Prof. Dr. Mitja Remus-Emsermann
Professor
Königin-Luise-Str. 12-16
14195 Berlin
Current Position and Education
Since May 2021
- Prof. Microbiology Freie Universität, Berlin, Germany
January 2019-April 2021
- Senior lecturer University of Canterbury, School of Biological Sciences, Christchurch, New Zealand
since 2017
- Associated investigator Biomolecular interaction centre, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand
2016 - 2018
- Lecturer University of Canterbury, School of Biological Sciences, Christchurch, New Zealand
2014 – 2016
- Postdoctoral researcher Agroscope, Department for food microbiology, Project REDYMO, Wädenswil, Switzerland
2011 – 2014
- Postdoctoral researcher Institute of Microbiology, ETH Zurich, Switzerland. Advisor Prof. Julia Vorholt
- Visiting scholar department of Microbial Ecology, University of Vienna, Austria. Laboratory of Prof. Michael Wagner and Prof. Holger Daims (1 week)
2007 – 2012
- Ph.D. in Microbial Ecology Dutch Institute for Ecology, Wageningen, The Netherlands. Defended 27.03.2012 at the Free University, Amsterdam. Advisors: Prof. Johan Leveau and Prof. George Kowalchuk
- Visiting scholar at the department for Plant Pathology University of California Davis, United States. Laboratory of Prof. Johan Leveau (3 months)
- Visiting scholar at the department Ecophysiology of Plants University Bonn, Germany. Laboratory of Prof. Lukas Schreiber (1 month)
2001 – 2007
- Diploma in Biology (Major in botany, microbiology)
Miscellaneous
Professional services
Editorial services
- Since 2020 Editorial advisory board Journal of Basic Microbiology (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/15214028)
- Since 2019 Associate editor for Plant-Environment interaction (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/25756265)
- Since 2019 Review editor for Frontiers in Terrestrial Microbiology
- Since 2019 Review editor for Frontiers in Plant Microbe Interactions
Professional society services
- 2019-2021 Treasurer - New Zealand Society of biochemistry and molecular biology (NZSBMB, https://www.nzsbmb.org)
Peer-Review for
- Applied and Environmental Microbiology
- Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology
- Current Opinion in Plant Biology
- Environmental Microbiology
- F1000research
- FEMS microbiology letters
- Frontiers in Microbiology
- Frontiers in Environmental Sciences
- Journal of Advanced Research
- Journal of Applied Microbiology
- New Zealand Journal of Ecology
- New Phytologist
- Scientific reports
- Standards in Genomic Sciences
- The ISME Journal
- United States - Israel Binational Science Foundation (BSF)
Conferences
Organization and chairing of the session “The role of Microbes in Ecology” GFOE annual meeting 2015, Göttingen, Germany
Organization and of the session "Environmental Microbiology" Joint NZMS-NZSBMB conference 2016, Christchurch, New Zealand
Organization and of the session "Plant-Microbe Interactions" Joint NZMS-NZSBMB conference 2018, Dunedin, New Zealand
Organisation panel Biomolecular Interaction centre Satellite at the queenstown research week
Organisation panel and treasurer joint NZMS-NZSBMB conference 2021, Christchurch, New Zealand
Academic services
Current PhD students:
- Rudolf Schlechter
- Michal Bernach
- Moritz Miebach
Current MSc students:
- Kate Wright
- Christian Stocks
previous students: Maria Gekenidis, Leandra Knecht, Hannes Horn, Muyiwa "Emmanuel" Adewale, Erica Boyd, Renji Jiang, Simisola Oso
Awards and honors
- 2018 University of Canterbury Early and Emerging Career Researcher 2018 Award
