Gregor Mendel Institute
Encyclopedia
The Gregor Mendel Institute of Molecular Plant Biology (GMI) was founded by the Austrian Academy of Sciences
in 2000 to promote research excellence in the area of plant molecular biology. It is the only international center for basic plant research in Austria
. Research at the GMI is curiosity driven and covers many aspects of molecular genetics
, including basic mechanisms of epigenetics
, population genetics
, chromosome
biology, developmental biology
, and stress signal transduction
. Arabidopsis thaliana
is the primary model organism used although other organisms are also studied. The GMI is located at the Vienna
Biocenter Campus within the purpose-built Austrian Academy of Sciences Life Sciences Center Vienna. The institute is named after Gregor Mendel
, the ‘father of genetics
’, who studied at the University of Vienna
in the middle of the 19th century.
It was during a trip to the National Academy of Sciences in Argentina, in September 2000, that Dr Dieter Schweizer received a telephone call from Peter Schuster, at the time vice president of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW), asking him whether he would accept an appointment as founding director of a new international research institution tentatively called IZEB – Institut für Zell- und Entwicklungsbiologie (Institute for Cell and Developmental Biology) to be established at the Campus Vienna Biocenter. On advice from colleagues it was decided to focus the new institute on basic research in molecular plant biology as this would complement the research activities of the neighboring institutes at the campus, the Research Institute of Molecular Pathology (IMP) and the newly established biomedical Institute of Molecular Biotechnology (IMBA) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. Establishing an institute in the area of molecular plant biology within an environment where public opinion was set against plant research due to the negative influence of the ongoing GM-food debate was not going to be an easy task. However, following the recommendation of an ad hoc International Scientific Advisory Committee, set up in January 2001 by the Austrian Academy of Sciences, it was official: The new institute was to be a plant research centre, the first of its kind in Austria.
Soon after his appointment as foundation director of the GMI in November 2000, Schweizer met Boris Podrecca
, the illustrious architect, who that year had won an international planning competition announced by the Austrian Academy of Sciences for the new IMBA research building (a director for IMBA was still being sought). The City of Vienna generously provided additional building ground for GMI that allowed an extension of the Podrecca concept to house both GMI and IMBA. After an intense planning period, and with the help of the architect Helmut Schuch from the Austrian Academy of Sciences, it was decided that the GMI with its glasshouses and plant growth facilities should be located above IMBA rather than as a separate unit adjacent to it. The resulting joint ‘IMBA-GMI’ building would allow a horizontal rather than a vertical organization of the institutes and would lower the construction and running costs. Just before Christmas 2000, at Vienna’s City Hall, it was decided that Boris Podrecca would plan an ensemble of a huge laboratory complex along Dr. Bohr-Gasse in Vienna’s third district, consisting of IMBA and GMI on a 2800 m2 site, and the Vienna Biocenter 2 laboratory building on an adjacent 1200 m2 site.
In 2003, the GMI employed its first researchers – the first appointment was of a brilliant young Czech cell biologist, Karel Riha. In 2004, the GMI welcomed two new research groups: Marjori and Antonius Matzke (Academy Institute of Molecular Biology, Salzburg, Austria), who moved into a temporary laboratory at the Pharmacy Center of the University of Vienna; and Ortrun Mittelsten Scheid (Friedrich Miescher Institute, Basel, Switzerland), whose group was kindly hosted by the Center of Applied Genetics of the University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences (BOKU Wien). In 2005 and 2006 four additional research groups established.
The end of 2005 was marked by the completion of the Austrian Academy of Sciences Life Sciences Center Vienna, and by the move of six GMI research groups from five different locations in Vienna to their new premises.
Dieter Schwiezer retired as Director of the GMI in 2007. Dr Ortrun Mittelsten Scheid was subsequently appointed Interim Director while an international search for a new Director took place. In January 2009, Dr Magnus Nordborg, an internationally-renowned population and quantitative geneticist was appointed the new Director. At that time Nordborg was an Associate Professor at the University of Southern Californina in Los Angeles.
In January 2011 an additional research group was established.
. A combination of empirical and theoretical approaches from population genetics and related areas, such as statistical genetics and molecular evolution, are used. Empirical research focuses on Arabidopsis thaliana but we work on a wide range of organisms, including primates.
