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Regine Kahmann

Appointment

Advisor

Fungal Kingdom: Threats & Opportunities

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About

Regine Kahmann is a microbial geneticist who studies plant pathogenic fungi.

Her research uses the biotrophic corn smut fungus Ustilago maydis as a model to uncover basic molecular principles of plant diseases. A present focus of her work concerns secreted protein effectors: how they evolved, how they are delivered into host cells, how they downregulate plant defense responses, and how modulate the host metabolism to benefit the pathogen.

Awards

  • American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 2023
  • National Academy of Sciences, 2021
  • Mendel medal of the National Academy of Sciences, Leopoldina, Germany, 2011
  • Bavarian Maximilian's medal for Science and Art, 1999
  • Medal of Merit (on ribbon) of the Federal Republic of Germany, 1998
  • Dannie-Heineman Prize awarded by the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen, Germany, 1997
  • Leibniz-Prize awarded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Germany, 1993

Relevant Publications

  • Tanaka, S., Schweizer, G., Roessel, N., Fukada, F., Thines, M. & Kahmann, R. (2019). Neofunctionalization of secreted Tin2 effector in the fungal pathogen Ustilago maydis. Nature Microbiol., 4(2), 251-257. doi: 10.1038/s41564-018-0304-6

  • Djamei, A., Schipper, K., Rabe, F., Ghosh, A.,…Kahmann, R. (2011). Metabolic priming by a secreted fungal effector. Nature, 478, 395-398. doi: 10.1038/nature10454

  • Schirawski, J., Mannhaupt, G., Muench, K., Brefort, T.,…Kahmann, R. (2010). Pathogenicity determants in smut fungi revealed by genome comparison. Science, 330, 156-158. doi: 10.1126/science.1195330

  • Kaemper, J., Kahmann, R., Boelker, M., Ma, L.J., et al. (2006). Insights from the genome of the biotrophic fungal plant pathogen Ustilago maydis. Nature, 444(7115), 97-101.

  • Schulz, B., Banuett, F., Dahl, M., Schlesinger, R.,… Kahmann, R. (1990). The b alleles of U. maydis, whose combinations program pathogenic development, code for polypeptides containing a homeodomain-related motif. Cell, 60(2), 295-306.

Institution

Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology

Department

Department of Organismic Interactions

Education

  • PhD, Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics & Free University Berlin
  • Diploma, Georg August University Göttingen

Country

Germany

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