- 2015 10th International Symposium on Phyllosphere Microbiology – Travel grant
- 2012 28th New Phytologist Symposium, Rhodes, Greece – Best poster Award
- 2012 28th New Phytologist Symposium, Rhodes, Greece – Travel grant
- 2010 NERN Publication Award for Remus-Emsermann MNP and Leveau JHJ (2010) Linking environmental heterogeneity and reproductive success at single-cell resolution. The ISME Journal 4, 215–222
Acquired funding
- 2018 University of Canterbury Early and Emerging Career Research Award (10,000 NZD)
- 2018 Royal Society of New Zealand - Marsden grant (PI Monica Gerth (939,000 NZD)
- 2017 Royal Society of New Zealand - Marsden Fast Start grant (300,000 NZD)
- 2017 BIC PhD scholarship 2017 (~90,000 NZD)
- 2017 Brian mason trust grant (15,000 NZD)
- 2017 BIC seed funding (10,000 NZD)
- 2017 University of Canterbury, College of Science, PhD scholarship (~90,000 NZD)
- 2014 ETH D-Biol strategic IT project startup funding for the project “PyCIAL” an integrated environment for microscopy image analysis (10,000 CHF; PI Julia Vorholt; Project “Spatial analysis of bacterial colonization patterns”)
- 2011 Competitive internal funding Dutch institute for Ecology (NIOO-KNAW) automatic microscopy stage (12,000 €; PI Johan Leveau; Project “The ecology of bacterial individuality”)
Society memberships
- American society for microbiology (ASM)
- International society for microbial ecology (ISME)
- International Society for molecular plant microbe interactions (IS-MPMI)
- New Zealand Society of biochemistry and molecular biology (NZSBMB)
- New Zealand Microbiological Society (NZMS)
An up to date list of the groups publications can be found here or here
“*” correspondence, “#” shared first authorship, bold = members of lab
- Miebach M, Schlechter RO, Clemens J, Jameson PE, Remus-Emsermann MNP (2020) Litterbox-A gnotobiotic zeolite-clay system to investigate Arabidopsis-microbe interactions. Microorganisms DOI: 10.3390/microorganisms8040464
- Kron AS, Zengerer V, Bieri M, Dreyfuss V, Sostizzo T, Schmid M, Lutz M, Remus-Emsermann MNP, Pelludat C (2020) Pseudomonas orientalis F9 pyoverdine, safracin, and phenazine mutants remain effective antagonists against Erwinia amylovora in apple flowers. Applied and Environmental Microbiology DOI: 10.1128/AEM.02620-19
- van Stan JT, Morris CE, Aung K, Kuzyakov Y, Magyar D, Rebollar EA, Remus-Emsermann MNP, Uroz S, Vandenkoornhuyse (2020) Precipitation Partitioning—Hydrologic Highways Between Microbial Communities of the Plant Microbiome? In “Precipitation Partitioning by Vegetation” Editors van Stan JT, Gutmann E, Friesen J. Springer Nature DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-29702-2_14
- Soffe R, Bernach M, Remus-Emsermann MNP, Nock V (2019) Replicating Arabidopsis Model Leaf Surfaces for Phyllosphere Microbiology. Scientific Reports 9, 14420
- Kremer K, van Teeseling M, Schada von Borzyskowski L, Bernhardsgrütter I, van Spanning RJM, Gates A, Remus-Emsermann M, Thanbichler M, and Erb TJ (2019) Dynamic metabolic rewiring enables efficient acetyl-CoA assimilation in Paracoccus denitrificans. mBio DOI: 10.1128/mBio.00805-19
- Soffe R, Altenhuber N, Bernach M, Remus-Emsermann MNP, Nock V (2019) Comparison of Replica Leaf Surface Materials for Phyllosphere Microbiology. Plos One DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0218102
- Jameson PE, Dhandapani P, Song J, Zatloukal M, Strnad M, Remus-Emsermann MNP, Schlechter RO, Novak O (2019) The cytokinin complex associated with Rhodococcus fascians: which compounds are critical for virulence? Frontiers in Plant Science DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2019.00674
