Research activites

One of the most fascinating aspects of molecular genetics is homologous genetic recombination. In bacteria, this process serves DNA repair in the course of DNA replication and enables horizontal gene transfer between different individuals, species, and even kingdoms. The molecular analysis of the process gives rise to many questions. E.g, how does a DNA molecule find its homologous target site within the millions of base pairs of the bacterial genome? What are the molecular mechanisms that catalyze the recombination process? What happens if sequence similarity between the recombining DNA molecules is low or limited to a short stretch? What is the role of horizontal gene transfer in the evolution of prokaryotes?

Our group studies the processes of genetic recombination during natural transformation:

• We investigate its molecular mechanisms by genetic studies.
• We have uncovered the process of homology-facilitated illegitimate recombination between molecules with a single short homology and study its details.
• We use natural transformation to study the availability of recombinant DNA from transgenic plants for horizontal gene transfer.
• We develope technical applications of naturally competent bacteria for specific DNA detection.