Moritz Sexauer

Moritz Sexauer

Julius-von-Sachs-Institute for Biosciences
Department of Botany II
-  Plant Ecophysiology -
Julius-von-Sachs-Platz 3

D - 97082 Würzburg

Phone.: +49 (0) 931 31 85065
 

moritz.sexauer@uni-wuerzburg.de

Room: 106

Research Focus

Root nodulation symbiosis: ensuring a good bargain

How plants balance their diet: genetic control of nitrogen foraging

The role of small RNAs in systemic communication in plant symbiosis and development

The roots of root symbiosis

Legumes - pioneers and survivors under extreme conditions

Research interests

Nitrogen is probably the most important macronutrient in a plants diet. Although ~80 % of our atmosphere consists of elemental dinitrogen, plants cannot utilize it and rely on nitrogen in form of mostly nitrate, ammonia or other organic compounds. To deal with nitrogen limitation and acquire sufficient amounts of nitrogen plants evolved various strategies. The majority of plants relies on uptake of soil nitrogen via their root system. However, most Legumes and some members of the related Fagales, Curcubitales and Rosales lineages are able to establish symbiotic relations with rhizobial bacteria, respectively Frankia to fix aerial nitrogen.

Both the nitrogen fixing Rhizobia-Legume symbiosis and plants root growth is known to be dependent on the external nitrogen supply and the systemic nitrogen status of the plant.

In my research I’m interested in how legumes adapt their symbiosis according to their demand for nitrogen and its availability. At the same time, I’m looking at the foraging response, the adaptation of roots to available nutrients in the soil, of plants inhabiting different ecological niches.

Comparing the evolutionary young nitrogen fixing symbiosis and the ancestral root developmental programs we hope to gain insight how the nitrogen fixing symbiosis evolved and which steps were crucial in its evolutionary success.

In this context I’m interested in the role of systemic micro RNAs driving the plants adaptations to nutritional and biotic cues. To address these questions, I mainly utilize the model plant Lotus japonicus and its endosymbiont Mesorhizobium loti as a non-symbiotic plant, Arabidopsis thaliana is used for comparison.