Research areas
Methanotrophic bacteria, and environmental genomics/transcriptomics
Rice field soils and temperate grassland represent excellent model systems to study fundamental aspects of microbial ecology. Rice field soils are one of the few environmental systems that are regularly exposed to alternate dry/wet and oxic/anoxic cycles. The increase in atmospheric CO2 concentration due to climate change may have a major impact on temperate grassland ecosystems and, in consequence, on the belowground biota. We apply omics approaches to understand the structural and functional responses of the microbial communities in paddy and grassland soils to environmental change. In another line of research, we investigate the link between physiology and molecular biology of methanotrophic bacteria. Aerobic methanotrophs function as a biological filter for the greenhouse gas methane in various environmental settings. Our model system is Methylocystis sp. strain SC2.
