Environmental stress and gene regulation

Our research interests focus on molecular regulatory mechanisms activated upon environmental stress in invertebrates, especially earthworms. Earthworms are of great ecological importance as the main soil fertilizer and have been used as sentinel organisms in a large number of studies. Metallothioneins (MTs) are key players in the molecular stress response, and we are focused on analyzing specific gene activation mechanisms as well as general signaling pathways involved in coordinating these cellular processes. We are also interested in whether and how terrestrial invertebrates are able to adapt to changing environmental conditions, and use different levels of organization from the molecular level to the physiology of the organism to address these scientific questions using molecular, physiological, and -OMICS approaches.

Group members:

• Martina Höckner (Leiter)
• Gerhard Aigner
• Birgit Fiechtner
• Veronika Pedrini-Martha
• Maja Šrut