Professor, Environmental Genomics, Max Planck Institute of Evolutionary Biology
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I am interested in population genetics and evolution of fungi that are associated with plants. My early research in Copenhagen focused on population genetics of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi. Since my PhD in Zurich, I have worked with plant pathogenic fungi. Recently, my group has embarked on a new project aiming to characterize plant-associated microbiota, including bacteria, fungi and oomyctes that colonize the pyllosphere of wild and cultivated wheat species. Main questions in my research are 1) how do fungi adapt to their environment and how does the environment affect evolutionary processes, 2) which evolutionary forces fuel adaptive evolution and 3) how do new species emerge.