Caroline Gutjahr investigates the genetic basis and molecular mechanisms underlying the development and function of arbuscular mycorrhiza, a symbiosis between most land plants and a specific type of soil-dwelling fungi. The fungi receive photosynthetically-fixed lipids and sugars from the plant. In turn they provide mineral nutrients to the plants, which they collect with a highly branched hyphal network from the soil. Thereby they contribute to plant productivity and health and also to the maintenance of a healthy soil structure. This explains why arbuscular mycorrhiza (AM) symbiosis in increasingly considered for application in sustainable agriculture with reduced mineral fertilizer input.
Among other contributions Caroline Gutjahr discovered that a novel receptor, required for the perception of smoke molecules is also required for root colonization by arbuscular mycorrhiza fungi. Furthermore, she showed that the fungi receive lipids from the plant overturning a long-standing paradigm, which stated that the fungi receive only sugars.
About the award:
The Adam Kondorosi early career Award was presented to her at the 22. October 2021 in the frame of the European Nitrogen Fixation Conference (ENFC) held online this year. It is named after Adam Kondorosi, a distinguished scientist in the field of symbiotic nitrogen fixation, who not only made major and fundamental discoveries in nitrogen fixing plant symbiosis but also contributed important and enabling molecular tools in bacteria and plants during the early days of molecular genetics research (the late 70s and early 80s).
About the award-winner:
Professor Gutjahr investigates the molecular mechanisms which determine the formation and functioning of the widespread arbuscular mycorrhiza symbiosis between plants and beneficial soil fungi. Her research focuses in particular on the role of plant hormones and transcriptional networks in the development of the symbiosis. The fungus can enhance nutrition and increase stress resistance of plants. For these reasons, there is increasing interest in the use of the fungus in sustainable agricultural practices. Therefore, Professor Gutjahr also investigates the genetic underpinnings of fungus-mediated increases in plant-performance with the aim to enable breeding of mycorrhiza-optimized crops.
Professor Gutjahr studied biology at the Universities of Freiburg and Aberdeen. She then spent one year as a researcher at the University of Turin. Her PhD was started at the University of Geneva and concluded at the University of Lausanne. After a short stay as a postdoctoral researcher in Lausanne, she joined the LMU Munich as leader of a research group. Since 2015, she has been supported by the Emmy Noether program of the German Research Foundation (DFG). She has been Professor of Plant Genetics at the TUM since September 2017.
Editing:
Susanne Neumann
TUM School of Life Sciences
Press and Public Relations
Scientific contact:
Prof. Caroline Gutjahr
TUM School of Life Sciences
Professorship of Plant Genetics
Tel. + 49 8161 71 2680
caroline.gutjahr(at)tum.de