Susann Wicke
Group Leader
Plant Evolutionary Genomics
Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity
Hüfferstraße 1
D-48149 Münster
Tel.: +49 251/83-21644
Secretary: +49 251/83-21027
Office: R103, first floor
Office hours for students: Tue and Thu, 2.00-4.00 PM (prior notice by email requested)
Lab/S1 office hours: Tue, between 10.00 AM and 2.00 PM
Research Areas
Evolution and functional adaptation of parasitic plants
The central topics of my research are the genetic causes and consequences of alternative lifestyles in plants in general and of parasitism in particular. Parasitism represents the most extreme interaction between plants, where the parasite steals water and nutrients from another plant through a multi-functional organ, which allows the parasite to tap directly into the vascular tissue of its host. Abandoning the photoautotrophic lifestyle brings about numerous genetic changes and molecular novelties. My research aims to understand the molecular reconfigurations and functional adaptations associated with parasitism and the heterotrophic lifestyle, and the interaction and coevolution of parasitic plants with their hosts. This research involves an experimental evolutionary experiment with selection lines of myxotrophic green algae to study the responses and gradual adaptations to heterotrophic and zero-light conditions on the genome, transcriptome, and protein level. Besides this, I have a strong interest in the molecular pathways of carnivory in plants, the genetics underlying the nucleotide substitution process, and the development and improvement of barcoding and genotyping markers for the identification of parasite germplasm in environmental samples.
Genetic causes and consequences of lifestyle changes in plants
Comparative parasitic plant/host interactions
We analyze the "molecular interactome" of several parasitic plant/host pairs to identify RNAs and proteins in the parasitic plant that mediate parasitic success, and, at the same time, pinpoint immune and resistance cascades in the host that are activated in response to a parasitic attack. To this end, we employ large-scale RNA sequencing and label-free mass spectrometric analysis.
DNA barcoding - Establishing molecular-diagnostic markers to identify plant germplasm
Land plant evolution (evolution and systematics of early diverging land plants, molecular evolution of early vascular plants, symbiotic relationships of early land plant lineages)
CV
Education
- Dissertation at the University of Vienna, Austria. Dissertation and defense with distinction (summa cum laude).
- Studies of biology at the Technische Universität Dresden, Germany. Majors: Botany, genetics, and microbiology.
Positions
- Professor (W1) for Plant Evolutionary Biology
- Research Group Leader
- Postdoctoral scholar at the University of Muenster
- Pre-doctoral researcher at the University of Vienna, Austria.
- Student research assistent in the Plant Phylogenetics & Phylogenomics Research group at the Technische Universität Dresden, Germany.
Honors
- Preis zur Förderung des wissenschaftlichen Nachwuchses – Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Westfälischen Wilhelms-Universität Münster
External Functions
- Scientific Advisory Board - "Renewed Strategies for Striga control", – International Alliance of African, European, Asian scientists for Striga research coordination and weed control
- Deputy chair: “Rectorate’s Committee for Equal Opportunity Measures”, WWU Münster
- Member of the Commission for research, young scientists, and structure at the WWU Muenster
Appointments
- University of Münster, Evolutionary Biology (W1) – accepted
- University of Graz, Higher Plants () – rejected
- Uppsala University, Speciation Genomics () – rejected
- University of Wales , Evolutionary Biology () – rejected
Projects
- Genetic reconfigurations en route to a holoparasitic lifestyle in plants ( – )
Individual project: DFG Emmy Noether Programme | Project Number: WI 4507/3-1 - Nutritional specialization and host-related diversification in parasitic plants ()
Individual project: German-Israeli Foundation for Scientific Research and Development | Project Number: G-2415-413.13/2016 - DAAD Austauschprogramm: PPP Norwegen 2016 - Funktionelle Anpassung in parasitisch lebenden Pflanzen ( – )
Individual project: German Academic Exchange Service | Project Number: 57245731 - Aufbau einer wissenschaftlichen Kooperation zwischen der Universität Münster und der Universität Kopenhagen zur Entschlüsselung genetischer Netzwerke in parasitischen Pflanzen ( – )
Individual project: DFG - Initiation of International Collaboration | Project Number: WI 4507/2-1| MU 2875/4-1
- Genetic reconfigurations en route to a holoparasitic lifestyle in plants ( – )
Publications
- . . ‘WARPP - web application for the research of parasitic plants.’ Plant Physiology 185: 1374–1380. doi: 10.1093/plphys/kiaa105.
- . . ‘Anthoceros genomes illuminate the origin of land plants and the unique biology of hornworts.’ Nature Plants 6: 259–272. doi: 10.1038/s41477-020-0618-2.
- . . ‘Calcium sensing via EF-hand 4 enables thioredoxin activity in the sensor-responder protein calredoxin in the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii.’ Journal of Biological Chemistry 295, No. 1: 170–180. doi: 10.1074/jbc.RA119.008735.
- . . ‘Comparative plastome analysis of root- and stem-feeding parasites of Santalales untangle the footprints of feeding mode and lifestyle transitions.’ Genome Biology and Evolution 12, No. 1: 3663–3676. doi: 10.1093/gbe/evz271.
