Plant Evolutionary Cell Biology

Thomas Nägele

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+49 89 2180 74660

Thomas Nägele

E 02.007

CRC TRR 175

Research

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Range boundaries of plant species are shaped by environmental factors like temperature, light, humidity and soil water content. These factors significantly affect plant evolution, development and ecology. To promote our understanding of how plants acclimate to a changing environment, our research focuses on the quantitative analysis of metabolic regulation. We apply a combination of experimental and theoretical methods to develop quantitative models of plant metabolism. Experimental data on photosynthesis, subcellular metabolite concentrations, protein levels and enzyme activities are used to develop mathematical models which enable the prediction of plant growth in a changing environment.

Methods and Approches

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Our laboratory develops experimental protocols to describe metabolic regulation at the level of cellular compartments and organelles. The compartments studied primarily include plastids, cytosol, vacuoles and mitochondria. Fractionation methods, photometric detection and chromatography-coupled mass spectrometry are used for this purpose.

To consolidate the experimental data sets, we develop mathematical and statistical approaches and models that enable a functional interpretation of the experimental findings. For example, we analyse plant-environment interactions using differential equation models that allow dynamic simulation of metabolic pathways. This enables adaptation patterns to changing environments to be identified and tested.

Key Publications

Seydel C, Hess M, Schröder L, Klingl A, Nägele T (2025) Subcellular plant carbohydrate metabolism under elevated temperature. Plant Physiol 198: kiaf117. https://doi.org/10.1093/plphys/kiaf117

Kitashova A, Adler SO, Richter AS, Eberlein S, Dziubek D, Klipp E, Nägele T (2023) Limitation of sucrose biosynthesis shapes carbon partitioning during plant cold acclimation. Plant Cell Environ 46: 464-478.

https://doi.org/10.1111/pce.14483

Fürtauer L, Küstner L, Weckwerth W, Heyer AG, Nägele T (2019) Resolving subcellular plant metabolism. Plant J 100: 438-455.

https://doi.org/10.1111/tpj.14472

Fürtauer L, Weckwerth W, Nägele T (2016) A benchtop fractionation procedure for subcellular analysis of the plant metabolome. Front Plant Sci 7: 1912.

https://doi.org/ 10.3389/fpls.2016.01912

Nägele T, Heyer AG (2013) Approximating subcellular organisation of carbohydrate metabolism during cold acclimation in different natural accessions of Arabidopsis thaliana. New Phytol 198: 777-787.

https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.12201