Chair of Genetics
Prof. Dr. Alfred Pühler

The Chair of Genetics was founded in 1980; the chair is held by Prof. Dr. A. Pühler. Currently, about 40 scientists and 14 technicians are working at the department. Furthermore, a changing number of students are working in the labs and preparing for their graduation. By the year 2001 about 199 students got their diploma, about 92 biologists have done their PhD work and 9 scientists have done their "Habilitation".

The research at the Department of Genetics focuses on the molecular basis of the realisation of genetic information in microorganisms and plants. The aim is to identify genes responsible for relevant biological phenomenons, and investigate mechanisms for the regulation of these genes. The insights gained can be used to specifically modify certain physiological pathways. This may finally lead to the fermentation of biotechnologically relevant products.
One research project deals with the Fermentative Production of Amino Acids and Vitamins by Corynebacteria which are of special industrial interest.
Nearly from the beginning a special interest of the department was the analysis of the genetics of symbiotic nitrogen fixation of the soil bacterium Sinorhizobium meliloti. Currently, the Microbial Polysaccharid Production of S. meliloti and Xanthomonas campestris pv. campestris which is also a soil bacterium, is being investigated.
In the field of Microbial Ecology the Rhizobia Field Research has to be mentioned. For several years the persistence and dispersal of the released strains which habe been bioluminescently labelled, are monitored.
In the area of Biological Safety research, we analyse the potential and probabilities of a putative horizontal gene transfer in their natural habitats. Thus, bacterial populations from the rhizosphere of alfalfa, one of the host plants of rhizobia, and from a model sewage plant, are being investigated.
Furthermore, transferable Antibiotic Resistance Plasmids isolated from a bacterial population of this model sewage plant, are currently under investigation using the methods of genome research. This work aims to better understand the role of sewage plant for the release of antibiotic resistance genes into the environment..
The Phytopathology group attends to revealing the molecular mechanisms of the pathogen/symbiont recognition. As major components of this recognition we aim to identify elements of the plant's signal transduction system.
In the frame of a DFG-Research Focus Programme the Mykorrziza Symbiosis of plants and fungi is also investigated. In this context, we want to identify the genetic basics of the plant's ability to identify an invading microorganisms either as symbiont or as pathogen.
Finally, the Rhizobium Genome Research group has to be mentioned which in cooperation with an international consortium was involved in the genome project of S. meliloti. Our main work was the sequencing and sequence assembly of part of the chromosome and of a 1.68 megabase replicon - megaplasmid pSymB - of S. meliloti.

In addition to these well targeted approaches, we are also involved in sequencing complete genomes of selected / relevant organisms as well as in the characterization of the transcript and protein profile of microorganisms under defined environmental conditions. This work is aimed to get a more general understanding of the organization and function of these genomes. This work is carried out at the Center for Genome Research of the University of Bielefeld.