Karl-Heinz Kogel, born 1956, studied Biology and ... - Plant Path Home

Prof. Dr. Karl-Heinz Kogel
Institute of Phytopathology and Applied Zoology
Julius-Liebig-University
Heinrich-Buff-Ring 26 – 32
D-35392 Giessen, Germany
Telefon: 0641 99-37490
E-mail: Karl-Heinz.Kogel@agrar.uni-giessen.de
Karl-Heinz Kogel, born 1956, studied Biology and Social Sciences at the Rheinland-
Westfalen Institute of Technology Aachen, obtained his B.Sc. in Biology and his Ph. D.
in 1984 in the field of Plant Physiology. In 1983 he stayed as visiting scientist at the
Weizman Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel. 1986 to 1988 Postdoctoral Scientist at
the Max Planck Institute for Breeding Research at Cologne. 1988-1990 Patent attorney
in the area of BioPatents. 1996 Habilitation (D.Sc.) at RWTH Aachen with work on
Biochemical Mechanisms of Disease Development in Cereals. Since 1996 Professor at
the Institute for Phytopathology and Applied Zoology (IPAZ), Justus-Liebig-University
Giessen. 2006 to 2010 Vice-President of the Justus-Liebig-University. Research Areas
are Cell Biological Mechanisms of Disease Resistance in Cereals, Biological Plant
Protection and Plant Biotechnology.
Honorary Activities:
Member of the German Research Council (DFG) Senate for Materials and Ressources
in Agriculture (2000- 2006). Since 2001 Member of the Advisory Committee for
viniculture of the State Research Institution for Viniculture at Geisenheim, Germany.
Member of the Board of the Interdisciplinary Research Center of Environmental Safety
2004-2006. Coordinator of the DFG-Research Cooperation 343 for Increase of the
Resistance Potential in Barley 1999-2005. Since 2006 Coordinator of the DFG-
Research Cooperation 666 “ Mechanisms of compatibility: Reprogramming of plant
metabolism by fungal effector molecules. Since 2010 Member of the Hungarian
Academy of Sciences.

Broad Spectrum Suppression of Innate Immunity Is Required for Colonization
of Arabidopsis thaliana Roots by the Fungus Piriformospora indica.
Piriformospora indica is a root colonizing basidiomycete that confers a wide range of
beneficial traits to its host. The fungus shows a biotrophic growth phase in Arabidopsis
thaliana roots, followed by a cell death-associated colonization phase, a colonization
strategy that has not yet been reported for this plant. P. indica has evolved an
extraordinary capacity for plant root colonization. Its broad host spectrum encompasses
gymnosperms, mono- as well as dicotyledonous angiosperms, which suggest that it has
an effective mechanism(s) for bypassing or suppressing host immunity. Results of our
work argue that P. indica is confronted with a functional root immune system. Moreover,
the fungus does not evade detection but rather suppresses immunity triggered by
various microbe associated molecular patterns (MAMPs). This ability to suppress host
immunity is compromised in the jasmonate (JA) mutants jin1-1 (jasmonate insensitive 1-
1) and jar1-1 (jasmonate resistant 1-1). A quintuple-DELLA mutant displaying
constitutive gibberellin (GA) responses and the GA biosynthesis mutant ga1-6 (GA
Requiring 1) showed higher or lower degrees of colonization, respectively, in the celldeath
associated stage suggesting that P. indica recruits GA signaling to help establish
pro-apoptotic root cell colonization. Our study demonstrates that mutualists - like
pathogens, are confronted with an effective innate immune system in roots and that
colonization success essentially depends on the evolution of strategies for immunosuppression.

� Imani J, Li L, Schäfer P, Kogel KH. STARTS - A stable root transformation
system for rapid functional analyses of proteins of the monocot model plant
barley. Plant J. 2011 Apr 23.
� Jacobs S, Zechmann B, Molitor A, Trujillo M, Petutschnig E, Lipka V, Kogel KH,
Schaefer P. Broad Spectrum Suppression of Innate Immunity Is Required for
Colonization of Arabidopsis thaliana Roots by the Fungus Piriformospora indica.
Plant Physiol. 2011 Apr 7.
� Achatz B, Kogel KH, Franken P, Waller F. Piriformospora indica mycorrhization
increases grain yield by accelerating early development of barley plants. Plant
Signal Behav. 2010 Dec 1;5(12):1685-7.
� Achatz B, Kogel KH, Franken P, Waller F. C. Dau c 1.01 and Dau c 1.02silenced
transgenic carrot plants show reduced allergenicity to patients with
carrot allergy. Transgenic Res. 2011 Jun;20(3):547-56.
� Kogel KH, Voll LM, Schäfer P, Jansen C, Wu Y, Langen G, Imani J, Hofmann J,
Schmiedl A, Sonnewald S, von Wettstein D, Cook RJ, Sonnewald U.
Transcriptome and metabolome profiling of field-grown transgenic barley lack
induced differences but show cultivar-specific variances. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S
A. 2010 Apr 6;107(14):6198-203.
� Schäfer P, Pfiffi S, Voll LM, Zajic D, Chandler PM, Waller F, Scholz U, Pons-
Kühnemann J, Sonnewald S, Sonnewald U, Kogel KH. Phytohormones in plant
root-Piriformospora indica mutualism. Plant Signal Behav. 2009 Jul;4(7):669-71.
� Rahnamaeian M, Langen G, Imani J, Khalifa W, Altincicek B, von Wettstein D,
Kogel KH, Vilcinskas A. Insect peptide metchnikowin confers on barley a
selective capacity for resistance to fungal ascomycetes pathogens. Exp Bot.
2009;60(14):4105-14.
� Molitor A, Kogel KH. Induced resistance triggered by Piriformospora indica.
Plant Signal Behav. 2009 Mar;4(3):215-6.
� Felle HH, Waller F, Molitor A, Kogel KH. The mycorrhiza fungus Piriformospora
indica induces fast root-surface pH signaling and primes systemic alkalinization
of the leaf apoplast upon powdery mildew infection. Mol Plant Microbe Interact.
2009 Sep;22(9):1179-85.
� Schäfer P, Pfiffi S, Voll LM, Zajic D, Chandler PM, Waller F, Scholz U, Pons-
Kühnemann J, Sonnewald S, Sonnewald U, Kogel KH. Manipulation of plant
innate immunity and gibberellin as factor of compatibility in the mutualistic
association of barley roots with Piriformospora indica. Plant J. 2009
Aug;59(3):461-74.
� Zuccaro A, Basiewicz M, Zurawska M, Biedenkopf D, Kogel KH. Karyotype
analysis, genome organization, and stable genetic transformation of the root
colonizing fungus Piriformospora indica.Fungal Genet Biol. 2009 Aug;46(8):543-
50.
� Babaeizad V, Imani J, Kogel KH, Eichmann R, Hückelhoven R. Over-expression
of the cell death regulator BAX inhibitor-1 in barley confers reduced or enhanced
susceptibility to distinct fungal pathogens. Theor Appl Genet. 2009 18(3):455-
63.