Prof. Dr. Annegret Wilde

Cyanobacteria are photosynthetic bacteria that populate extremely diverse environments like soil crusts, open oceans, deserts, hot springs, permafrost and glacial regions, or have adopted a symbiotic lifestyle. They have produced the oxygenic atmosphere on Earth and are the ancestors of chloroplasts. We are investigating regulatory systems and adaptation strategies of cyanobacteria on a molecular level. We intend to focus our work on a model cyanobacterium with a well-annotated genome and simple genetic manipulation systems in order to characterize specific cyanobacterial functions that also might be relevant for future biotechnological applications. Main current projects include investigations on phototaxis using different photoreceptors, circadian clock and the role of regulatory RNA in cyanobacteria. In addition, we are working on several applied projects elucidating the potential of cyanobacteria as producers of amino acids, proteins as well as biofuels.

10 selected publications:

• mRNA targeting eliminates the need for the signal recognition particle during membrane protein insertion in bacteria.
  Sarmah P, Shang W, Origi A, Licheva M, Kraft C, Ulbrich M, Lichtenberg E, Wilde A, Koch HG.
  Cell Rep. 2023 Mar 28;42(3):112140.
• Thermosynechococcus switches the direction of phototaxis by a c-di-GMP-dependent process with high spatial resolution.
  Nakane D, Enomoto G, Bähre H, Hirose Y, Wilde A, Nishizaka T.
  Elife. 2022 May 10;11:e73405
• Transcriptome-wide in vivo mapping of cleavage sites for the compact cyanobacterial ribonuclease E reveals insights into its function and substrate recognition.
  Hoffmann UA, Heyl F, Rogh SN, Wallner T, Backofen R, Hess WR, Steglich C, Wilde A.
  Nucleic Acids Res. 2021 Dec 16;49(22):13075-13091.
• Homologs of Circadian Clock Proteins Impact the Metabolic Switch Between Light and Dark Growth in the Cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803.
  Scheurer NM, Rajarathinam Y, Timm S, Köbler C, Kopka J, Hagemann M, Wilde A.
  Front Plant Sci. 2021 Jun 22;12:675227.
• Minor pilins are involved in motility and natural competence of the cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803.
  Oeser S, Wallner T, Schuergers N, Bučinská L, Sivabalasarma S, Bähre H, Albers SV, Wilde A. (2021)
  Mol Microbiol. 116, 743-765.
• mRNA localization, reaction centre biogenesis and thylakoid membrane targeting in cyanobacteria.
  Mahbub M, Hemm L, Yang Y, Kaur R, Carmen H, Engl C, Huokko T, Riediger M, Watanabe S, Liu LN, Wilde A, Hess WR, Mullineaux CW. (2020)
  Nat Plants. 6:1179-1191.
• The role of the Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 homolog of the circadian clock output regulator RpaA in day-night transitions.
  Köbler C, Schultz SJ, Kopp D, Voigt K, Wilde A. (2018)
  Mol. Microbiol. 110, 847-861.
• The host-encoded RNase E endonuclease as the crRNA maturation enzyme in a CRISPR-Cas subtype III-Bv system.
  Behler J, Sharma K, Reimann V, Wilde A, Urlaub H, Hess WR. (2018)
  Nat. Microbiol. 3, 367-377
• Cyanobacteria use micro-optics to sense light direction.
  Schuergers N, Lenn T, Kampmann R, Meissner MV, Esteves T, Temerinac-Ott M, Korvink JG, Lowe AR, Mullineaux CW, Wilde A. (2016)
  eLife 5, e12620.
• The small regulatory RNA SyR1/PsrR1 controls photosynthetic functions in cyanobacteria.
  Georg J, Dienst D, Schuergers N, Wallner T, Kopp D, Stazic D, Kuchmina K, Klähn S, Lokstein H, Hess WR, Wilde A. (2014)
  Plant Cell 26, 3661-79.