Marcel Bucher started his studies at the Institute of Plant Physiology of the University of Berne (Switzerland) where he performed his diploma thesis on anaerobic proteins of the marsh plant Acorus calamus in the ecophysiology group of Prof. Roland Brändle. The rhizome of this interesting plant survives a period of up to four months in complete anoxia sustained by ethanolic fermentation. In 1988 he continued studying the extreme anoxia tolerance of A. calamus in a PhD student project (1988-1992) using molecular-physiological methods in the laboratory of Prof. Cris Kuhlemeier. His research led to the cloning of the anoxia-inducible pyruvate decarboxylase gene encoding the first enzyme in anaerobic ethanolic fermentation. In his first project as a postdoc (in Berne, 1993) he expressed Zymomonas mobilis pyruvate decarboxylase in tobacco and discovered aerobic ethanolic fermentation in germinating tobacco pollen. In 1994 Marcel Bucher moved to Berlin (Germany) where he worked at the Institute Für Genbiologische Forschung Berlin in the research group of Prof. Lothar Willmitzer. Here he embarked newly on the molecular mechanisms involved in nutrient uptake at the plant root-soil interface. Two years later he returned back to Switzerland where he established his research team at ETH Zurich in the group of Professor Nikolaus Amrhein. Here he initiated, together with his collaborators, his work on phosphate transport in the arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis. A major breakthrough in this research was the identification of two molecular components implicated in mycorrhizal phosphate transport in potato and tomato, i.e. specific phosphate transporter genes and the lipid lysophosphatidylcholine. In 2006 he was appointed as an associate (W2) professor in molecular plant physiology (successor to Professor Herrmann Bothe) at the University of Cologne (UoC) continuing his work on root-fungus interactions (www.bucherlab.uni-koeln.de). In late 2009 he declined an offer from the Free University of Berlin, and instead accepted a full (W3) professorhip at UoC inaugurated in 2016 (successor to Professor Ulf-Ingo Flügge). From 2010-2015 he was involved in establishing and co-steering of the Excellence Cluster on Plant Sciences (CEPLAS). In CEPLAS the Bucher lab has initiated a second research line since 2013 on the structure and functions of the root-associated microbiota and how endophytic fungi affect plant growth and fitness. In 2014 he developed (in collaboration with Dr. Martin Willmann) an ongoing Research and Education project (http://www.ceplas.eu/en/training-careers/school-project-research-and-education/) on knowledge transfer from research to school through inquiry-based teaching and learning.
Rapid population growth and increasing demand for food, feed, and bioenergy in these times of unp... more Rapid population growth and increasing demand for food, feed, and bioenergy in these times of unprecedented climate change require breeding for increased biomass production on the world's croplands. To accelerate breeding programs, knowledge of the relationship between biomass features and underlying gene networks is needed to guide future breeding efforts. To this end, large-scale multiomics datasets were created with genetically diverse maize lines, all grown in long-term organic and conventional cropping systems. Analysis of the datasets, integrated using regression modeling and network analysis revealed key metabolites, elements, gene transcripts, and gene networks, whose contents during vegetative growth substantially influence the build-up of plant biomass in the reproductive phase. We found that S and P content in the source leaf and P content in the root during the vegetative stage contributed the most to predicting plant performance at the reproductive stage. In agreeme...
Plant roots are inhabited by microbial communities called the root microbiota, which supports pla... more Plant roots are inhabited by microbial communities called the root microbiota, which supports plant growth and health. We show in a maize field study that the root microbiota consists of stable and dynamic members. The dynamics of the microbial community appear to be driven by changes in the metabolic state of the roots over the life cycle of maize.
Concept of hydrolysis. Reduced complexity of extracts after hydrolysis; Table S3. Calculated m/z ... more Concept of hydrolysis. Reduced complexity of extracts after hydrolysis; Table S3. Calculated m/z values for detection of glycosylated flavonoids; Table S4. Glycosylated flavonoids in extracted non-hydrolysed samples from A. thaliana seeds; Table S5. Glycosylated flavonoids in extracted non-hydrolysed samples from A. thaliana seedlings; and Table S6. Calculated m/z values for selected substances. (PDF 1704 kb)
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Jan 31, 2017
Most land plants live in association with arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi and rely on this symb... more Most land plants live in association with arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi and rely on this symbiosis to scavenge phosphorus (P) from soil. The ability to establish this partnership has been lost in some plant lineages like the Brassicaceae, which raises the question of what alternative nutrition strategies such plants have to grow in P-impoverished soils. To understand the contribution of plant-microbiota interactions, we studied the root-associated fungal microbiome of Arabis alpina (Brassicaceae) with the hypothesis that some of its components can promote plant P acquisition. Using amplicon sequencing of the fungal internal transcribed spacer 2, we studied the root and rhizosphere fungal communities of A. alpina growing under natural and controlled conditions including low-P soils and identified a set of 15 fungal taxa consistently detected in its roots. This cohort included a Helotiales taxon exhibiting high abundance in roots of wild A. alpina growing in an extremely P-limited...
