Dr. Nicolai Müller

Main research focus

Many biochemical pathways are believed to be well established and understood, yet most microorganisms operate physiologic variations that deviate from model pathways depending on their ecology and growth behaviour. My mission is to understand the vast diversity of modifications of common biochemical concepts in the anaerobic energy metabolism of bacteria and archaea and their relevance in ecology and biotechnology.

                                                                                                                                                                        

Curriculum vitae

2019 to date Principal Investigator, DFG project "Biochemistry of thermophilic degradation of C1- and C2-compounds in Thermacetogenium phaeum" University of Konstanz  
2015 - 2019 Co-Principal Investigator, DFG project "Energy conservation in syntrophic acetate oxidation of Thermacetogenium phaeum" University of Konstanz  
2013 - 2015 Research associate University of Konstanz  
2011 - 2013 Postdoc, energy metabolism of methanogenic archaea University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA  
2010 - 2011 Postdoc, physiology of syntrophic oxidations University of Konstanz  
2006 - 2010 Doctor of Natural Sciences in Microbiology University of Konstanz  

Selected publications

Gräßle, F., Plugge, C., Franchini, P., Schink, B., Schleheck, D., and Müller, N. (2021) Pelorhabdus rhamnosifermentans gen. nov., sp. nov., a strictly anaerobic rhamnose degrader from freshwater lake sediment. Systematic and Applied Microbiology 44 (2021) 126225

Liu, B., Popp, D., Müller, N., Sträuber, H., Harms, H., and Kleinsteuber, S. (2020) Three Novel Clostridia Isolates Produce n-Caproate and iso-Butyrate from Lactate: Comparative Genomics of Chain-Elongating Bacteria. Microorganisms 8, 1970; doi:10.3390/microorganisms8121970

Xie X., Spiteller D., Huhn, T., Schink B., and Müller N. (2020) Desulfatiglans anilini initiates degradation of aniline with the production of phenylphosphoamidate and 4-aminobenzoate as intermediates through synthases and carboxylases from different gene clusters. Frontiers in Microbiology 11:2064. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2020.02064

Keller, A., Schink, B., and Müller, N. (2019) Energy conserving systems active during syntrophic acetate oxidation in the thermophilic bacterium Thermacetogenium phaeum. Frontiers in Microbiology 10:2785 doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2019.02785

Xie, X., and Müller, N. (2019) Enhanced aniline degradation by Desulfatiglans anilini in the presence of the phototrophic purple sulfur bacterium Thiocapsa roseopersicina. Applied and Systematic Microbiology 42 (2019) 125998

Keller, A., Schink, B., and Müller, N. (2019) Alternative Pathways of Acetogenic Ethanol and Methanol Degradation in the Thermophilic Anaerobe Thermacetogenium phaeum. Frontiers in Microbiology 10:423. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2019.00423

Xie, X., and Müller, N. (2018) Enzymes involved in the anaerobic degradation of phenol by the sulfate-reducing bacterium Desulfatiglans anilini. BMC Microbiology 18:93. doi.org/10.1186/s12866-018-1238-0

Schink, B., Montag, D., Keller, A., and Müller, N. (2017) Hydrogen or formate: Alternative key players in methanogenic degradation. Review article. Environmental Microbiology Reports 9:189-202

Müller, N., Scherag, F. D., Pester, M. and Schink, B. (2015) Bacillus stamsii sp. nov., a facultatively anaerobic sugar degrader that is numerically dominant in freshwater lake sediment. Systematic and Applied Microbiology 38(6):379-89

Schmidt, A., Frensch, M., Schleheck, D., Schink, B. and Müller, N. (2014) Degradation of acetaldehyde and its precursors by Pelobacter carbinolicus and P. acetylenicus. PLoS ONE 9(12):e115902. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0115902

Schmidt, A., Müller, N., Schink, B., and Schleheck, D. (2013) A Proteomic View at the Biochemistry of Syntrophic Butyrate Oxidation in Syntrophomonas wolfei. PLoS ONE 8(2): e56905. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0056905