- van Hamelsveld S, Adewale M, Kurenbach B, Godsoe W, Harding J, Remus-Emsermann M, Heinemann J (2019)
Prevalence of antibiotic resistant Escherichia coli isolated from urban and agricultural streams in Canterbury, New Zealand. FEMS Microbiology Letters, fnz104, DOI:10.1093/femsle/fnz104 - Schlechter RO, Miebach M, Remus-Emsermann MNP* (2019) Driving Factors Of Epiphytic Bacterial Communities: A Review. Journal of Advanced Research DOI: 10.1016/j.jare.2019.03.003
- Oso S, Walters M, Schlechter RO, Remus-Emsermann MNP* (2019) Utilisation of hydrocarbons and production of surfactants by bacteria isolated from plant leaf surfaces. FEMS microbiology letters DOI: 10.1093/femsle/fnz061
- Schlechter RO* and Remus-Emsermann MNP* (2019) Delivering "Chromatic Bacteria" Fluorescent Protein Tags to Proteobacteria Using Conjugation. Bio-protocols DOI: 10.21769/BioProtoc.3199
- Bernach M, Soffe R, Remus-Emsermann MNP, Nock V (2019) Hybrid PDMS Patterning for Phyllosphere Microbiology. Japanese Journal of Applied Physics DOI: 10.7567/1347-4065/ab0498
- Jun H, Kurenbach B, Aitken J, Wasa A, Remus-Emsermann MNP, Godsoe W, Heinemann JA (2019) Effects of sub-lethal concentrations of copper ammonium acetate, pyrethrins and atrazine on the response of Escherichia coli to antibiotics. F1000 research DOI: 10.12688/f1000research.17652.1
- Schlechter RO, Jun H#, Bernach M#, Oso S, Boyd E, Munoz-Lintz DA, Dobson RCJ, Remus DM and Remus-Emsermann MNP* (2018) Chromatic bacteria – A broad host-range plasmid and chromosomal insertion toolbox for fluorescent protein expression in bacteria. Frontiers in Microbiology DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2018.03052
- Remus-Emsermann MNP*, Pelludat C, Gisler P, Drissner D (Preprint) Conjugation dynamics of self-transmissible and mobilisable plasmids into E. coli O157:H7 on Arabidopsis thaliana rosettes. BioRxiv DOI: 10.1101/375402
- Schmid M, Frei D, Patrignani A, Schlapbach R, Frey JE, Remus-Emsermann MNP, Ahrens CH (2018) Pushing the limits of de novo genome assembly for complex prokaryotic genomes harboring very long, near identical repeats. Nucleic acid research DOI: 10.1093/nar/gky726 Endorsed at F1000prime
- Remus-Emsermann MNP* and Schlechter RO (2018) Phyllosphere microbiology: at the interface between microbial individuals and the plant host. New Phytologist DOI: 10.1111/nph.15054 Invited Tansley insight review
- Zengerer V, Schmid M, Marco B, Muller DC, Remus-Emsermann MNP, Ahrens CH and Pelludat C (2018) Pseudomonas orientalis F9: A Potent Antagonist against Phytopathogens and Phytotoxic Effect in the Apple Flower. Frontiers in Microbiology DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2018.00145
- Gekenidis, MT, Gossin, D, Schmelcher, M, Schöner, U, Remus-Emsermann, M*, Drissner, D*. (2017) Dynamics of culturable mesophilic bacterial communities of three fresh herbs and their production environment. Journal of Applied Microbiology DOI: 10.1111/jam.13532 Editors choice
- Remus-Emsermann MRE#, Schmid M#, Gekenidis MT, Pelludat C, Frey J, Ahrens CH, Drissner D. (2016) Complete genome sequence of Pseudomonas citronellolis P3B5, a candidate for microbial phyllo-remediation of hydrocarbon-contaminated sites. Standards in Genomic Sciences DOI: 10.1186/s40793-016-0190-6
- Remus-Emsermann MRE*, Gisler P and Drissner D. A set of miniTn7-transposon delivery vectors for inducible and constitutive fluorescent tagging of Escherichia coli and other Enterobacteriaceae. FEMS microbiology reports DOI: 10.1093/femsle/fnw178
