Archive

23.11.2017
Ramya Ganesan from India starts her PhD with us on the molecular regulation of symbiosis in Lagria beetles. Welcome, Ramya!

16. November 2017
Bacteria enable beetles to feed on a leafy diet - the article on: thistle tortoise beetles outsource the job of breaking down plant cell walls to a symbiotic bacterium has been released in Cell.

Link to JGU's press release

Original publication: Salem, H., Bauer , E., Kirsch R., Berasategui, A., Cripps, M., Weiss, B., Koga, R., Fukumori, K., Vogel, H., Fukatsu, T. & Kaltenpoth, M. (2017) Drastic Genome Reduction in an Herbivore's Pectinolytic Symbiont. Cell. DOI:10.1016/j.cell.2017.10.029

13. November 2017
New publicaton in Molecular Ecology: Engl T., Eberl N., Gorse C., Krueger T., Schmidt T.H.-P., Plarre R., Adler C., Kaltenpoth M.: Ancient symbiosis confers desiccation resistance to stored grain pest beetles. Molecular Ecology doi: 10.1111/mec.14418

23.10.2017
We took a break from our daily lab life to discuss science but also have lots of fun during our annual retreat at Burg Wilenstein.

02.10.2017
Rebekka Janke joins the group of Laura Floréz as a PhD student. Rebekka will work on the evolutionary ecology of chemical defense by the bacterial symbionts of Lagria beetles.

04.09.2017
We welcome Chantal Ingham back as a PhD student! Chantal will study the effect of the innate beewolf defense mechanisms on symbiont adaptation and genome erosion.

01. June 2017
New publication in Molecular Ecology by Berasategui, A., Salem, H., Paetz, C., Santoro, M., Gershenzon, J., Kaltenpoth, M. und Schmdit, A. (2017) "Gut microbiota of the pine weevil degrades conifer diterpenes and increases insect fitness." (DOI:10.1111/mec.14186) available online.

16. May 2017
Article release “The digestive and defensive basis of carcass utilization by the burying beetle and its microbiota” in Nature Communications.
Orginal publication: Vogel, H., Shukla, S., Engl, T., Weiss, B., Fischer, R., Steiger, S., Heckel, D.G., Kaltenpoth, M., Vilcinskas, A. (2017) The digestive and defensive basis of carcass utilization by the burying beetle and its microbiota. Nature Communications DOI: 10.1038/ncomms15186.
Link to JGU's press release

28. April 2017
Article on Symbiotic bacteria: from hitchhiker to beetle bodyguard - Bacterial symbionts transition between plant pathogenicity and insect defensive mutualism in Nature Communications published.
Link to JGU's press release

Original publication: Flórez, L. V., Scherlach, K., Gaube, P., Ross, C., Sitte, E., Hermes, C., Rodrigues, A., Hertweck, C. & Kaltenpoth, M. (2017) Antibiotic-producing symbionts dynamically transition between plant pathogenicity and insect defensive mutualism. Nature Communications DOI: 10.1038/ncomms15172.

01.02.2017
Mario Sandoval-Calderón from Mexico joins our group as a Postdoc. Mario will work on the beewolf symbiont genome evolution. Welcome, Mario!

31. January 2017
Available online in Animal Behaviour: Zizzarri, V., Engl, T., Lorenz, S., Ellers, J. und A. Groot "Love at first sniff: a spermatophore-associated pheromone mediates partner attraction in the soil." Link to publication

19. January 2017
Articlel release in Ecology and Evolution: "Tracing the history and ecological context of Wolbachia double infection in a specialist host (Urophora cardui)—parasitoid (Eurytoma serratulae) system". by Jes Johannesen Link to publication

24. October 2016
New publication by E.M. Griebeler und Jan Werner: "Mass, phylogeny and temperature are sufficient to explain differences in metabolic scaling across mammalian orders?" published in Ecology and Evolution. Link to publication

22. September 2016
Article published by Benjamin Weiss und Martin Kaltenpoth „Bacteriome-localized intracellular symbiont in pollen-feedning beetles of the genus Dasytes (Coleoptera, Dasytidae)" in Frontiers in Microbiology. Link to publication

09. August 2016
Paper by A. Berasategui, K. Axelsson, G. Nordlander, A. Schmidt, A.-K. Borg-Karlson, J. Gershenzon, O. Terenius & M. Kaltenpoth titeld "The gut microbiota of the pine weevil (Hylobius abietis, Coleoptera: Curculionidae) is similar across Europe and resembles that of other conifer-feeding beetles." released in Molecular Ecology. Link to publication

08. June 2016
Paper by C. A. Linn and E. M. Griebeler "Habitat preference of German Mantis religiosa populations (Mantodea: Mantidae) and implications for conservation." published in Environmental Entomology.

19. May 2016
Publication titeld "Inflexible versus flexible: the influence of temperature and photoperiod on pre- and post-eyespot development time in Libellulidae (Odonata)." by Lisa Hesse, Joachim Falk und Kamilla Koch released in Physiological Entomology.

14. April 2016
New paper: Staudacher, H., Kaltenpoth, M., Breeuwer, J.A.J., Menken, S.B.J., Heckel, D.G. & Groot, A.T. (2016) Variability of bacterial communities in the moth Heliothis virescens indicates transient association with the host. PLoS ONE 11(5): e0154514.

