Graduiertenkolleg "Molekulare Mechanismen bakterieller Überlebensstrategien"

01/04/2012 to 31/03/2021

https://www.uni-tuebingen.de/forschung/forschungsschwerpunkte/graduiertenkollegs/grk-molecular-principles-of-bacterial-survival-strategies.html

Guiding theme of this research training group (RTG) are molecular principles of bacterial
survival strategies. In an ideal environment, bacterial populations grow exponentially. However,
at most natural settings conditions prevail that supress growth, damage cells, or prevent
the colonization of habitats through competing organisms or host defence-systems.
This selective pressure, which drove bacterial evolution, resulted in highly efficient strategies
that enable bacteria to endure or overcome unfavourable conditions. These survival strategies
are essential to form ecological niches and to colonize new habitats and hosts. Therefore,
this topic is of greatest relevance for bacterial ecology and physiology, for the spread of
bacterial pathogens, and for the development of antibacterial compounds and, hence, it is a
central area of microbiological research. During the first funding period, research built on this
central topic and was conducted utilizing newly evolving methods of the post-genome era,
leading to outstanding results. In the forthcoming funding period, this research concept will
further be pursued systematically. Thereby, we will focus on two major mechanisms of bacterial
survival strategies: project area A addresses survival strategies that are based on intracellular
reactions, mainly specific adaptations of bacterial metabolism. Project area B focuses
on survival strategies, which are based on the synthesis of bioactive compounds, enabling
survival in the environment.