- Born Y#, Remus-Emsermann MNP#, Kamber T, Pelludat C. (2016) The Fe2+ chelator Proferrorosamine A: a gene cluster of Erwinia rhapontici P45 involved in its synthesis and its impact on growth of Erwinia amylovora CFBP1430. Microbiology DOI: 10.1099/mic.0.000231
- Bai Y, Müller DB, Srinivas G, Garrido-Oter R, Potthoff E, Rott M, Dombrowski N, Münch P, Spaepen S, Remus-Emsermann MNP, Huettel B, McHardy A, Vorholt J, Schulze-Lefert P (2015) Functional overlap and specialization of the Arabidopsis leaf and root microbiotas. Nature 528:364-369
- Ledermann R, Bartsch I, Remus-Emsermann MNP, Vorholt JA, Fischer HM (2015) Stable fluorescent and enzymatic tagging of Bradyrhizobium diazoefficiens to analyse host-plant infection and colonization. Molecular Plant Microbe Interactions DOI: 10.1094/MPMI-03-15-0054-TA
- Freimoser FM, Pelludat C, Remus-Emsermann MNP* (2015) Tritagonists: A novel framework for the study of microbial interactions. The ISME Journal DOI: 10.1038/ismej.2015.92 highlighted on microbe.net
- Schada von Borzyskowski L#, Remus-Emsermann MNP#, Weishaupt R, Vorholt JA, Erb TJ. A set of versatile brick-vectors and promoters for the assembly, expression and integration of synthetic operons in Methylobacterium extorquens AM1 and other Alphaproteobacteria. ACS Synthetic Biology DOI: 10.1021/sb500221v
- Remus-Emsermann MNP*, Lücker S, Müller DB, Potthoff E, Daims H, Vorholt JA (2014) Spatial distribution analyses of natural phyllosphere- colonizing bacteria on Arabidopsis thaliana revealed by fluorescence in situ hybridization. Environmental Microbiology 16(7): 2329-2340
- Remus-Emsermann MNP*, Kowalchuk GA, Leveau JHJ (2013). Single‐cell versus population‐level reproductive success of bacterial immigrants to pre‐colonized leaf surfaces. Environmental Microbiology Reports 5(3): 387-392
- Diard M, Garcia V, Maier L, Remus-Emsermann MNP, Regoes RR, Ackermann M, Hardt WD (2013). Stabilization of cooperative virulence by the expression of an avirulent phenotype. Nature 494(7437): 353-356 Endorsed at F1000prime
- Remus-Emsermann MNP, Kim EB, Marco ML, Tecon R, Leveau JHJ (2013). Draft genome sequence of the phyllosphere model bacterium Pantoea agglomerans 299R. Genome Announcements doi: 10.1128/genomeA.00036-13
- Garbeva P, Tyc O, Remus-Emsermann M, van der Wal A, Vos M, Silby M and de Boer W (2012) No apparent costs for facultative antibiotic production by the soil bacterium Pseudomonas fluorescens Pf0-1. PLoS One (11): e27266. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0027266
- Remus-Emsermann MNP, Tecon R, Kowalchuk GA and Leveau JHJ (2012) Variation in local carrying capacity and the individual fate of bacterial colonizers in the phyllosphere. The ISME Journal 6: 756-765
- Remus-Emsermann MNP, Oliveira S, Schreiber L and Leveau JHJ (2011) Quantification of lateral heterogeneity in carbohydrate permeability of isolated plant leaf cuticles measured by gas chromatography and single cell bioreporters. Frontiers in Microbiology 2: 197
- Remus-Emsermann MNP and Leveau JHJ (2010) Linking environmental heterogeneity and reproductive success at single-cell resolution. The ISME Journal 4: 215–222
- Franke R, Höfer R, Briesen I, Emsermann M, Efremova N, Yephremov A and Schreiber L (2009) The DAISY gene from Arabidopsis encodes a fatty acid elongase condensing enzyme involved in the biosynthesis of aliphatic suberin in roots and the chalaza micropyle region of seeds. The Plant Journal 57: 80-95
- Remus-Emsermann MNP and Vorholt JA. Complexities of Microbial Life on Leaf Surfaces. Microbe 9 (11), 448-452