Welcome to Archaea Biology and Ecogenomics

Department of Functional and Evolutionary Ecology

We belong to the Faculty of Life Sciences of the University of Vienna. On 1 January 2022 Archaea Biology, Molecular Systems Biology, Limnology and Bio-Oceanography and Marine Biology merged to the Department of Functional and Evolutionary Ecology.

Archaea arose together with Bacteria as the first organisms on this planet about 3.5 billion years ago. They form a separate domain of life beside bacteria and eukaryotes and inhabit virtually all environments on earth, including the most extreme environments that can sustain life.
Our unit studies the biology of archaea as well as bacterial symbioses with a focus on ecological, physiological and evolutionary aspects to shed light on the diversity and fundamental distinctions between these two prokaryotic groups.

In particular we are interested in:

- the ecological distribution of archaea from terrestrial, aquatic and hot environments

- the phylogeny of archaea

- the metabolism and genomes of ammonia oxidizing thaumarchaeota

- virus-defense (CRISPR-) systems of hyperthermophilic archaea

- archaea Biotechnology

- bacterium-nematode symbioses

We thus attempt to improve the understanding of the role of microorganisms, in particular of archaea, in global biogeochemical cycles and in early evolution.

19.06.2020
 

"Evaluation of Physiological Parameters of Intestinal Sulfate-Reducing Bacteria Isolated from Patients Suffering from IBD and Healthy People"

17.06.2020
 

Wholehearted congratulations to Simon for his recent habilitation!

17.06.2020
 

"Adenosine-50-Phosphosulfate- and Sulfite Reductases Activities of Sulfate-Reducing Bacteria from Various Environments"

21.04.2020
 

"The Potato Yam Phyllosphere Ectosymbiont Paraburkholderia sp. Msb3 Is a Potent Growth Promotor in Tomato"

23.03.2020
 

"Formate Utilization by the Crenarchaeon Desulfurococcus amylolyticus"

11.03.2020
 

change to remote learning and FAQs

Guest Lectures

26.11.2020
 

"How climate change affects extreme weather (and how we know)"

28.07.2020
 

Join in for our second talk in our VBC Climate Lecture Series!

14.01.2020
 

"Evolution of archaeal gene regulatory networks under extreme stress"