Root microbiome
Plant-Microbe Interactions
Plants accommodate on and inside plant roots a specific and species-rich microbiota. These microbes collectively function as a microbiome and, similar to the microbial communities in human or animal guts, they impact nutrition and health of their host. Individual root microbiota members are known to support plant growth e.g., by improving nutrition acquisition or providing pathogen protection. However, we still have a rudimentary understanding how plants interact with their associated microbial communities.
In our research we focus on the functional contribution of the root microbiota to plant growth and disease protection. A particular interest is how plants communicate with the root microbiota and how they influence their activities. Finally, we asses if we can manipulate the root microbiota for smart and sustainable agriculture.
We mainly investigate plant-microbiome interactions using Arabidopsis thaliana and Zea mays as models. We combine field and lab experiments and make use of methods in microbiomics, molecular biology, microbiology, plant genetics and bioinformatics.
Recent Publications
- Lower relative abundance of ectomycorrhizal fungi under a warmer and drier climate is linked to enhanced soil organic matter decomposition (vol 232, pg 1399, 2021)
Querejeta, Jose Ignacio; Schlaeppi, Klaus; Lopez-Garcia, Alvaro; Ondono, Sara; Prieto, Ivan; et al.
New Phytologist, 10.1111/nph.17986 MAY 2022 - Rhizobium Symbiotic Capacity Shapes Root-Associated Microbiomes in Soybean
Liu, Yuanhui; Ma, Bin; Chen, Wenfeng; Schlaeppi, Klaus; Erb, Matthias; et al.
Frontiers In Microbiology 10.3389/fmicb.2021.709012 DEC 2 2021 - Soil composition and plant genotype determine benzoxazinoid-mediated plant-soil feedbacks in cereals
Cadot, Selma; Gfeller, Valentin; Hu, Lingfei; Singh, Nikhil; Sanchez-Vallet, Andrea; Glauser, Gaetan; Croll, Daniel; Erb, Matthias; van der Heijden, Marcel G. A.; Schlaeppi, Klaus
Plant Cell And Environment 10.1111/pce.14184 DEC 2021 - Lower relative abundance of ectomycorrhizal fungi under a warmer and drier climate is linked to enhanced soil organic matter decomposition
Ignacio Querejeta, Jose; Schlaeppi, Klaus; Lopez-Garcia, Alvaro; Ondono, Sara; Prieto, Ivan; van Der Heijden, Marcel G. A.; Mar Alguacil, Maria
New Phytologist 10.1111/nph.17661 NOV 2021 - Contrasting Responses of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungal Families to Simulated Climate Warming and Drying in a Semiarid Shrubland
Alguacil, Maria Del Mar; Schlaeppi, Klaus; Lopez-Garcia, Alvaro; van der Heijden, Marcel G. A.; Querejeta, Jose Ignacio
Microbial Ecology 10.1007/s00248-021-01886-6 OCT 2021 - Specific and conserved patterns of microbiota-structuring by maize benzoxazinoids in the field
Cadot, Selma; Guan, Hang; Bigalke, Moritz; Walser, Jean-Claude; Jander, Georg; Erb, Matthias; van der Heijden, Marcel G. A.; Schlaeppi, Klaus
Microbiome 10.1186/s40168-021-01049-2 MAY 7 2021 - Organic and conservation agriculture promote ecosystem multifunctionality
Wittwer, RA; Bender, SF; Hartman, K; Hydbom, S; Lima, RAA; Loaiza, V; Nemecek, T; Oehl, F; Olsson, PA; Petchey, O; Prechsl, UE; Schlaeppi, K; Scholten, T; Seitz, S; Six, J; van der Heijden, MGA
Science Advances 10.1126/sciadv.abg6995 AUG 2021 - Plant chemistry and food web health
Schlaeppi, Klaus; Gross, Josef J.; Hapfelmeier, Siegfried; Erb, Matthias
New Phytologist 10.1111/nph.17385 Early Access: MAY 2021 - Relative qPCR to quantify colonization of plant roots by arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi
Bodenhausen, Natacha; Deslandes-Herold, Gabriel; Waelchli, Jan; Held, Alain; van der Heijden, Marcel G. A.; et al.
Mycorrhiza, 10.1007/s00572-020-01014-1, MAR 2021
Publications
- miCROPe 2019-emerging research priorities towards microbe-assisted crop production
Hohmann, Pierre; Schlaeppi, Klaus; Sessitsch, Angela
Fems Microbiology Ecology DOI: 10.1093/femsec/fiaa177 OCT 2020 - Evaluation of primer pairs for microbiome profiling from soils to humans within the One Health framework
Wasimuddin; Schlaeppi, Klaus; Ronchi, Francesca; Leib, Stephen L.; Erb, Matthias; et al.
Molecular Ecology Resources DOI: 10.1111/1755-0998.13215 AUG 2020 - Cropping practices manipulate abundance patterns of root and soil microbiome members paving the way to smart farming (vol 6, 14, 2018)
Hartman, Kyle; van der Heijden, Marcel G. A.; Wittwer, Raphael A.; Banerjee, Samiran; Walser, Jean-Claude; et al.
Microbiome DOI: 10.1186/s40168-020-00855-4 Published: MAY 17 2020 - Petunia- and Arabidopsis-Specific Root Microbiota Responses to Phosphate Supplementation
Bodenhausen, Natacha; Somerville, Vincent; Desiro, Alessandro; Walser, Jean-Claude; Borghi, Lorenzo; et al.
Phytobiomes Journal DOI: 10.1094/PBIOMES-12-18-0057-R Published: 2019 - Fungal-bacterial diversity and microbiome complexity predict ecosystem functioning
Wagg, Cameron; Schlaeppi, Klaus; Banerjee, Samiran; Kuramae, Eiko E.; van der Heijden, Marcel G. A.
Nature Communications, DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-12798-y, OCT 24 2019 - Establishment success and crop growth effects of an arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus inoculated into Swiss corn fields
Bender, SF; Schlaeppi, K; Held, A; Van der Heijden, MGA
AGRICULTURE ECOSYSTEMS & ENVIRONMENT, 273 13-24; 10.1016/j.agee.2018.12.003 MAR 1 2019 - Reply to 'Can we predict microbial keystones?'
Banerjee, S; Schlaeppi, K; van der Heijden, MGA
NATURE REVIEWS MICROBIOLOGY, 17 (3):194-194; 10.1038/s41579-018-0133-x MAR 2019 - …

Prof. Dr. Klaus Schläppi
University of Basel
Departement of Environmental Sciences
4056 Basel
Tel: +41 61 207 23 10
Research topics
- Structure and function of root microbiomes
- Microbiota manipulation with synthetic communities in microcosms
- Communication by root exudates
- Microbiome diagnostics for improving applications of biologicals
- Multi-tropic effects of the root microbiome
Interdisciplinary
- Bioinformatics
- Microbiology
- Microbial soil ecology
- Sustainable Agriculture