05. April 2016
New paper "Population dynamics of a natural red deer population over 200 years detected via substantial changes of genetic Variation." by G. S. Hoffmann, J. Johannesen & E.M. Griebeler in Ecology and Evolution. Link to publication

21. March 2016
Die Publikation von Tobias Engl, B. Bodenstein und E. Strohm zu "Mycobiota of brood cells of the European Beewolf, Philanthus triangulum (Hymenoptera, Crabronidae)" ist im European Journal of Entomology erschienen. Link to publication

21. January 2016
Onchuru, T.O., Ajamma, Y.U., Burugu, M., Kaltenpoth, M., Masiga, D. K. & Villinger, J. (2016) Chemical parameters and bacterial communities associated with larval habitats of Anopheles, Culex and Aedes mosquitoes in western Kenya. International Journal of Tropical Insect Science 36(3): 146-160.

14.December 2015
New paper: "Potential applications of insect symbionts in biotechnology." by A. Berasategui, S. Shukla, H. Salem & Martin Kaltenpoth in Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology. Link to publication

29. November 2015
New paper by C.D. Rummel, M.G.J. Löder, N.F. Fricke, T. Lanf, E.M. Griebeler, M. Janke & G. Gerdts zu "Plastic ingestion by pelagic and demersal fish from the North Sea and Baltic Sea." in Marine Pollution Bulletin. Link to publication

23.September 2015
Paper released: Konstantin Hallmann and Eva Maria Griebeler "Eggshell types and their evolutionary correlation with life-history strategies in squamates" in PLoS ONE. Link to publication

18. August 2015
Linking molecules to microbes. The press release summarizes researchers work to visualize antibiotic substances and their bacterial producers simultaneously. Press release

28. July 2015
Laura Flórez wins the poster prize for her presentation of "Egg defense in Lagriid beetles and the many talents of Burkholderia symbionts" at the Gordon Research Conference on Animal-Microbe Symbioses in Waterville Valley, NH, USA.

14. July 2015
The paper on the combination of mass spectrometric imagings and Fluoreszenz-in-situ-hybridization has been published in The ISME Journal.
Original publication: Kaltenpoth, M., Strupat, K. & Svatoš, A. (2016). Linking metabolite production to taxonomic identity in environmental samples by (MA)LDI-FISH. The ISME Journal, doi: 10.1038/ismej.2015.122.

14. July 2015
The cooperation-paper on intracellular symbionts in the invasive ant Cardiocondyla obscurior has been published in The ISME Journal.
Original publication: Klein, A., Schrader, L., Gil, R., Manzano-Marín, A., Flórez, L., Wheeler, D., Werren, J. H., Latorre, A., Heinze, J., Kaltenpoth, M., Moya, A. & Oettler, J. (2016). A novel intracellular mutualistic bacterium in the invasive ant Cardiocondyla obscurior. The ISME Journal, doi: 10.1038/ismej.2015.119.

July 2015
Conference announcement: in March 2016 the Department of Evolutionary Ecology will host in cooperation with the German "Gesellschaft deutschsprachiger Odonatologen", GdO their annual conference at the Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz.
http://www.gdo-jahrestagung-2016.de/

July 2015
The recently released movie "The Evolution of flight" by David Attenborough was supported by the research on dragonflies of Dr. K. Koch and L. Hesse.
http://www.conquestoftheskies.com/

29. May 2015
Our publication on "Microbe-mediated adaptation to a novel diet" concerning the ability of bugs to feed on plant seeds enabled by symbiotic bacteria and the consequential promoted species diversity has been published in The ISME Journal.
Original publication: Sudakaran, S., Retz, F., Kikuchi, Y., Kost, C. & Kaltenpoth, M. (2015). Evolutionary transition in symbiotic syndromes enabled diversification of phytophagous insects on an imbalanced diet. The ISME Journal, doi: 10.1038/ismej.2015.75. Press release

20. April 2015
Our review on "Defensive symbioses of animals with prokaryotic and eukaryotic microorganisms" has been published in Natural Product Reports and the beewolf is on the cover.
Original publication: Flórez, L., Biedermann, P. H. W., Engl, T. & Kaltenpoth, M. (2015). Defensive symbioses of animals with prokaryotic and eukaryotic microorganisms. Natural Product Reports, 32, 904-936. Cover NPR

09. March 2015
"Thüringer Forschungspreis 2014 für Grundlagenforschung" for Dr. Martin Kaltenpoth
Head of the Insect Symbioses research group Dr. M. Kaltenpoth at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology (Jena) was rewarded for outstanding achievements in fundamental research. Press release

04. March 2015
Our review on extracellular transmitted symbionts in insects has been published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
Original publication: Salem, H., Flórez, L., Gerardo, N. M. & Kaltenpoth, M. (2015). An out-of-body experience: The extracellular dimension for the transmission of mutualistic bacteria in insects. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 282, 20142957. PDF

07. February 2015
The publication of Klein, N. & Griebeler, E.M. on "Bone histology, microanatomy, and growth of the nothosauroid Simosaurus gaillardorti (Sauropterygia)" has been released.
Original publication: Klein, N. & Griebeler, E.M. (2016) Bone histology, microanatomy, and growth of the nothosauroid Simosaurus gaillardorti (Sauropterygia) from the Upper Muschelkalk of southern Germany/Baden-Württemberg. Comptes rendus Palevol.15: 147-167.

"Parapatrische Evolution im Population-Art-Übergang und die adaptive Bedeutung von genetischen Klinen". - new project funded by the DFG of Dr. J. Johannesen

"Sauropod Gigantism: A Cross-Disciplinary Approach"
now available on PLOS Collections: www.ploscollections.org/sauropodgigantism