Member of the Graduate School for C1-Chemistry in Resource and Energy Management                    (C1-REM)

Research topics:

Life in deep-sea hydrothermal environments is based on local primary production. The inorganic energy sources (e.g. H₂ or H₂S), required by the indigenous primary producers to gain energy for autotrophic CO₂ fixation, are supplied by the hydrothermal fluids. The microbially mediated oxidation of these inorganic energy sources is coupled to the reduction of electron acceptors, provided by admixed oxygenated seawater or by the vent fluids.

One of the key goals of deep-sea hydrothermal vent research is to better understand how fluid chemical variations affect microbial diversity, activity, and metabolic strategies. In our research group we investigate energy yielding and CO₂ fixing metabolisms of chemolithoautotrophic microorganisms inhabiting these deep-sea vent habitats. We are specifically interested in [NiFe]-hydrogenases and other enzymes involved in energy yielding processes of vent colonizing Epsilonproteobacteria. For our studies we use both, culture-dependent and culture-independent approaches. The construction of metagenome libraries from deep-sea vent enrichments allows us a sequenced-based and function-based screening. Hereby we can detect genes encoding enzymes of these energy yielding processes and seek novel enzymes useful in biotechnology.

Publications

Perner, M., Ilmberger, N., Köhler, H. U., Chow, J. & W. R. Streit (accepted). Emerging Fields in Functional Metagenomics and its Industrial Relevance - Overcoming Limitations and Redirecting the Search for Novel Biocatalysts - In: de Bruijn, F.J. (ed.) Handbook of Molecular Microbial Ecology II: Metagenomics in Different Habitats (Springer)

Perner M., Petersen JM, Zielinski F, Gennerich H-H & Seifert R (accepted) Geochemical constraints on the diversity and activity of H₂-oxidizing bacteria and archaea in diffuse hydrothermal fluids from a basalt- and an ultramafic-hosted vent. FEMS Microbiology Ecology: doi: 10.1111/j.1574-6941.2010.00940.x

Perner, M., Bach, W., Hentscher, M., Koschinsky, A., Garbe-Schönberg, D.,
Streit, W. R. & Strauss, H. (2009) Short-term temporal microbial and physico-chemical variability in low-temperature hydrothermal fluids near 5°S on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Environmental Microbiology 11(10) 2526-2541.

Perner, M., Kuever, J., Seifert, R. Pape, T., Koschinsky, A., Schmidt, K., Strauss, H. & J. F. Imhoff (2007) The influence of ultramafic rocks on microbial communities at the Logatchev hydrothermal field, located 15°N on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. FEMS Microbiology Ecology 61 (1), 97-109
Perner, M., Seifert, R., Weber, S., Koschinsky, A., Schmidt, K., Strauss, H., Peters, M., Haase, K. & J. F. Imhoff (2007). Microbial CO₂ fixation and sulfur cycling associated with low-temperature emissions at the Lilliput hydrothermal field, southern Mid-Atlantic Ridge (9°S). Environmental Microbiology, 9 (5), 1186-1201

Haase, K.M., Petersen, S., Koschinsky, A., Seifert, R., Devey, C.W., Dubilier, N., Fretzdorff, S., Garbe-Schönberg, D., German, C.R., Giere, O., Keir, R., Kuever, J., Lackschewitz, K.S., Mawick, J., Marbler, H., Melchert, B., Mertens, C., Ostertag-Henning, C., Paulick, H., Perner, M., Peters, M., Sander, S., Schmale, O., Shank, T.M., Stecher, J., Stöber, U., Strauss, H., Süling, J., Walter, M., Warmuth, M., Weber, S., Westernströer, U., Yoerger, D., Zielinski, F. (2007) Young volcanism and related hydrothermal activity at 5°S on the slow-spreading southern Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, 8, Q11002, doi:10.1029/2006GC001509.