The research team "Regulatory biology and ecology of nitrogen transforming bacteria" is lead by Åsa Frostegård, and is part of the research group Environmental Microbiology.
The main focus of our research is the regulatory biology and ecology of denitrifying prokaryotes, which are the most important source of N2O emission from biosphere to atmosphere. Another area of interest is the biodiversity and phylogeny of nitrogen-fixing, symbiotic bacteria. We are part of the ”N-group” at UMB and have close collaboration with Prof. Lars Bakken´s group at Dep. of Plant and Environmental Sciences at UMB. We also collaborate with several research groups in Europe, USA and China.
Ongoing projects:
• Regulation of transcription and post-translational regulation of genes/enzymes involved in denitrification. Model organisms: Paracoccus, Agrobacterium and Thauera strains.
• Ecology of denitrifying bacteria; species composition and functionality of denitrifying communities in soils and water purification systems.
• Biodiversity and phylogeny of rhizobia, and the development of inoculants for sustainable agriculture.
The team includes the following persons (2008):
- Åsa Frostegård, Professor Ph. D.
- Grethe Kobro, lab engineer
- Binbin Liu, Post Doc.
- Endalkachew Wolde-Meskel, Post Doc.
- Linda Bergaust , Ph. D. student (2005-2008)
- Tulu Degefu, Ph. D. student
- Fitsum Teklay, Ph. D. student
- Meric Batioglu, Ph. D. student
- Iselin Klungland, Master student
- Mohsen Alashloo, Master student
- Øystein Andreassen, Master student