News from INRES

The state awards were presented as part of the ceremonial events surrounding the start of the academic year at the University of Bonn

From left to right: Alexandra Becher, Brenda Mariana Huerta García, Prof. Dr. Franz Lebsanft, Anja Larissa Brüll, Prof. Dr. Matthias Becher, Kathrin Zander, Miriam Thurow, Luise Margarete Jansen, Vice Rector Prof. Dr. Birgit Ulrike Münch, Prof. Dr. Barbara Schmidt-Haberkamp, Jun.-Prof. Dr. Sarah Dietrich-Grappin.

Distinction for Outstanding Next-Generation Researchers

Arabidopsis thaliana

a plant in which the researchers detected the new mechanism.

Plants convert their phosphate(Pi) status into InsP8 (signaling molecule controlling phosphate acquisition)

ITPK1 plays a key role in this process by generating or removing the precursor of InsP8 according to phosphate-dependent changes in ATP.

How plants sense phosphate

Dr. Gwendolyn K. Kirschner

with a barley plant.

Seven-day-old barley roots of mutant egt2

It grows strictly downwards (hypergravitropic).

For comparison, the root without the egt2 mutation

It grows outwards, opening up a larger volume of soil in search for nutrients.

Prof. Dr. Frank Hochholdinger

Rare barley mutation with potential

Thunderclouds on Jupiter

based on images from the Juno mission's Stellar Reference Unit camera (NASA).

Dr. Jürgen Burkhardt

from the Institute of Crop Science and Resource Conservation (INRES) at the University of Bonn.

Life could exist in the clouds of Jupiter but not Venus

Technology for the field

Cyrill Stachniss (PhenoRob Cluster of Excellence) explains to Anja Karliczek how the use of robots and drones is being researched for the agricultural economy of the future.

High visitor

Federal Minister Anja Karliczek met with Rector Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Michael Hoch (6th from right), the Rectorate and members of the six Clusters of Excellence.

Excellence Strategy: Federal Minister Anja Karliczek visits University of Bonn

A genomic gene cluster

of the corn smut fungus Ustilago maydis suppresses plant immune defense in maize. In reference to the "sisterly" division of tasks as effectors and the clustered occurrence in the genome, the genes were named after the Pleiades, the nymphs originating from Greek mythology and the eponymous star cluster.

Schematic representation of the Pleiades’ mechanism of action

The pleiades gene cluster in the Ustilago maydis (corn smut) genome encodes a family of proteins, the Pleiades, that target maize immunity. The two Pleiades Taygeta1 (Tay1) and Merope1 (Mer1) inhibit Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) production, albeit in different cell compartments. Additionally, Mer1 acts in the nucleus to modify the activity of RFI2 homologues (Red and Far-Red Insensitive 2), a family of enzymes involved in early immune responses and that govern flowering time in plants.

Battle of the Pleiades against plant immunity

Minister of Agriculture

Julia Klöckner presented PhytoMo coordinator Dr. Anna Kicherer and Prof. Dr. Reinhard Töpfer (Julius Kühn-Institut) with the BMEL funding notification (from right)

Vine with disease symptom of flavescence dorée (FD)

Protection of vines from introduced diseases