Project

Early signalling between plants and AM fungi: a cellular and molecular approach

My name is Mike Güther. I am from Marienberg, Germany, and I was an undergraduate student at the Technische Universität Dresden from 1999 to 2005. I studied Biology: My main topic was genetics and the two minor topics were plant physiology and microbiology. In my thesis, supervised by Prof. Ludwig-Müller, I was looking for differential expressed genes in the mycorrhiza symbiosis Zea mays/ Glomus intraradices, using techniques like RT-PCR and cDNA-AFLP.
In October 2005 I joined the group of Paola Bonfante, Dipartimento di Biologia Vegetale dell'Università Torino. During my PhD research in the frame of the INTEGRAL project, I would like to identify Lotus japonicus genes whose transcripts are involved in early signalling events and lead to the establishment of the mycorrhizal interaction. The arbuscular fungus of choice is Gigaspora margarita. Affimetrix chips will be used in collaboration with Golm team.
Furthermore I am investigating the role of genes possibly involved in the “oxidative burst” and cell responses of epidermal and cortical cells during the symbiosis development.