Prof. Dr. Natalia Requena
Biology, University of Granada, 1990
Diplomarbeit (Microbiology), University of Granada, 1992
Ph.D. (Dr. rer. nat.) (Plant Biology), Estacion Experimental del Zaidin (CSIC), University of Granada, 1996
Marie Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship, Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology, Marburg, 1997-2000
Group leader at the Department of Physiological Ecology of Plants, University of Tuebingen, 2000-2005
Wrangell Fellow of the State Baden Württemberg, 2001-2005
Habilitation (Botany and Microbiology ), University of Tuebingen, 2005
DFG Heisenbergfellow at the University of Karlsruhe, since 07/2005
DFG Heisenbergprofessur at the University of Karlsruhe, since 10/2008
Funding: DFG, Leibnitz Gemeinschaft
Editorial Board: New Phytologist
Contact
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology
Botanical Institute
Plant-Microbial-Interactions
Hertzstrasse 16, Geb. 06.40
D-76187 Karlsruhe
Germany
Phone: +49-721-608-44626
Secret.: +49-721-608-44632
Fax: +49-721-608-44509
e-mail: natalia requenaWul1∂kit edu
Members of the Research Group
Secretary: Tamara Bürger, Fabienne Cochard-Rein
Technical Assistant: Stephanie Heupel
Postdoctoral fellow: Cristina Albarran, Mike Güther, Nicole Helber, Hannah Kuhn
Ph.D. students: Silke Kloppholz, Nina Rieger, Stephanie Rech, Raphael Kist
Diploma students: Simon Fitterer, Yvonne Köse
Former Members of the Research Group
Dr. Lene Breuninger
Dr. Aurora Ocon
Dr. Esther Serrano
Dr. Regine Kleber
Graduate students: Christina Müller, Stephanie Martin, Ralf Maier, Meike Dittmann, Melanie Krebs, Thorsten Klug, Marlene Rodrigues, Nicole Bühler, Chris Vogt
Research Area: Molecular and Cell Biology of Arbuscular Mycorrhiza
Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi are soil inhabitants that live in permanent symbiosis with plant roots. They colonize the vast majority of terrestrial plants and are present in all ecosystems. Plants benefit enormously from the association with mycorrhizal fungi because they are provided with nutrients that are scarce or immobile in the soil solution. In this mutualistic symbiosis the fungus also benefits from the association with a "green" partner through the provision of carbohydrates downloaded at specialized haustoria, the so-called arbuscules. Much is known about physiology, ecology and agronomy of this mycorrhizal symbiosis. However, the knowledge of the precise mechanisms by which plant and fungus recognize each other in the soil, by which they interact with other soil inhabitants, or which nutrients are exchanged in an organized manner - thus preventing a parasitic situation - is still in its infancy.
We are interested in unraveling how AM fungi are perceived by their host plants and discriminated from pathogenic fungi. To investigate these aspects we are using several complementary approaches. On the one hand, we use plant genes induced during early mycorrhization as reporters of fungal presence and activity. By fusing their promoters to fluorescence marker genes like GFP or DsRed and expressing them in planta we can follow the course of the interaction in vivo (see our movie from Kuhn et al., 2010). On the other hand we investigate the secretion of fungal effectors produced by AM fungi that are able to turn on the reporter genes and/or to travel to the plant cell to induce the symbiotic program (see Kloppholz et al., 2011). In addition, we compare the mechanisms of root colonization between mutualistic symbiotic fungi and pathogenic fungi. For that we use the rice blast fungus Magnaporthe oryzae which besides its well known leaf infection route is also able to colonize the root of rice plants (see Heupel et al., 2010).
In a cooperation with Dr. Elke Neumann at the Institute for Gemüse und Zierpflanzenbau (IGZ), Großbeeren, we are investigating the use of molecular markers to characterize the functionality of the symbiosis and the role of the fungal external mycelium in improving plant nutrition and health. We have recently identified a characterized the first bonafide AM monosaccharide transporter that takes up sugars from the root (see Helber et al., 2011). We have also show that the extraradical mycelium is, in contrast to what it was reported, able to take up hexoses. Read more about the Mykopakt project:
Recent Publications (complete list)
Helber, N., Wippel, K., Sauer N., Saarschmidt, S., Hause, B., and Requena N. (2011) A versatile monosaccharide transporter that operates in the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus Glomus sp. is crucial for the symbiotic relationship with plants. Plant Cell (in press)
Kloppholz S., Kuhn H. and Requena N. (2011) A secreted fungal effector of Glomus intraradices promotes symbiotic biothroph. Curr. Biol. (doi:10.1016/j.cub.2011.06.044)
Bonfante P. and Requena N. (2011) Dating in the dark: how roots respond to fungal signals to establish arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis. Curr. Opin. Plant Biol. (doi:10.1016/j.pbi.2011.03.014)
Guether M, Volpe V., Ballestrini R., Requena N., Wipf D. and Bonfante P. (2011) LjLHT1.2—a mycorrhiza-inducible plant amino acid transporter from Lotus japonicus. Biol. Fertil. Soils (in press)