Press releases

Marie-Caroline Müller bei der Übertragung von Glutaminsynthetase-Proteinkristallen in flüssigen Stickstoff vor einem Synchrotron-Experiment © J. Mills/Max-Planck-Institut für Marine Mikrobiologie

Jan 22, 2024

Don’t overeat: How archaea toggle the nitrogen-uptake switch

By tightly regulating nitrogen uptake, microorganisms avoid overeating nitrogen and thus wasting energy. Scientists from the Max Planck Institute f...

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DOI:

10.1038/s42003-023-05726-w

Nov 23, 2023

ERC Consolidator Grant for Tristan Wagner

Tristan Wagner from the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology wins an ERC Consolidator Grant.

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xxx — Der Prozess der Gasumwandlung durch eine enzymatische Reaktion auf Elektrodenbasis. (© O. Lemaire, M. Belhamri, T. Wagner/Max-Planck-Institut für Marine Mikrobiologie)

Sep 28, 2023

Capturing CO2 with electricity: A microbial enzyme inspires electrochemistry

Scientists isolate a microbial enzyme and branch it on an electrode to efficiently and unidirectionally convert carbon dioxide to formate

Humanity continuously emits greenhouse gases and thereby worsens global warming. Increasing research efforts go into developing strategies to conve...

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DOI:

10.1002/anie.202311981

Jun 5, 2023

Mix and Match: How a Methanogen creates its own sulfate reduction machinery

Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology in Bremen, Germany, have uncovered the molecular secrets of a methane-generating mic...

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DOI:

10.1038/s41564-023-01398-8

Illustration of Fsr’s catalytic site where sulfite gets reduced to sulfide. The siroheme (in pink) that binds and converts the sulfite is embedded in a cavity of the protein (gray surface) which is solvent accessible. This way, the sulfite can easily enter the protein and the produced sulfide can leave it. © Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology

Jan 19, 2023

Turning a poison into food

Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology reveal how a methane-generating microbe can grow on toxic sulfite without becoming p...

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DOI:

10.1038/s41589-022-01232-y

Nevena Maslać with batch cultures of Methanothermococcus thermolithotrophicus in the Microbial Metabolism lab, which allow for precise testing of different growth conditions in complete absence of oxygen. © Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology

Nov 21, 2022

Breaking nitrogen while generating methane

Insights into a “hot” microbe that can grow on nitrogen while producing methane

Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology have successfully enhanced cultivation of a microorganism that can fix nitrogen (N₂)...

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DOI:

10.1128/mbio.02443-22

YouTube Link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qVheFQx9_k

Jul 2, 2021

How ethane-consuming microbes pick up their favorite dish

Hot vents in the deep sea are home to microbes that feed on ethane. They were discovered recently from scientists of the Max Planck Institute for M...

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DOI:

10.1126/science.abg1765

Crystal of an enzyme (©Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, T. Wagner) — Enzym-Kristalle. (© Max-Planck-Institut für Marine Mikrobiologie, T. Wagner)

Nov 16, 2020

Cellular powerplant recycles waste gases

Carbon monoxide is a very poisonous gas. Humans die within minutes when they inhale it. However, some microorganisms tolerate carbon monoxide and e...

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DOI:

10.1016/j.bbabio.2020.148330

Pictures of F420H2-oxidase crystals obtained aerobically with a typical size of 0.1 mm. With oxygen the Fe and flavin inside the enzyme give the natural yellow color to the crystals. (© Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology/T. Wagner)

Sep 28, 2020

Water at the end of the tunnel

We humans need oxygen to breath – for a lot of microbes it is a lethal poison. That is why microorganisms have developed ways to render oxygen mole...

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DOI:

10.1039/d0cc04557h