Our competences

Photo: Manuel Gutjahr

WG Microbial Ecoengineering

The working group Systems Microbiology deals with the assessment of microbial diversity (taxonomic, functional, ecological) in bio-economic production systems such as biogas plants, fermentation residues/farmyard manure, agricultural soils.

Microorganisms play an important role in all ecosystems as they contribute to the maintenance of these ecosystems through crucial material and energy conversion processes, regardless of whether one considers natural, agricultural or technical systems such as biogas plants. 

The development of new concepts for bio-economic production systems is currently a major challenge, as they include a wide range of tasks. These include the identification of ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from both animal husbandry and crop production, the development of site-specific solutions for the use of residues from agriculture (especially animal husbandry), from landscape management and from the organic fractions of municipal, commercial and industrial waste. The aim is to ensure a flexible energy supply in line with demand and the optimisation of crop cultivation systems by using system-adapted (soil and crop-specific), high-quality fertilisers to improve soil, plant and food quality and health while reducing negative environmental impacts. 

Microorganisms are involved in all these processes. Understanding these processes, in particular how management measures affect microbial diversity (taxonomic, functional and ecological), is therefore a prerequisite for the knowledge-based design of bio-economic production systems.

We aim to develop concepts for a sustainable microbiome management in bioeconomic production systems in order to derive recommendations for existing and new agricultural systems. For a knowledge-based microbiome management, the microorganisms involved in the process must be identified and their metabolic potentials and functions as well as the regulating ecological mechanisms must be understood in order to develop new control and management strategies in the medium to long term, which consider the demands, potentials and especially the limits of microbial performance.

Our methodology ranges from the isolation, cultivation and characterization of aerobic and anaerobic microorganisms (archaea, bacteria, fungi), to the detection of complex and dynamic microbial communities by qPCR (quantitative PCR), TRFLP (terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism), DGGE (Denaturing Gradient Gel Electrophoresis) and sequencing (Oxford Nanopore Technology) up to the application of multivariate statistics (PCoA, CCA, NMDS, TITAN) and network analyses with the aim of generating new knowledge on the capabilities, metabolic performance and ecosystem functions of individual microorganisms, groups of microorganisms or entire microbiomes.

Infrastructure

The equipment of the microbiological and molecular biological S1 and S2 - Labs

Group leader

Dr. Theuerl, Susanne

Research Scientis, Head of the work group `Microbial Ecoengineering´


Department: Technology Assessment

Email: stheuerl@spam.atb-potsdam.de

to the profile

The working group

Daniel Bock
Katrin Busse
Imke Handke
Julia Hassa
Johanna Klang
Beate-Kristin Kröck
Kerstin Mundt
Laura Storch
Katharina Willenbücher

Cookies

We use cookies. Some are required to offer you the best possible content and functions while others help us to anonymously analyze access to our website. (Matomo) Privacy policy

Required required

Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the proper functioning of the website. This category only includes cookies that ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.

Cookie Duration Description
PHPSESSID Session Stores your current session with reference to PHP applications, ensuring that all features of the site can be displayed properly. The cookie is deleted when the browser is closed.
bakery 24 hours Stores your cookie preferences.
fe_typo_user Session Is used to identify a session ID when logging into the TYPO3 frontend.
__Secure-typo3nonce_xxx Session Security-related. For internal use by TYPO3.
Analytics

With cookies in this category, we learn from visitors' behavior on our website and can make relevant information even more accessible.

Cookie Duration Description
_pk_id.xxx 13 months Matomo - User ID (for anonymous statistical analysis of visitor traffic; determines which user is being tracked)
_pk_ses.xxx 30 minutes Matomo - Session ID (for anonymous statistical analysis of visitor traffic; determines which session is being tracked)