Lichtgedanken 03

S C HW E R P U N K T 11 03 | LICHT GEDANKEN Microorganisms consist of just a single cell or aggregates of single cells. These microscopic organisms include bacteria, archaea, most fungi (including yeasts), microalgae, and protozoa (amoeba). Viruses, which are not actually living organisms, are also usually counted among the microorganisms. Microbial life is very limited, reduced to the bare minimum. However, despite their mini- malistic structure, microorganisms have a wide diversity of metabolic paths and products at their proposal, which makes them extremely adaptable. Virtually every habitat on Earth is colo- nized by microorganisms At a rough estimate, there are around 10 30 microorganisms on Earth—1 follo- wed by 30 zeros—and the majority of them are as yet undiscovered. Accor- ding to estimates, we know only one to five per cent of all microorganisms. What is clear, however, is the huge sig- nificance of these minute organisms for life on Earth. Microbes play a decisive role in material cycles in nature and thus ensure the essentials of life for all higher organisms. Water as habitat Whether a puddle, garden pond, ri- ver or an ocean, all bodies of water are swarming with microorganisms—from bacteria and algae, through parameci- um and ciliates, to amoeba. It was the Dutch naturalist and cloth merchant, Antoni van Leeuwenhoek, who first discovered and described the microbial life that he found in a pool of water in the 17th century. Algae are responsible for around half of all the oxygen produced on the planet and also bind the greenhouse gas car- bon dioxide. They are therefore a key primary producer in the food chains of lakes and seas. At the University Jena, Microbiological research at the Friedrich Schiller University Jena and non-university institutions in the region The Graduate School »Jena School for Microbial Communication« (JSMC), founded at the University in 2006, has been funded within the Excellence Initiative of the fe- deral and state governments since 2007. The school brings together scientists from the natural and life sciences, for example biology, chemistry, medicine, pharmacy, biotechnology, geology, physics, and informatics. The JSMC’s key objective is to deci- pher the »language« that microorganisms communicate with each other and higher organisms, and with the environment. This is a prerequisite for a better understan- ding of many diseases or the causes of environmental damage. Many findings from basic research form the basis for developing innovative technologies and new active substances. Since the school’s foundation, more than 130 doctoral candidates have obtained their doctorate. The JSMC currently has 135 active doctoral candidates, of whom one in three come from abroad. The Collaborative Research Centre/Transregio »FungiNet« is working on pathogenic fungi. In the research consortium launched in 2013, scientists from the University, Jena University Hospital and the Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology—Hans Knöll Institute (HKI) are collaborating with colleagues from the University of Würzburg and its university hospital to gain a better understanding of life-threatening infections caused by fungi and develop new therapies to tackle infections. Also since 2013, ecologists, geoscientists and chemists have been working in the Collaborative Research Centre »AquaDiva« to analyse the links between the habitats of plants and microorganisms above and below ground, as well as the processes that take place in those habitats. The aim is to use the knowledge gained to make rec- ommendations for sustainably protecting these ecosystems and the services they provide to humans. This specifically concerns protecting the natural groundwater reservoirs, among other things. Apart from the scientists from the University, »Aqua- Diva« also includes researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, the Leibniz Institute of Photonic Technology (IPHT) and the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ). Chemical mediators—signal molecules that determine the interactions between cells and organisms of one or more species—have been the focus of the Collaborative Re- search Centre »ChemBioSys« since 2014. In this work, researchers from the Universi- ty of Jena, the HKI and the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology are listening to —and deciphering—the chemical »babble« of these signals in biosystems that inclu- de fungi, bacteria, microalgae, plants, animals, and human cells in order to clarify how such community structures arise and function, and how their diversity is maintained. In the Collaborative Research Centre (CRC) »PolyTarget« , which started in 2017, re- searchers from many disciplines aim to develop nanoparticles with which drugs to treat microbial infections can be steered precisely to where they are required. This CRC brings together chemists, materials scientists, pharmacists, medical experts, and biochemists of the University and the University Hospital, as well as scientists from the IPHT, the HKI and the Leibniz Institute on Aging (FLI). This initiative further strengthens the already strongly positioned research in Jena on sepsis and infection.