Ortrun Mittelsten Scheid - Epigenetic changes in plants - Epigenetic
changes contribute significantly to diversity in gene expression and, thereby, to adaptation potential. Using the model plant Arabidopsis, the group investigates chromatin
, gene expression, inheritance and natural variation in response to stress treatments and upon genome duplication in polyploids.
Antonius & Marjori Matzke - Epigenetic regulation of gene expression and interphase chromosome organization - The general topic of the research program is epigenetic regulation of gene expression in plants. Current research focuses on RNAi
-mediated chromatin modifications, in particular RNA-directed DNA methylation (RdDM), and on various aspects of interphase chromosome organization and dynamics in living plants.
imaging of whole roots with genome-wide association study
(GWAS).
Thomas Greb - Development of vascular tissue in plants - Secondary growth
in plants is essential for the formation of extended shoot and root systems, and, thus, for the creation of biomass on earth. The lab uses this process as an example to study cell fate regulation in multicellular organisms.
Claudia Jonak - Stress signal transduction and cellular responses - How do plants cope with the constantly changing environment? The group aims to understand the basic mechanisms underlying adaptation processes that are necessary for withstanding unfavorable growth conditions. The laboratory takes an integrative, systems-oriented approach to link stress signal transduction
with physiological reactions.
Karel Riha - Telomeres and genome stability - Chromosome integrity and the proper partitioning of the genome to daughter cells are essential prerequisites for the stable inheritance of genetic information over multiple cell divisions. The group's two main research interests are the molecular mechanisms that govern the stability of chromosome ends
and the regulation of chromosome behavior during meiosis
.
Hisashi Tamaru - Control of chromatin fates in pollen - Constitutive heterochromatin
is involved in multiple chromosomal processes including silencing of repetitive DNA and chromosome segregation. The group has found global centromeric heterochromatin decondensation in Arabidopsis pollen, which evokes a new aspect of constitutive heterochromatin. They aim to isolate genes involved in this process.
Austrian Academy of Sciences
The Austrian Academy of Sciences is a legal entity under the special protection of the Federal Republic of Austria. According to the statutes of the Academy its mission is to promote the sciences and humanities in every respect and in every field, particularly in fundamental research...
in 2000 to promote research excellence in the area of plant molecular biology. It is the only international center for basic plant research in Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
. Research at the GMI is curiosity driven and covers many aspects of molecular genetics
Molecular genetics
Molecular genetics is the field of biology and genetics that studies the structure and function of genes at a molecular level. The field studies how the genes are transferred from generation to generation. Molecular genetics employs the methods of genetics and molecular biology...
, including basic mechanisms of epigenetics
Epigenetics
In biology, and specifically genetics, epigenetics is the study of heritable changes in gene expression or cellular phenotype caused by mechanisms other than changes in the underlying DNA sequence – hence the name epi- -genetics...
, population genetics
Population genetics
Population genetics is the study of allele frequency distribution and change under the influence of the four main evolutionary processes: natural selection, genetic drift, mutation and gene flow. It also takes into account the factors of recombination, population subdivision and population...
, chromosome
Chromosome
A chromosome is an organized structure of DNA and protein found in cells. It is a single piece of coiled DNA containing many genes, regulatory elements and other nucleotide sequences. Chromosomes also contain DNA-bound proteins, which serve to package the DNA and control its functions.Chromosomes...
biology, developmental biology
Developmental biology
Developmental biology is the study of the process by which organisms grow and develop. Modern developmental biology studies the genetic control of cell growth, differentiation and "morphogenesis", which is the process that gives rise to tissues, organs and anatomy.- Related fields of study...
, and stress signal transduction
Signal transduction
Signal transduction occurs when an extracellular signaling molecule activates a cell surface receptor. In turn, this receptor alters intracellular molecules creating a response...
. Arabidopsis thaliana
Arabidopsis thaliana
Arabidopsis thaliana is a small flowering plant native to Europe, Asia, and northwestern Africa. A spring annual with a relatively short life cycle, arabidopsis is popular as a model organism in plant biology and genetics...
is the primary model organism used although other organisms are also studied. The GMI is located at the Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
Biocenter Campus within the purpose-built Austrian Academy of Sciences Life Sciences Center Vienna. The institute is named after Gregor Mendel
Gregor Mendel
Gregor Johann Mendel was an Austrian scientist and Augustinian friar who gained posthumous fame as the founder of the new science of genetics. Mendel demonstrated that the inheritance of certain traits in pea plants follows particular patterns, now referred to as the laws of Mendelian inheritance...
