Bacterial stress tolerance research group

Our research is focused on the response of microbial communities to anthropogenic and natural stressors in different environments. One of the main goals of our research is to determine the key microbial species and metabolic pathways responsible for the degradation of various hydrocarbon compounds of oil in different marine compartments (aerobic and anaerobic water, sediments and shoreline) of the Baltic Sea and Arctic marine environments. Besides, we conduct studies in the field of structural and functional adaptation of soil and plant microbiomes in response to climate and land-use change in subarctic and boreal ecosystems. We also study the structure and abundance of antibiotic resistome  in different biotechnological applications. The phylogenetic diversity and functional potential of water, soil and plant-related microbial communities and the expression of the genes are assessed by amplicon sequencing, shotgun metagenomics and metatranscriptomics.

Image used in header: Pseudomonas putida phage spots for different phages and bacterial strains (author: Rita Hõrak)

1.    Rosendahl S, Tamman H, Brauer A, Remm M, Hõrak R. 2020. Chromosomal toxin-antitoxin systems in Pseudomonas putida are rather selfish than beneficial. Sci Rep 10:9230.
2.    Talavera A, Tamman H, Ainelo A, Konijnenberg A, Hadzi S, Sobott F, Garcia-Pino A, Hõrak R, Loris R. 2019. A dual role in regulation and toxicity for the disordered N-terminus of the toxin GraT. Nat Commun 10:972.
3.    Ainelo A, Porosk R, Kilk K, Rosendahl S, Remme J, Hõrak R. 2019. Pseudomonas putida Responds to the Toxin GraT by Inducing Ribosome Biogenesis Factors and Repressing TCA Cycle Enzymes. Toxins (Basel) 11.
4.    Ainsaar K, Tamman H, Kasvandik S, Tenson T, Hõrak R. 2019. TonBm-PocAB system is required for maintenance of membrane integrity and polar position of flagella in Pseudomonas putida. J Bacteriol 201.
5.    Hõrak R, Tamman H. 2017. Desperate times call for desperate measures: benefits and costs of toxin-antitoxin systems. Curr Genet 63:69-74.

 

"EMBO Laboratory Leadership for Group Leaders" course participants in the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (University of Tartu).

EMBO brought laboratory leadership course to Tartu

Vaade laboris

Research and Development Projects

Viljar Jaks

Viljar Jaks received the national research award