Gene networks involved in inorganic phosphate (Pi) acquisition and homeostasis in woody perennial... more Gene networks involved in inorganic phosphate (Pi) acquisition and homeostasis in woody perennial species able to form mycorrhizal symbioses are poorly known. Here, we describe the features of the 12 genes coding for Pi transporters of the Pht1 family in poplar (Populus trichocarpa). Individual Pht1 transporters play distinct roles in acquiring and translocating Pi in different tissues of mycorrhizal and nonmycorrhizal poplar during different growth conditions and developmental stages. Pi starvation triggered the up-regulation of most members of the Pht1 family, especially PtPT9 and PtPT11. PtPT9 and PtPT12 showed a striking up-regulation in ectomycorrhizas and endomycorrhizas, whereas PtPT1 and PtPT11 were strongly down-regulated. PtPT10 transcripts were highly abundant in arbuscular mycorrhiza (AM) roots only. PtPT8 and PtPT10 are phylogenetically associated to the AM-inducible Pht1 subfamily I. The analysis of promoter sequences revealed conserved motifs similar to other AM-induc...
Background Maize is a major crop plant, grown for human and animal nutrition, as well as a renewa... more Background Maize is a major crop plant, grown for human and animal nutrition, as well as a renewable resource for bioenergy. When looking at the problems of limited fossil fuels, the growth of the world’s population or the world’s climate change, it is important to find ways to increase the yield and biomass of maize and to study how it reacts to specific abiotic and biotic stress situations. Within the OPTIMAS systems biology project maize plants were grown under a large set of controlled stress conditions, phenotypically characterised and plant material was harvested to analyse the effect of specific environmental conditions or developmental stages. Transcriptomic, metabolomic, ionomic and proteomic parameters were measured from the same plant material allowing the comparison of results across different omics domains. A data warehouse was developed to store experimental data as well as analysis results of the performed experiments. Description The OPTIMAS Data Warehouse (OPTIMAS-D...
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2004
Arbuscular mycorrhizae are ancient symbioses that are thought to have originated >400 million ... more Arbuscular mycorrhizae are ancient symbioses that are thought to have originated >400 million years ago in the roots of plants, pioneering the colonization of terrestrial habitats. In these associations, a key process is the transfer of phosphorus as inorganic phosphate to the host plant across the fungus–plant interface. Mycorrhiza-specific phosphate transporter genes and their regulation are conserved in phylogenetically distant plant species, and they are activated selectively by fungal species from the phylum Glomeromycota . The potato phosphate transporter gene StPT3 is expressed in a temporally defined manner in root cells harboring various mycorrhizal structures, including thick-coiled hyphae. The results highlight the role of different symbiotic structures in phosphorus transfer, and they indicate that cell–cell contact between the symbiotic partners is required to induce phosphate transport.
This Provisional PDF corresponds to the article as it appeared upon acceptance. Fully formatted P... more This Provisional PDF corresponds to the article as it appeared upon acceptance. Fully formatted PDF and full text (HTML) versions will be made available soon. OPTIMAS-DW: A comprehensive transcriptomics, metabolomics, ionomics,
Symbiosis with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) improves plant nutrition in most land plants, a... more Symbiosis with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) improves plant nutrition in most land plants, and its contribution to the colonization of land by plants has been hypothesized. Here, we identify a conserved transcriptomic response to AMF among land plants, including the activation of lipid metabolism. Using gain of function, we show the transfer of lipids from the liverwort Marchantia paleacea to AMF and its direct regulation by the transcription factor WRINKLED (WRI). Arbuscules, the nutrient-exchange structures, were not formed in loss-of-function wri mutants in M. paleacea, leading to aborted mutualism. Our results show the orthology of the symbiotic transfer of lipids across land plants and demonstrate that mutualism with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi was present in the most recent ancestor of land plants 450 million years ago.
Rapid population growth and increasing demand for food, feed, and bioenergy in these times of unp... more Rapid population growth and increasing demand for food, feed, and bioenergy in these times of unprecedented climate change require breeding for increased biomass production on the world's croplands. To accelerate breeding programs, knowledge of the relationship between biomass features and underlying gene networks is needed to guide future breeding efforts. To this end, large-scale multiomics datasets were created with genetically diverse maize lines, all grown in long-term organic and conventional cropping systems. Analysis of the datasets, integrated using regression modeling and network analysis revealed key metabolites, elements, gene transcripts, and gene networks, whose contents during vegetative growth substantially influence the build-up of plant biomass in the reproductive phase. We found that S and P content in the source leaf and P content in the root during the vegetative stage contributed the most to predicting plant performance at the reproductive stage. In agreeme...
Plant roots are inhabited by microbial communities called the root microbiota, which supports pla... more Plant roots are inhabited by microbial communities called the root microbiota, which supports plant growth and health. We show in a maize field study that the root microbiota consists of stable and dynamic members. The dynamics of the microbial community appear to be driven by changes in the metabolic state of the roots over the life cycle of maize.
