
The Laboratory of Molecular Biology has several research groups that are active at different areas of plant molecular biology. Their research programs aim to understand fundamental processes of plant biology and to use this fundamental knowledge in applied projects. Advanced techniques based on fluorescence microscopy are used in many of the ongoing projects in order to be able to study processes within cells.
Interim chair holder
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The Medicago genome provides insight into the evolution of rhizobial symbioses
Legumes (Fabaceae or Leguminosae) are unique among cultivated plants for their ability to carry out endosymbiotic nitrogen fixation with rhizobial bacteria, a process that takes place in a specialized structure known as the nodule.
Read moreOur Research
Since its origin in 1972, the department of Molecular Biology has made major contributions to the development of molecular biological technology for fundamental and applied research. Over the past three decades students conducting research at our department have found positions in a wide variety of research areas including medical research, plant and animal sciences and biotechnology.
Bacterial invasion of plant cells
During the Rhizobium-legume symbiosis Rhizobium bacteria are taken up into the cytoplasm of nodule cells, where they are hosted in new organelle-like membrane compartments, called symbiosomes. The intracellular accommodation of bacteria in plant cells is unique to the nodule symbiosis and somewhat resembles the invasion of human and animal cells by pathogenic bacteria.
Latest publications
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OsPIN9, an auxin efflux carrier, is required for the regulation of rice tiller bud outgrowth by ammonium
New Phytologist 229 (2021)2. - ISSN 0028-646X - p. 935 - 949. -
Phylogeography and Symbiotic Effectiveness of Rhizobia Nodulating Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) in Ethiopia
Microbial Ecology (2020). - ISSN 0095-3628 -
Duplication of symbiotic lysin motif receptors predates the evolution of nitrogen-fixing nodule symbiosis
Plant Physiology 184 (2020)2. - ISSN 0032-0889 - p. 1004 - 1023.