Our mission is to gain fundamental knowledge of how fungi interact with plants and other organisms in their environment. We investigate the molecular and evolutionary mechanisms that govern pathogenicity, virulence, symbiosis, and adaptation, and how these traits emerge and diversify over evolutionary time. Our research views fungi as integral components of ecological communities, from plant holobionts and soil microbiomes to multipartite symbioses such as lichens, where interactions with diverse partners shape fungal function and evolution.
Our research mostly focuses on soil-borne vascular wilt fungi of the Verticillium genus, with Verticillium dahliae as its most notorious representative that is able to infect hundreds of plant species, including numerous crops. We try to understand interactions of Verticillium dahliae with its wide host range, but also interactions with bacteria as well as other microbial life as it occurs in the rhizosphere.
Our knowledge may contribute to novel strategies aimed at prevention, management or control of diseases in crops as well as in natural ecosystems.
Our research mostly focuses on soil-borne vascular wilt fungi of the Verticillium genus, with Verticillium dahliae as its most notorious representative that is able to infect hundreds of plant species, including numerous crops.
The plant immune system recognizes fungal invaders through recognition of fungal cell wall chitin, leading to the activation of immune responses that comprise the release of various types of antimicrobials, including chitinases to hydrolyze chitin.
Fungal plant pathogens adapt rapidly to changing hosts and environments. In Verticillium dahliae, this adaptability is encoded in a genome with a highly compartmentalized architecture, consisting of a conserved core genome and dynamic adaptive regions enriched for genes involved in host interaction.
Lichens are complex symbiotic systems in which fungi interact not only with photosynthetic partners, but also with diverse microbial communities. We investigate how antimicrobial proteins (AMPs) help lichen-forming fungi establish and maintain these associations.
Our junior group investigates how green algae perceive, respond to, and interact with microbial partners. Our work focuses on algal–fungal interactions as tractable systems to uncover the cellular and molecular mechanisms that determine whether microbial encounters become mutualistic, neutral, or parasitic.
In our lab, we strive to be inclusive and celebrate complementary approaches and points of view. We believe diversity drives innovation, we build a culture that values difference, and we foster both top-down and grassroots approaches. We create a positive, supportive and stimulating atmosphere to help employees grow and manage their careers by providing freedom to address the broadest set of initiatives.
Our group is embedded in the Cluster of Excellence on Plant Sciences (CEPLAS), and receives generous funding from the Alexander von Humboldt foundation. We are also a proud member of the MibiNet2.0 project.
Bart Thomma
Alexander von Humboldt Professor of Evolutionary Microbiology
Zülpicher Straße 47b
D-50674 Cologne
email: bthomma@uni-koeln.de
Bluesky: @teamthomma.bsky.social