Lichtgedanken 05

Rubrik 9 05 | LICHT GEDANKEN We have a global reputation and are competitive in certain fields of research. And that is not just down to our Cluster of Excellence. It also applies to the hu- manities and social sciences, for examp- le, with research into the romantic peri- od or research into social change and, of course, in the field of optics and photo- nics. We are able to recruit outstanding international researchers in these fields. In 2018, one quarter of our newly ap- pointed professors came from overseas. We also have a reputation across Ger- many as a high-performing university: we have enjoyed success in all of the fe- deral government’s major funding pro- grammes in recent years; for example in the »Innovative Hochschule« funding measure, in the »Qualitätsoffensive Leh- rerbildung« (Quality drive for teacher training), in the »Tenure Track Program- me« for young scientists, or with regard to the new »Max Planck Schools«—one of them being coordinated in Jena. Since 2013, we have established six collabora- tive research centres. The results speak for themselves and confirm our Univer- sity’s research potential. Where will the University of Jena be in seven years’ time, when the first fun- ding period for the Cluster of Excellen- ce expires? I am committed to ensuring that the development that I have just described continues and that we progress to be counted among the top 20 universities in Germany. In order to achieve this, we need to be successful in raising funding for both individual and collaborative projects. I hope that we will be able to raise funding for two to three new col- laborative research centres over the next two years and that, by 2025, we are in a position to apply for another Cluster of Excellence.  Chemical communication between green algae and bacteria The chief objective of the »ChemBioSys« collaborative research centre (see p. 10) is to explain the fundamental control mechanisms in complex biosys- tems. This research group is an essential pillar of the »Balance of the Micro- verse« Cluster of Excellence , which has been granted funding to the value of around six million euros per year from 2019. The team, which is led by Prof. Dr Maria Mittag and Dr Severin Sasso from the Matthias Schleiden Institute of Genetics, Bioinformatics and Molecular Botany, works within »ChemBioSys« and is dedicated to researching the coexistence of single-celled green algae ( Chlamydomonas reinhardtii ) and other microorganis- ms. The researchers are currently studying the interplay between green algae and Pseudomonas protegens bacteria. They have made an amazing discovery: if the two-micrometre-large bacteria surround the green algae, which are around five times larger, a deadly cocktail emerges. The encounter is not good for the algae. They lose their flagella, which help them to move normally in the water. They deform, lose the ability to reproduce, and most eventually die. Together with the team working with Prof. Dr Christian Hertweck from the Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology—the Hans Knöll Institute—Prof. Mittag and her colleagues have managed to explain the underlying chemical mechanisms behind this process. They found evidence that the bacteria release a chemical substance, which activates specific ion channels in the algae. This leads to a rapid influx of calcium ions, which in turn causes the loss of the flagella. The figure above shows an agar plate with a thick layer of green algae. You can clearly see inhibited algae growth in the shape of a halo around the small round area in the centre of the image, which contains the Pseudomonas protegens .