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First name:Christin
Last name:Bennke
Country:Germany
Thesis Subject:
Distribution and Function of marine Bacteroidetes
Education:
Oct 2010 - present
Doctoral Student
Molecular Ecology Group of Prof. Dr. Rudolf Amann, Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, Bremen (Germany)
Oct 2010 – present
Graduate Student, International Max Planck Research School of Marine Microbiology (MarMic)
Oct 2004 - Aug 2010
Student of Biology (Dpl.), Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-University Greifswald (Germany)
Feb 2008 – Aug 2008
Student of Marine Biology, James Cook University, Townsville, QLD (Australia)
Apr 2007 – Feb 2008
Student of Marine Biology, University of Rostock (Germany)
Sep 2003 – Jun 2004
Student at Manhattanville College, Purchase, New York (USA)
Scientific Interests and Goals:
We investigate the ecology of distinct phylogenetically defined piocoplancton populations (e.g. Flavobacteria, Gammaproteobacteria) in the marine water column. We are interested in the identity and abundance, but also in the role and fate of specific clades and their interactions with the living and non-living environment.
Within the BMBF-funded project “Microbial Interactions in Marine Systems” (MIMAS), the seasonal dynamics of the microbial community at the Long Term Ecological Research site Kabeltonne, Helgoland, was explored over a period of three years. Our focus was the bacterioplankton succession after the spring diatom bloom.
In collaboration with the Microbial Genomics Groups, the Alfred Wegener Institute, and the University of Greifswald automated FISH quantifications were combined with metagenome, metatranscriptome and metaproteome analyses. This yielded unprecedented insights in polysaccharide degradation and transporter profiles which suggested bottom-up regulation of distinct bacterial clades. We are currently investigating whether the succession patterns are deterministic rather than stochastic (Teeling et al., 2012).

Selected Publications:
Bennke CM, Neu TR, Fuchs BM & Amann R (2013): Mapping glycoconjugate-mediated interactions of marine Bacteroidetes with diatoms. Syst. Appl. Microbiol. Accepted

Teeling H, Fuchs BM, Becher D, Klockow C, Gardebrecht A, Bennke CM, Kassabgy M, Huang S, Mann AJ, Waldmann J, Weber M, Klindworth A, Otto A, Lange J, Bernhardt J, Reinsch C, Hecker M, Peplies J, Bockelmann FD, Callies U, Gerdts G, Wichels A, Wiltshire KH, Glöckner FO, Schweder T & Amann R(2012): Substrate-controlled succession of marine bacterioplankton populations induced by a phytoplankton bloom; Science, Vol. 336 no. 6081 pp. 608-611

Gómez-Pereira PR, Schüler M, Fuchs BM, Bennke C, Teeling H, Waldmann J, Richter M, Barbe V, Bataille E, Glöckner FO & Amann R (2012): Genomic content of uncultured Bacteroidetes from contrasting oceanic provinces in the North Atlantic Ocean; Environ Microbiol. 2012, 14:52-66