Simona Radutoiu
Project leader, Associate Professor
Aarhus University
Simona Radutoiu studies interactions established between plants and the large diversity of surrounding microbes. Her team uses genetic and molecular tools to decipher the role of plant components in establishing symbiotic associations with beneficial bacteria and fungi, or pathogenic associations with detrimental microbes. These interactions are studied by performing targeted investigation of the LysM receptors that recognize carbohydrate-based signals produced by microbes and by analysing the microbial communities associated with different plant genotypes.
The research builds on findings from studies of the symbiotic interactions between the model plant Lotus japonicus, and nitrogen-fixing bacteria and mycorrhizae fungi, and uses the latest techniques and methods in genetics and genomic analysis to elucidate the molecular dialogue between host plants and microbes.
Science areas: Signalling, microbiome, symbiosis