Institute of Plant Genomics and Systems Biology, PGSB, Environmental Health Center, Helmholtz Munich

The PGSB plant genomics group focuses on the analysis of plant genomes, using bioinformatic techniques. Our mission is to develop options for a sustainable use of plants and understand how climate change impacts crops, food security and human health.

The Plant Genome and Systems biology group has been involved in the development and implementation of plant genome oriented bioinformatics since the inception of the field. The group has provided essential contributions to the analysis of the milestone Arabidopsis thaliana genome, the first published plant genome. It has additionally led and/or contributed to other well studied plant genomes, ranging from classical model systems to crops with large and complex genomes (maize, rice, tomato, Medicago, Brachypodium, sorghum, barley, wheat, rye and oat) in both German and international collaborations.

Wheat is a staple crop for billions of humans all around the world. However, consumption of wheat products can cause adverse effects for people with wheat sensitivities or celiac disease. We investigate the genes, molecular pathways and natural diversity in cereals that is related to immunopotential properties and their impact on human health.

Our challenge

The yield of many of our major food crops is threatened by a changing climate and pronounced periods of drought and heat. On the other hand, overall harvest needs to be increased due to the growing world population. Cereal genomics holds a key for the targeted and accelerated development of new and climate adapted crop varieties.

PGSB

Analysis of plant genomes: these efforts include structural and functional annotation of genes, transposable elements, transcribed regions and promotor regions as well as comparative genomics and structural genome analyses. The genomic resources generated hereby enable us to identify genes, traits, pathways and crop varieties that shed light into the evolution and domestication of our major crops and can be used for targeted breeding.

PGSB

The large and complex genomes of wheat, barley, rye and oat encode unique properties that are critical for human health. This includes beneficial, nutritional properties such as beta-glucans in oats as well as immunopotential properties e.g. related to glutenins in wheat. We investigate the genes, molecular pathways and natural diversity in plant genomes related to these important traits and their impact on human health.

smart agriculture concept with machine, deep learning, neural network technology, the artificial intelligence network in smart farm to disrupt

PGSB

This research topic deals with the integration and interpretation of large and heterogenous plant genomic data. Multi-scale networks allow e.g. for the integration of transcriptomic and phenotypic data with genome sequence references. The results of this work can accelerate our understanding of molecular pathways and help improve crops and speed up breeding.

PGSB, September 07, 2023

Ensuring the sustainability of oat cultivation as a significant future food source holds great promises for both human health and the climate. Dr. Nadia Kamal, a researcher at the Plant Genome and Systems Biology Group at Helmholtz Munich, has been…

Klaus Mayer (PGSB, left) and Michael Schloter (COMI, right)

Environmental Health, PGSB, December 20, 2022

Klaus Mayer (Director Research Unit Plant Genome and Systems Biology, PGSB) and Michael Schloter (Director Research Unit for Comparative Microbiome Analysis, COMI) are among the 7,000 scientists most cited in 2022. That's according the new list from…

The oat genome unlocks the unique health benefits of oats

New Research Findings, Environmental Health, PGSB, May 18, 2022

Researchers have succeeded in sequencing and characterizing the entire genome of oat. Compared to other cereals and humans, the oat genome architecture is very complex. Scientists from Helmholtz Munich, Lund University and the ScanOats network…

New Research Findings, PGSB, November 25, 2020

In a landmark discovery for global wheat production, Helmholtz Zentrum München together with an international research team has sequenced the genomes for 15 wheat varieties representing breeding programs around the world, enabling scientists and…

New Research Findings, PGSB, July 27, 2020

German researchers decoded the European maize genome. In comparison to North American maize lines, they discovered variations that underlie phenotypic differences and may also contribute to the heterosis effect. A better understanding of the effect…

Scientists at PGSB

Publications

2025 Scientific Article in The Plant cell

Bevan, M.W. ; Messerer, M. ; Gundlach, H. ; Kamal, N. ; Hall, A. ; Spannagl, M. ; Mayer, K.F.X.

Integrating Arabidopsis and crop species gene discovery for crop improvement.

2025 Scientific Article in New Phytologist

Hu, B. ; Messerer, M. ; Haberer, G. ; Lux, T. ; Marosi, V.B. ; Mayer, K.F.X. ; Oliphant, K.D. ; Kaufholdt, D. ; Schulze, J. ; Kreth, L.S. ; Jurgeleit, J. ; Geffers, R. ; Hänsch, R. ; Rennenberg, H.

Genomic and transcriptomic insights into legume-rhizobia symbiosis in the nitrogen-fixing tree Robinia pseudoacacia.

2025 Letter to the Editor in Current Biology

Mayer, K.F.X. ; Haberer, G.

Genomics: To be (or not to be) a duckweed.

2025 Other: News Item in Nature

Kamal, N. ; Spannagl, M.

Genus-wide plant pangenome could inform next-generation crop design.

