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Thuringia is funding a new research group at the Leibniz-HKI that is investigating the moss microbiome
The Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology – Hans Knöll Institute (Leibniz-HKI) has founded the new independent junior research group “Metabolomics-guided Natural Product Discovery”. Under the leadership of Dr. Jethro Hemmann, the team is investigating the role of microbial natural products in the moss microbiome and their potential applications in medicine, agriculture and biotechnology.
As the oldest land plants, mosses are particularly fascinating due to their ability to adapt to extreme environments. Bacteria also play a decisive role in this. “Mosses harbor a unique microbiome whose chemical diversity could provide us with new natural products with a wide range of potential applications,” explains Hemmann. By using metabolomics, the group hopes to understand the interactions between microbes and mosses at a molecular level. The research field of metabolomics deals with the investigation of all metabolic products of cells, tissues and – in the case of a microbiome – of entire consortia of organisms. The decisive measuring technique for this is mass spectrometry.
Among other things, the Thuringian research group wants to identify antimicrobial compounds that have the potential to be used as new antibiotics or biopesticides. “With antibiotic resistance on the rise, it is becoming increasingly urgent to find alternatives for existing active substances,” Hemmann continues. The group is funded by the Free State of Thuringia from the European Social Fund Plus. “I am delighted that our research concept has convinced the reviewers. The financial support for the research group from the Free State of Thuringia is a unique opportunity for me and my team to further advance our scientific career,” says Hemmann. The work of the new group will be supported by an industrial advisory board. Experts from several Thuringian companies advise Jethro Hemmann, particularly with regard to the future commercial exploitation of the results – and at the same time get an idea of the skilled workers that the Thuringian economy will urgently need in the coming years.
New natural products from moss microbiomes could be important not only for the protection of plants, but also for medical applications: “Our aim is to understand the role of natural products in the coexistence between microbes and mosses. Using sophisticated cultivation methods and modern approaches such as genome mining and metagenomic analyses, we are discovering new substances that have so far remained hidden from science,” summarizes Hemmann.
He also emphasizes the importance of a supportive working environment: “I want to create an open and cooperative atmosphere in our group in which we can develop creative research approaches together. Every idea is allowed, every collaboration is supported.”
The new group relies on interdisciplinary cooperation within and outside the Leibniz-HKI in order to complement its own skills with the expertise of colleagues and to benefit from their methods. With its topic, the group fits perfectly into the environment of the Jena Cluster of Excellence “Balance of the Microverse”, in which the dynamics and function of microbiomes in the environment are researched. The moss microbiome is a new aspect that Jethro Hemmann and his team will be investigating in more detail over the coming years.
Dr. Jethro Hemmann
Head of Metabolomics-guided Natural Product Discovery
+49 3641 532-1478
jethro.hemmann@leibniz-hki.de
http://To the Cluster of Excellence “Balance of the Microverse”: https://www.microverse-cluster.de/en/
The newly founded junior research group "Metabolomics-guided natural product discovery": (from left) ...
Anna Schroll
Anna Schroll/Leibniz-HKI
To study the moss microbiome, moss plants are grown on agar medium in the chambers of special cultur ...
Malin Kretzschmar
Malin Kretzschmar/Leibniz-HKI
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