, the ‘father of genetics
Genetics
Genetics , a discipline of biology, is the science of genes, heredity, and variation in living organisms....
’, who studied at the University of Vienna
University of Vienna
The University of Vienna is a public university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world...
in the middle of the 19th century.
History
The making of an instituteIt was during a trip to the National Academy of Sciences in Argentina, in September 2000, that Dr Dieter Schweizer received a telephone call from Peter Schuster, at the time vice president of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW), asking him whether he would accept an appointment as founding director of a new international research institution tentatively called IZEB – Institut für Zell- und Entwicklungsbiologie (Institute for Cell and Developmental Biology) to be established at the Campus Vienna Biocenter. On advice from colleagues it was decided to focus the new institute on basic research in molecular plant biology as this would complement the research activities of the neighboring institutes at the campus, the Research Institute of Molecular Pathology (IMP) and the newly established biomedical Institute of Molecular Biotechnology (IMBA) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. Establishing an institute in the area of molecular plant biology within an environment where public opinion was set against plant research due to the negative influence of the ongoing GM-food debate was not going to be an easy task. However, following the recommendation of an ad hoc International Scientific Advisory Committee, set up in January 2001 by the Austrian Academy of Sciences, it was official: The new institute was to be a plant research centre, the first of its kind in Austria.
Soon after his appointment as foundation director of the GMI in November 2000, Schweizer met Boris Podrecca
Boris Podrecca
Boris Podrecca is a Slovene-Italian architect and urban designer living in Vienna, Austria. Podrecca is considered by some critics a pioneer of postmodernism...
, the illustrious architect, who that year had won an international planning competition announced by the Austrian Academy of Sciences for the new IMBA research building (a director for IMBA was still being sought). The City of Vienna generously provided additional building ground for GMI that allowed an extension of the Podrecca concept to house both GMI and IMBA. After an intense planning period, and with the help of the architect Helmut Schuch from the Austrian Academy of Sciences, it was decided that the GMI with its glasshouses and plant growth facilities should be located above IMBA rather than as a separate unit adjacent to it. The resulting joint ‘IMBA-GMI’ building would allow a horizontal rather than a vertical organization of the institutes and would lower the construction and running costs. Just before Christmas 2000, at Vienna’s City Hall, it was decided that Boris Podrecca would plan an ensemble of a huge laboratory complex along Dr. Bohr-Gasse in Vienna’s third district, consisting of IMBA and GMI on a 2800 m2 site, and the Vienna Biocenter 2 laboratory building on an adjacent 1200 m2 site.
In 2003, the GMI employed its first researchers – the first appointment was of a brilliant young Czech cell biologist, Karel Riha. In 2004, the GMI welcomed two new research groups: Marjori and Antonius Matzke (Academy Institute of Molecular Biology, Salzburg, Austria), who moved into a temporary laboratory at the Pharmacy Center of the University of Vienna; and Ortrun Mittelsten Scheid (Friedrich Miescher Institute, Basel, Switzerland), whose group was kindly hosted by the Center of Applied Genetics of the University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences (BOKU Wien). In 2005 and 2006 four additional research groups established.
The end of 2005 was marked by the completion of the Austrian Academy of Sciences Life Sciences Center Vienna, and by the move of six GMI research groups from five different locations in Vienna to their new premises.
Dieter Schwiezer retired as Director of the GMI in 2007. Dr Ortrun Mittelsten Scheid was subsequently appointed Interim Director while an international search for a new Director took place. In January 2009, Dr Magnus Nordborg, an internationally-renowned population and quantitative geneticist was appointed the new Director. At that time Nordborg was an Associate Professor at the University of Southern Californina in Los Angeles.
In January 2011 an additional research group was established.
Senior Research Groups
Magnus Nordborg - Population genetics - The central theme of the group is the genetic basis of adaptationAdaptation
An adaptation in biology is a trait with a current functional role in the life history of an organism that is maintained and evolved by means of natural selection. An adaptation refers to both the current state of being adapted and to the dynamic evolutionary process that leads to the adaptation....
. A combination of empirical and theoretical approaches from population genetics and related areas, such as statistical genetics and molecular evolution, are used. Empirical research focuses on Arabidopsis thaliana but we work on a wide range of organisms, including primates.