- . . ‘The weedy parasite Phelipanche aegyptiaca attacks Brassica rapa var. rapa L. for the first time in Israel.’ Plant Disease 2019: 1. doi: 10.1094/PDIS-02-19-0285-PDN.
- . . ‘Plastome reduction in the only parasitic gymnosperm Parasitaxus is due to losses of photosynthesis but not housekeeping genes and apparently involves the secondary gain of a large inverted repeat.’ Genome Biology and Evolution 11, No. 10: 2789–2796. doi: 10.1093/gbe/evz187.
- . . ‘Morphology, geographic distribution, and host preferences are poor predictors of phylogenetic relatedness in the mistletoe genus Viscum L.’ Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 131: 106–115. doi: 10.1016/j.ympev.2018.10.041.
- . . ‘Dense infraspecific sampling reveals rapid and independent trajectories of plastome degradation in a heterotrophic orchid complex.’ New Phytologist 218, No. 3: 1192–1204. doi: 10.1111/nph.15072.
- . . ‘Plastid genome evolution in the early-diverging legume subfamily Cercidoideae (Fabaceae).’ Frontiers in Plant Science 8: 138. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2018.00138.
- . . ‘Molecular evolution of plastid genomes in parasitic flowering plants.’ In Advances in Botanical Research, edited by , 315–347. 1st Ed. Academic Press. doi: 10.1016/bs.abr.2017.11.014.
- . . ‘Biogeography of the Gondwanan tree fern family Dicksoniaceae—A tale of vicariance, dispersal and extinction.’ Journal of Biogeography 44, No. 11: 2648–2659. doi: 10.1111/jbi.13056.
- . . ‘TraitRateProp: A web server for the detection of trait-dependent evolutionary rate shifts in sequence sites.’ Nucleic Acids Research 45, No. 1: W260–W264. doi: 10.1093/nar/gkx288.
- . . ‘An integrated model of phenotypic trait changes and site-specific sequence evolution.’ Systematic Biology 66, No. 6: 917–933. doi: 10.1093/sysbio/syx032.
- . . ‘Genus-wide screening reveals four distinct types of structural plastid genome organization in Pelargonium (Geraniaceae).’ Genome Biology and Evolution 9, No. 1: 64–76. doi: 10.1093/gbe/evw271.
- . . ‘Mechanistic model of evolutionary rate variation en route to a nonphotosynthetic lifestyle in plants.’ Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 113, No. 32: 9045–9050. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1607576113.
- . . ‘Lineage-specific reductions of plastid genomes in an orchid tribe with partially and fully mycoheterotrophic species.’ Genome Biology and Evolution 8, No. 7: 2164–2175. doi: 10.1093/gbe/evw144.
- . . ‘Massive intracellular gene transfer during plastid genome reduction in nongreen Orobanchaceae.’ New Phytologist 210, No. 2: 680–693. doi: 10.1111/nph.13784.
- . . ‘Establishment of Anthoceros agrestis as a model species for studying the biology of hornworts.’ BMC Plant Biology 15: 98. doi: 10.1186/s12870-015-0481-x.
- . . ‘Next generation organellar genomics: Potentials and pitfalls of high-throughput technologies for molecular evolutionary studies and plant systematics.’ In Next generation sequencing in plant systematics, edited by , Chapter 1. Koenigstein: Koeltz Scientific Books. doi: 10.14630/000002.
- . . ‘Disproportional plastome-wide increase of substitution rates and relaxed purifying selection in genes of carnivorous Lentibulariaceae.’ Molecular Biology and Evolution 31, No. 3: 529–545. doi: 10.1093/molbev/mst261.
- . . ‘Mechanisms of functional and physical genome reduction in photosynthetic and nonphotosynthetic parasitic plants of the broomrape family.’ The Plant Cell 25: 3711–3725. doi: 10.1105/tpc.113.113373.
- . . ‘Genomic evolution in Orobanchaceae.’ In Parasitic Orobanchaceae - Parasitic Mechanisms and Control Strategies , edited by , 267–286. Berlin Heidelberg: Springer VDI Verlag. doi: 10.1007/978-3-642-38146-1_15.
- . . ‘Common but new: Bartramia rosamrosiae, a 'new' widespread species of apple mosses (Bartramiales, Bryophytina) from the Mediterranean and western North America.’ Phytotaxa 73: 37–59.
- . . ‘Restless 5S: The re-arrangement(s) and evolution of the nuclear ribosomal DNA in land plants.’ Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 61, No. 2: 321–332. doi: 10.1016/j.ympev.2011.06.023.
- . . ‘The evolution of the plastid chromosome in land plants: gene content, gene order, gene function.’ Plant Molecular Biology 76, No. 3-5: 273–297. doi: 10.1007/s11103-011-9762-4.
- . . ‘New insights in the evolution of the liverwort family Aneuraceae (Metzgeriales, Marchantiophyta), with emphasis on the genus Lobatiriccardia.’ Taxon 59, No. 5: 1424–1440.
- . . ‘Universal primers for the amplification of the plastid trnK/matK region in land plants.’ Anales del Jardín Botánico de Madrid 66, No. 2: 285–288. doi: 10.3989/ajbm.2231.