Göttinger Graduiertenzentrum für Neurowissenschaften, Biophysik und Molekulare Biowissenschaften

Kües, Ursula, Prof. Dr.

Professor of Molecular Wood Biotechnology

  • Dr. rer. nat. in Microbiology under the supervision of Prof. Dr. U. Stahl, Technische Universität Berlin, 1988
  • Research assistant at the Versuchs- und Lehranstalt für Brauerei, Berlin (1988)
  • Post-Doc with Prof. Dr. B. Friedrich, Freie Universität Berlin, (1988/90)
  • Post-Doc with Prof. Dr. L.A. Casselton, Queen Mary and Westfield College, University of London (1990/91)
  • Part-time lecturer in Microbial Physiology and Genetics, Birkbeck College, University of London (1991)
  • Post-Doc with Prof. Dr. L.A. Casselton, University of Oxford (1991/93)
  • Violette and Samuel Glasstone Research Fellow at the University of Oxford (1993/94)
  • Group Leader (Oberassistentin), Institute of Microbiology, ETH Zurich (1994/01)
  • Privatdozentin at the ETH Zurich (2000/01)
  • Professor of Molecular Wood Biotechnology, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen since 2001


    • Major Research Interests

    Coprinopsis cinerea is a model fungus for the basidiomycetes used in our group to study genes in developmental processes, such as fruiting body production and asexual spore formation, and their regulation by environmental cues (nutrients, light, temperature). Mating type genes encoding homeodomain transcription factors and pheromones and pheromone receptors are master regulators of development. Hydrophobins and galectins are extracellular matrix proteins with structural roles in fruiting body development. Redox-enzymes such as laccases play a role in development as well as in substrate utilization. In the white-rot fungi, laccases participate in lignin degradation. Laccases from various basidiomycetes are used to modify wood structures and in wood composite production. Modern proteomics serves us to identify secreted and cell-wall bound proteins in white-rot fungi to further understand wood degradation and for biotechnological applications. The research topics that we are focussing on are:
    - Gene functions in fruiting body development of C. cinerea
    - Evolution of mating type genes in basidiomycetes
    - Extracellular matrix proteins, cell-wall bound proteins and redox-oxidases of white-rot fungi
    - Wood biotechnology



    Homepage Department/Research Group:

    http://wwwuser.gwdg.de/~uffb/mhb/welcome.htm



    Selected Recent Publications

  • Walser PJ, Kües U, Aebi M, Künzler M (2005) Ligand interactions of Coprinopsis cinerea galectins. Fungal Genet Biol 42: 293-305
  • Walser PJ, Haebel PW, Sargent D, Künzler M, Kües U, Aebi M, Ban N (2004) Structure and functional analysis of the fungal galectin CGL2. Structure 12: 689-702
  • Hoegger PJ, Navarro-Gonzalez M, Kilaru S, Hoffmann M, Westbrook ED, Kües U (2004) The laccase gene family in Coprinopsis cinerea (Coprinus cinereus). Curr Genet 45: 9–18
  • Lu BC, Gallo N, Kües U (2003) White-cap mutants and meiotic apoptosis in the fungus Coprinus cinereus. Fungal Genet Biol 39: 82-93
  • Kües U, Walser PJ, Klaus MJ, Aebi M (2002) Influence of activated A and B mating type pathways on developmental processes in the basidiomycete Coprinus cinereus. Mol Genet Genom 268: 262-271
  • Boulianne RP, Liu Y, Aebi M, Lu BC, Kües U (2000) Fruitbody development in the mushroom Coprinus cinereus: highly regulated expression of two fungal galectins secreted by a non-classical pathway. Microbiology 146: 1841-1853
  • Kües U (2000) Life history and developmental processes in the basidiomycete Coprinus cinereus. Microbiol Mol Biol Rev 64: 316-353
  • Kües U, Asante-Owusu RN, Mutasa ES, Tymon AM, Pardo EH, O’Shea, SF, Göttgens B, Casselton LA (1994) Two classes of homeodomain proteins specify the multiple A mating types of the mushroom Coprinus cinereus. Plant Cell 6: 1457-1475