Concept of hydrolysis. Reduced complexity of extracts after hydrolysis; Table S3. Calculated m/z ... more Concept of hydrolysis. Reduced complexity of extracts after hydrolysis; Table S3. Calculated m/z values for detection of glycosylated flavonoids; Table S4. Glycosylated flavonoids in extracted non-hydrolysed samples from A. thaliana seeds; Table S5. Glycosylated flavonoids in extracted non-hydrolysed samples from A. thaliana seedlings; and Table S6. Calculated m/z values for selected substances. (PDF 1704 kb)
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Jan 31, 2017
Most land plants live in association with arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi and rely on this symb... more Most land plants live in association with arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi and rely on this symbiosis to scavenge phosphorus (P) from soil. The ability to establish this partnership has been lost in some plant lineages like the Brassicaceae, which raises the question of what alternative nutrition strategies such plants have to grow in P-impoverished soils. To understand the contribution of plant-microbiota interactions, we studied the root-associated fungal microbiome of Arabis alpina (Brassicaceae) with the hypothesis that some of its components can promote plant P acquisition. Using amplicon sequencing of the fungal internal transcribed spacer 2, we studied the root and rhizosphere fungal communities of A. alpina growing under natural and controlled conditions including low-P soils and identified a set of 15 fungal taxa consistently detected in its roots. This cohort included a Helotiales taxon exhibiting high abundance in roots of wild A. alpina growing in an extremely P-limited...
Gene networks involved in inorganic phosphate (Pi) acquisition and homeostasis in woody perennial... more Gene networks involved in inorganic phosphate (Pi) acquisition and homeostasis in woody perennial species able to form mycorrhizal symbioses are poorly known. Here, we describe the features of the 12 genes coding for Pi transporters of the Pht1 family in poplar (Populus trichocarpa). Individual Pht1 transporters play distinct roles in acquiring and translocating Pi in different tissues of mycorrhizal and nonmycorrhizal poplar during different growth conditions and developmental stages. Pi starvation triggered the up-regulation of most members of the Pht1 family, especially PtPT9 and PtPT11. PtPT9 and PtPT12 showed a striking up-regulation in ectomycorrhizas and endomycorrhizas, whereas PtPT1 and PtPT11 were strongly down-regulated. PtPT10 transcripts were highly abundant in arbuscular mycorrhiza (AM) roots only. PtPT8 and PtPT10 are phylogenetically associated to the AM-inducible Pht1 subfamily I. The analysis of promoter sequences revealed conserved motifs similar to other AM-induc...
Background Maize is a major crop plant, grown for human and animal nutrition, as well as a renewa... more Background Maize is a major crop plant, grown for human and animal nutrition, as well as a renewable resource for bioenergy. When looking at the problems of limited fossil fuels, the growth of the world’s population or the world’s climate change, it is important to find ways to increase the yield and biomass of maize and to study how it reacts to specific abiotic and biotic stress situations. Within the OPTIMAS systems biology project maize plants were grown under a large set of controlled stress conditions, phenotypically characterised and plant material was harvested to analyse the effect of specific environmental conditions or developmental stages. Transcriptomic, metabolomic, ionomic and proteomic parameters were measured from the same plant material allowing the comparison of results across different omics domains. A data warehouse was developed to store experimental data as well as analysis results of the performed experiments. Description The OPTIMAS Data Warehouse (OPTIMAS-D...
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2004
Arbuscular mycorrhizae are ancient symbioses that are thought to have originated >400 million ... more Arbuscular mycorrhizae are ancient symbioses that are thought to have originated >400 million years ago in the roots of plants, pioneering the colonization of terrestrial habitats. In these associations, a key process is the transfer of phosphorus as inorganic phosphate to the host plant across the fungus–plant interface. Mycorrhiza-specific phosphate transporter genes and their regulation are conserved in phylogenetically distant plant species, and they are activated selectively by fungal species from the phylum Glomeromycota . The potato phosphate transporter gene StPT3 is expressed in a temporally defined manner in root cells harboring various mycorrhizal structures, including thick-coiled hyphae. The results highlight the role of different symbiotic structures in phosphorus transfer, and they indicate that cell–cell contact between the symbiotic partners is required to induce phosphate transport.
This Provisional PDF corresponds to the article as it appeared upon acceptance. Fully formatted P... more This Provisional PDF corresponds to the article as it appeared upon acceptance. Fully formatted PDF and full text (HTML) versions will be made available soon. OPTIMAS-DW: A comprehensive transcriptomics, metabolomics, ionomics,
Symbiosis with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) improves plant nutrition in most land plants, a... more Symbiosis with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) improves plant nutrition in most land plants, and its contribution to the colonization of land by plants has been hypothesized. Here, we identify a conserved transcriptomic response to AMF among land plants, including the activation of lipid metabolism. Using gain of function, we show the transfer of lipids from the liverwort Marchantia paleacea to AMF and its direct regulation by the transcription factor WRINKLED (WRI). Arbuscules, the nutrient-exchange structures, were not formed in loss-of-function wri mutants in M. paleacea, leading to aborted mutualism. Our results show the orthology of the symbiotic transfer of lipids across land plants and demonstrate that mutualism with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi was present in the most recent ancestor of land plants 450 million years ago.
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