Daniel Schwenk

Personal Data:
Country of Origin: Germany
Start of PhD: May 2010
Institution: HKI / FSU

PhD Project:
Natural products from an unidentified homobasidiomycete which control wood- deteriorating microorganisms

Supervisor(s): D. Hoffmeister (FSU), U. Horn (HKI)

Abstract:
An unusual homobasidiomycete (“BY”) isolated from wood has so far defied any attempts to identify the genus, based on both morphological features and on DNA-sequencing of ITS/IGS-regions. This fungus was only found once, any attempts to recollect  BY failed. The fungus exerts a strong negative intermicrobial communication, as wood, colonized by BY, is dramatically less susceptible to growth of blue-stain fungi and other microbes which impact upon the quality of the wood. The major objective of this ILRS project includes isolation and identification of the bioactive principle(s) and insights into their mechanism of action on which this inhibitory intermicrobial communication is based.

We will also explore the potential to apply  these identified bioactive compounds, for example as biocontrol agent or for pharmaceutical purposes. Further, the characterization of the secondary metabolome may help describe the fungus chemotaxonomically and, potentially, establish a new family of homobasidiomycetes.