In a variety of important crops, defense mechanisms are mediated through terpene biosynthesis. Terpenes are a very large and diverse class of organic compounds which can be found in almost all plants and numerous animals. Many of those terpenes serve as flavors, fragrances, and medicine in our everyday lives.

Soil degeneration due to salinization and desiccation is a global problem that increasingly affects arable farming. The deteriorating structure, fertility and biodiversity of the increasingly saline soils have a major impact on the high-quality cultivation of seed potatoes and other crops typically grown in those areas. Our multi-year project “Fathom the salty clay” focuses on biotic soil properties, where the goal is to improve the soil quality of saline clay soils through an innovative combination of cropping plan modifications, making crops less sensitive to salt. The project tracks various aspects of soil quality in relation to yield (salt tolerance) of potato varieties and other crops. In the process, practical knowledge is gathered on how a degenerated saline clay soil can be converted into a vital soil on which sustainable salt-tolerant arable farming can take place.

Climate change is a serious threat to the cultivation of all food and bioenergy crops. Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.) is a major next-generation feed stock for environmentally sustainable biofuel production. Switchgrass is native to Northern America where it can grow on marginal lands without competing for cultivable land with other food crops. 

Nectar is a sugar-rich solution produced by most angiosperm plants to fulfill extensive functions, for example the attraction of pollinators and protection against herbivores. Nectar is produced by and secreted from nectaries, which are highly specialized glands, and the surrounding tissue. The synthesis and secretion of floral nectar has been the subject of several studies which have proposed different models on the biochemical and molecular mechanisms underlying nectar secretion. Of the sugars found in nectar, the most prevalent are sucrose and the hexoses glucose and fructose (Tiedge and Lohaus, 2017). Given that hexoses are typically not components of the phloem sap, which supplies the nectaries with sugar molecules, the proportion of hexoses in nectar depends on the presence and activity of sucrose-cleaving enzymes. 

Tobacco (genus Nicotiana) is highly diverse in terms of flower morphology and pollination mode. Some species secrete sucrose-rich nectars while others produce hexose-rich nectars, but the exact nectar composition depends on the pollinator type, flowering time, corolla length and other environmental factors (Tiedge and Lohaus, 2018). 

For a full list of publications please visit Google Scholar.