Ortrun Mittelsten Scheid - Epigenetic changes in plants - Epigenetic
Epigenetics
In biology, and specifically genetics, epigenetics is the study of heritable changes in gene expression or cellular phenotype caused by mechanisms other than changes in the underlying DNA sequence – hence the name epi- -genetics...
changes contribute significantly to diversity in gene expression and, thereby, to adaptation potential. Using the model plant Arabidopsis, the group investigates chromatin
Chromatin
Chromatin is the combination of DNA and proteins that make up the contents of the nucleus of a cell. The primary functions of chromatin are; to package DNA into a smaller volume to fit in the cell, to strengthen the DNA to allow mitosis and meiosis and prevent DNA damage, and to control gene...
, gene expression, inheritance and natural variation in response to stress treatments and upon genome duplication in polyploids.
Antonius & Marjori Matzke - Epigenetic regulation of gene expression and interphase chromosome organization - The general topic of the research program is epigenetic regulation of gene expression in plants. Current research focuses on RNAi
RNAI
RNAI is a non-coding RNA that is an antisense repressor of the replication of some E. coli plasmids, including ColE1. Plasmid replication is usually initiated by RNAII, which acts as a primer by binding to its template DNA. The complementary RNAI binds RNAII prohibiting it from its initiation role...
-mediated chromatin modifications, in particular RNA-directed DNA methylation (RdDM), and on various aspects of interphase chromosome organization and dynamics in living plants.
Junior Research Groups
Wolfgang Busch - Regulation of root development in Arabidopsis - The major research focus is to identify regulatory networks that underlie developmental processes of a complex organ, the Arabidopsis root, using a novel approach of combining high throughput confocal microscopeConfocal microscopy
Confocal microscopy is an optical imaging technique used to increase optical resolution and contrast of a micrograph by using point illumination and a spatial pinhole to eliminate out-of-focus light in specimens that are thicker than the focal plane. It enables the reconstruction of...
imaging of whole roots with genome-wide association study
Genome-wide association study
In genetic epidemiology, a genome-wide association study , also known as whole genome association study , is an examination of many common genetic variants in different individuals to see if any variant is associated with a trait...
(GWAS).
Thomas Greb - Development of vascular tissue in plants - Secondary growth
Secondary growth
In many vascular plants, secondary growth is the result of the activity of the two lateral meristems, the cork cambium and vascular cambium. Arising from lateral meristems, secondary growth increases the girth of the plant root or stem, rather than its length. As long as the lateral meristems...
in plants is essential for the formation of extended shoot and root systems, and, thus, for the creation of biomass on earth. The lab uses this process as an example to study cell fate regulation in multicellular organisms.
Claudia Jonak - Stress signal transduction and cellular responses - How do plants cope with the constantly changing environment? The group aims to understand the basic mechanisms underlying adaptation processes that are necessary for withstanding unfavorable growth conditions. The laboratory takes an integrative, systems-oriented approach to link stress signal transduction
Signal transduction
Signal transduction occurs when an extracellular signaling molecule activates a cell surface receptor. In turn, this receptor alters intracellular molecules creating a response...
with physiological reactions.
Karel Riha - Telomeres and genome stability - Chromosome integrity and the proper partitioning of the genome to daughter cells are essential prerequisites for the stable inheritance of genetic information over multiple cell divisions. The group's two main research interests are the molecular mechanisms that govern the stability of chromosome ends
Telomere
A telomere is a region of repetitive DNA sequences at the end of a chromosome, which protects the end of the chromosome from deterioration or from fusion with neighboring chromosomes. Its name is derived from the Greek nouns telos "end" and merοs "part"...
and the regulation of chromosome behavior during meiosis
Meiosis
Meiosis is a special type of cell division necessary for sexual reproduction. The cells produced by meiosis are gametes or spores. The animals' gametes are called sperm and egg cells....
.
Hisashi Tamaru - Control of chromatin fates in pollen - Constitutive heterochromatin
Constitutive heterochromatin
Constitutive heterochromatin domains are sections of DNA that occur throughout the chromosomes of eukaryotes, but particularly at the centromeres and telomeres. They often consist of very highly condensed, repetitive DNA and are largely transcriptionally silent...
is involved in multiple chromosomal processes including silencing of repetitive DNA and chromosome segregation. The group has found global centromeric heterochromatin decondensation in Arabidopsis pollen, which evokes a new aspect of constitutive heterochromatin. They aim to isolate genes involved in this process.