Visual Abstracts

Saskia Janshoff

35 CAM and non-CAM plant transcriptomes were collected. Enzyme orthogroups were detected and conservative positions identified. The detected changes may lead to changes in activity and/or regulation of the enzymes. Candidate enzymes were cloned and transferred to the C3 plant Arabidopsis in a synthetic biology approach.

Sarah Becker

In this thesis, DNA-binding of important photosynthesis regulators from Arabidopsis thaliana was examined. Different in vitro expression systems, binding buffers, protein tags and protein purification were tested for binding assays. In a parallel computational project, for 27 A. thaliana transcription factors (TFs) it was shown that DNA methylation and chromatin state make only a small contribution to gene expression prediction from binding data and that binding affinity does not correlate with expression. The data points to combined action of TFs and TF-signalling cascades as the main contributors to regulation of gene expression.

Bernd Reger

Pavlos Bekiaris

The program suite Metabolome Manual Annotation Suite (MMAS) is created and applied for in silico analyses of Xanthomonas campestris pathovar campestris B100 (Xcc B100). It consists of four programs which provide a semi-automated and self-documenting way of generating metabolic models and manually curating the data on which they are based on. Having established a metabolic network for Xcc B100, meta-analyses show new ways to optimize Xcc B100's xanthan production.

Viktoria Fuchs

Luminometric measurements of calcium reactions provided new insights considering the refractory behavior in tobacco cells. With initial elicitor concentrations being sufficiently reduced, a calcium response can be provoked even after multiple preceding elicitations. A process pipeline for fluorescence microscopic acquisition and quantification of the specific calcium signature using the software Image J was established.
 

Lea Süßmilch

In experimental runs with a mixed methane and nitrogen atmosphere all intermediates of the sugar producing formose reaction can be found. Results showed that the production of sugars even benefited from the presence of nitrogen when compared to the original Miller-Urey gas mixture. Additionally, the selective catalysis properties of montmorillonite clay are assessed by comparing the ratios of the reaction products of runs with and without clay.