Research interest Prof. Dr. Claus Schwechheimer

During their development, plants go through a series of developmental stages and are exposed to constantly changing environmental conditions. As sessile organisms, plants must ensure their survival by quickly adapting to these environmental changes.

In order to understand the adaptation processes in plants, we investigate the signaling pathways and transport mechanisms of the plant hormones auxin and gibberellin. In both processes, regulation via the ubiquitin-proteasome system plays an important role, through which eukaryotes degrade proteins or through which they regulate the intracellular transport of proteins.

Particularly relevant in our current research are the processes mediated by auxin transport and its activation by AGC protein kinases, e.g. during tropical growth processes, i.e. towards light or in the direction or opposite direction to gravity, as well as the processes mediated by the gibberellin-regulated GATA transcription factors mediated.