Harnessing the soil microbiome for improved stress tolerance in crop plants

Plants are involved in intimate interactions with microbes during their entire life and these interactions are essential for plant growth and health. Within this project we aim to harness the power of the soil microbiome to protect plants against biotic and abiotic stresses, with main focus on deciphering the ecological role of diffusible and volatile microbial metabolites.  The project  integrates state-of-the-art metagenomics and metabolomics to reveal biosynthetic gene clusters and compounds important to combat plant diseases and abiotic stress.