Microbial Genomics

The microbial genomics group covers a diversity of disciplines and organisms. Researchers are interested in questions relating to metabolism and it's regulation and the impact of enviromental conditions on cellular growth. Techniques range from routine bacterial growth, microscopy, and
genetics to the newer technologies such as phenotypic arrays, cDNA microarrays and protein arrays.

The main questions asked by this group of researchers range from how some organisms survive and thrive in the presence of toxic holoaromatic compounds (Konopka, Nakatsu, Turco), how cells respond to osmotic stress (Csonka), or how photosynthetic microbes respond to environmental conditions such as changes in light or nutrient availability (Sherman). These questions are being answered by the fundamental techniques of microbiology, but increasingly with the newer techniques of genomics.

In addition to these questions Barry Wanner uses E. coli as a model system to study systems biology.

These efforts are complemented by Jin-Rong Xu whose research in characterization of fungal pathogenicity genes and signal transduction pathways in Magnaporthe grisea and Botrytis cinera provides an interesting link between plant and microbial systems.