Prof. Dr. Claus Schwechheimer
Academic Career and Research Areas
Prof. Schwechheimer (* 1967) researches the fundamentals of plant growth, primarily using the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana, the thale cress. His special focus is on processes that are controlled by targeted protein degradation and by the plant hormones auxin and gibberellin. In his systems biology work, he uses observations from the areas of genomics and proteomics to generate working hypotheses, which he then investigates with the help of genetic, biochemical and cell biological methods. The focus of his research is on understanding the regulation of auxin transport by protein kinases and the regulation of gene expression by the gibberellic acid signaling pathway.
He studied biology and biotechnology at the Universities of Heidelberg and Strasbourg. After completing his doctorate at the University of East Anglia (Norwich, UK), he spent three years as a postdoctoral fellow at Yale University (New Haven, CT) with a grant from the DFG. In 2001 he became an Independent Research Group leader at the Center for Molecular Biology of Plants at the University of Tübingen, before being appointed to a professorship at TUM in 2008. Between 2011-2023, Prof. Schwechheimer was the spokesman for the Collaborative Research Center 924 “Molecular Mechanisms Regulating Yield and Yield Stability in Plants” funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft and he was co-coordinator of the DFG priority program SPP1365 “The Regulatory and Functional Network of Ubiquitin Family Proteins” as well as the Plant-KBBE “DELLA stress: control of the abiotic stress response in plants by DELLA proteins and chemicals that stabilize these repressors”.
Awards
- Nirit and Michael Shaoul Fellowship for Visiting Scholars, Tel Aviv University (2015)
- DAAD Short term docenture, not assumed (2015)
- JSPS Travel Fellowship (2007)
- DFG Postdoctoral Fellowship (1999-2001)
- Stipend Eliteförderung Baden-Württemberg (1991-1994)
Key Publications (all publications)
Graf A, Bassukas AEL, Xiao Y, Barbosa ICR, Mergner J, Grill P, Michalke B, Kuster B, Schwechheimer C. “D6PK plasma membrane polarity requires a repeated CXX(X)P motif and PDK1-dependent phosphorylation.” Nat Plants. 2024 Feb;10(2):300-314. doi: 10.1038/s41477-023-01615-6. Epub 2024 Jan 26.PMID: 38278951
AbstractMergner J, Frejno M, List M, Papacek M, Chen X, Chaudhary A, Samaras P, Richter S, Shikata H, Messerer M, Lang D, Altmann S, Cyprys P, Zolg DP, Mathieson T, Bantscheff M, Hazarika RR, Schmidt T, Dawid C, Dunkel A, Hofmann T, Sprunck S, Falter-Braun P, Johannes F, Mayer KFX, Jürgens G, Wilhelm M, Baumbach J, Grill E, Schneitz K, Schwechheimer C, Kuster B. “Mass-spectrometry-based draft of the Arabidopsis proteome.” Nature. 2020 Mar; 579(7799):409-414. doi: 10.1038/s41586-020-2094-2. Epub 2020 Mar 11.PMID: 32188942.
AbstractMarhava P, Bassukas AEL, Zourelidou M, Kolb M, Moret B, Fastner A, Schulze WX, Cattaneo P, Hammes UZ, Schwechheimer C*, Hardtke CS*: "A molecular rheostat adjusts auxin flux to promote root protophloem differentiation". Nature. 2018; 558 (7709): 297-300. *Corresponding authors.
AbstractBarbosa IC, Zourelidou M, Willige BC, Weller B, Schwechheimer C: "D6 PROTEIN KINASE activates auxin transport-dependent growth and PIN-FORMED phosphorylation at the plasma membrane". Dev Cell. 2014; 29(6): 674-85.
AbstractSchwechheimer C, Serino G, Callis J, Crosby WL, Lyapina S, Deshaies RJ, Gray WM, Estelle M & Deng XW: “Interactions of the COP9 signalosome with the E3 ubiquitin ligase SCFTIR1 in mediating auxin-response”. Science 2001: 292; 1379-1382.
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