Uni-Tübingen

GRK Molecular principles of bacterial survival strategies

The research training group “Molecular principles of bacterial survival strategies” was granted by the DFG in 2011 and launched in April 2012. It addresses the question, how bacteria maintain viability in adverse environments. Exponential growth by bacteria occurs only under optimal conditions for a limited period of time. In many habitats, however, they are exposed to antagonistic conditions, arresting their growth or challenging their viability. Consequently, bacteria acquired during evolution elaborated strategies to withstand and overcome unfavourable conditions. These processes are fundamental for bacteria to protect their niches and colonize new habitats. Therefore, this issue is of highest relevance in bacterial ecology, physiology and medicine, e.g. for understanding the dispersal of bacterial pathogens and for the development of new antimicrobial drugs. 13 projects are devoted to the investigation of bacterial survival strategies involving maintenance-metabolism, detoxification, repair pathways and protective substances and structures. The research training group provides a new interdisciplinary research and graduate-training/qualification platform for fundamental microbiology in Tübingen.

The RTG 1708 is composed of groups/projects from the IMIT (interfaculty institute for microbiology and infection medicine), from the Geomicrobiology, the Organic Chemistry, the Pharmaceutical Biology, the University of Stuttgart and the Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology.