Project Details
Multitrophic Interactions with Oaks
Applicants
Professor Dr. Francois Buscot; Professor Dr. Thorsten Grams; Professorin Dr. Liliane Rueß; Professor Dr. Stefan Scheu; Dr. Silvia Schrey; Professor Dr. Mika Tarkka
Subject Area
Organismic Interactions, Chemical Ecology and Microbiomes of Plant Systems
Plant Physiology
Plant Physiology
Term
from 2010 to 2017
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 154278714
Plant functioning depends on beneficial and detrimental biotrophic interactions intermingled with internal processes, e.g. the endogenous rhythmic development with alternating shoot and root growth flushes observed in oak trees. In this project four applicant groups will compare gene regulation and resource allocation in oaks faced with main biotrophic partners, i.e. ectomycorrhiza, root pathogenic microorganisms, rhizospheric invertebrate consumers, mycorrhization helper bacteria, leaf pathogenic fungi and leaf invertebrate herbivores. A Joined Experimental Platform with clonal mycorrhizal oak microcuttings will serve to analyse the impact of each biotrophic partner under standardized conditions by tracer experiments with 13C and 15N and transcriptomic with a 30 000 EST microarray completed by qRT-PCR. In additional experiments the project parts will combine different biotrophic agents, consider the dynamics of the associations, above-belowground interactions or the influence of climatic conditions. The project aims at disentangling regulation mechanisms common or specific of the interactions, initiating controlled multitrophy experiments, and constructing a thematic microarray. A follow-up Research Unit will deepen regulation studies and field analyses on the impact of multitrophy on the plant outcome under different environmental conditions
DFG Programme
Research Grants
Participating Persons
Professor Dr. Roland Brandl; Dr. Frank Fleischmann; Professor Dr. Rainer Matyssek