How phages shape mutualistic interactions between rhizobia and the common bean

Angela Muraya is a PhD student trying to decipher the tripartite interactions between phages, rhizobia, and plants, that is fundmental for good growth and high crop yield. 

To do so, she grew over two hundred plants with various rhizobia strains, took photographs, and extensively analyzed their elemental composition at the Max Planck Institute for BiogeochemistryExternal link in Jena. How lucky was it that Marcel Baecker joined the VEO Group that very week as a PhD student! He was able to jump right in and provide immediate assistance while getting to know the lab and his colleagues. Even with the help of many other VEO Group members, including Bas E. Dutilh, it took an entire week to process all the plants!

Now Angela is busy analyzing hundreds of images in collaboration with Ruman Gerst and Zoltán Cseresnyés of Prof. Figge's Applied Systems Biology GroupExternal link at the Leibniz-Hans-Knöll-Institute JenaExternal link using JIPipeExternal link.

We are excited to explore this research area further to uncover new insights that will help improve our understanding of a tripartite system that feeds the world!