2025 Scientific Article in Nature Genetics

Guo, W. ; Schreiber, M. ; Marosi, V.B. ; Bagnaresi, P. ; Jørgensen, M.E. ; Braune, K.B. ; Chalmers, K. ; Chapman, B. ; Dang, V.D. ; Dockter, C. ; Fiebig, A. ; Fincher, G.B. ; Fricano, A. ; Fuller, J. ; Haaning, A. ; Haberer, G. ; Himmelbach, A. ; Jayakodi, M. ; Jia, Y. ; Kamal, N. ; Langridge, P. ; Li, C. ; Lu, Q. ; Lux, T. ; Mascher, M. ; Mayer, K.F.X. ; McCallum, N. ; Milne, L. ; Muehlbauer, G.J. ; Nielsen, M.T.S. ; Padmarasu, S. ; Pedas, P.R. ; Pillen, K. ; Pozniak, C. ; Rasmussen, M.W. ; Sato, K. ; Schmutzer, T. ; Scholz, U. ; Schuler, D. ; Šimková, H. ; Skadhauge, B. ; Stein, N. ; Thomsen, N.W. ; Voss, C. ; Wang, P. ; Wonneberger, R. ; Zhang, X.Q. ; Zhang, G. ; Cattivelli, L. ; Spannagl, M. ; Bayer, M. ; Simpson, C. ; Zhang, R. ; Waugh, R.

A barley pan-transcriptome reveals layers of genotype-dependent transcriptional complexity.

2025 Scientific Article in Nature Communications

Liang, Y. ; Gao, Q. ; Li, F. ; Du, Y. ; Wu, J. ; Pan, W. ; Wang, S. ; Zhang, X. ; Zhang, M. ; Song, X. ; Zhong, L. ; Zhang, F. ; Li, Y. ; Wang, Z. ; Li, D. ; Duan, Q. ; Li, S. ; Jin, C. ; Zhang, P. ; Gu, Y. ; Chen, Z.H. ; Mayer, K.F.X. ; Zhou, X. ; Wang, J. ; Zhang, L.

The giant genome of lily provides insights into the hybridization of cultivated lilies.

2024 Scientific Article in Journal of Experimental Botany

Franzisky, B.L. ; Mueller, H.M. ; Du, B. ; Lux, T. ; White, P.J. ; Carpentier, S.C. ; Winkler, J.B. ; Schnitzler, J.-P. ; Kudla, J. ; Kangasjärvi, J. ; Reichelt, M. ; Mithöfer, A. ; Mayer, K.F.X. ; Rennenberg, H. ; Ache, P. ; Hedrich, R. ; Messerer, M. ; Geilfus, C.M.

Date palm diverts organic solutes for root osmotic adjustment and protects leaves from oxidative damage in early drought acclimation.

2024 Scientific Article in Nature

Jayakodi, M. ; Lu, Q. ; Pidon, H. ; Rabanus-Wallace, M.T. ; Bayer, M. ; Lux, T. ; Guo, Y. ; Jaegle, B. ; Badea, A. ; Bekele, W.A. ; Brar, G.S. ; Braune, K. ; Bunk, B. ; Chalmers, K.J. ; Chapman, B. ; Jørgensen, M.E. ; Feng, J.W. ; Feser, M. ; Fiebig, A. ; Gundlach, H. ; Guo, W. ; Haberer, G. ; Hansson, M. ; Himmelbach, A. ; Hoffie, I. ; Hoffie, R.E. ; Hu, H. ; Isobe, S. ; König, P. ; Kale, S.M. ; Kamal, N. ; Keeble-Gagnère, G. ; Keller, B. ; Knauft, M. ; Koppolu, R. ; Krattinger, S.G. ; Kumlehn, J. ; Langridge, P. ; Li, C. ; Marone, M.P. ; Maurer, A. ; Mayer, K.F.X. ; Melzer, M. ; Muehlbauer, G.J. ; Murozuka, E. ; Padmarasu, S. ; Perovic, D. ; Pillen, K. ; Pin, P.A. ; Pozniak, C.J. ; Ramsay, L. ; Pedas, P.R. ; Rutten, T. ; Sakuma, S. ; Sato, K. ; Schuler, D. ; Schmutzer, T. ; Scholz, U. ; Schreiber, M. ; Shirasawa, K. ; Simpson, C. ; Skadhauge, B. ; Spannagl, M. ; Steffenson, B.J. ; Thomsen, H.C. ; Tibbits, J.F. ; Nielsen, M.T.S. ; Trautewig, C. ; Vequaud, D. ; Voss, C. ; Wang, P. ; Waugh, R. ; Westcott, S. ; Rasmussen, M.W. ; Zhang, R. ; Zhang, X.Q. ; Wicker, T. ; Dockter, C. ; Mascher, M. ; Stein, N.

Environmental Health Center Plant Genome and Systems Biology

On This Page

About our Research

The research group

Our challenge

Research Topics

Plant Genome Analysis

Cereal Genomics and Human Health

Plant Systems Biology

ERC Grant for RESIST: Drought Stress Resistance in Oat for a Changing Climate

EHC researchers Klaus Mayer and Michael Schloter among the world's most cited scientists

The Oat Genome Unlocks the Unique Health Benefits of Oats

First Genomic Atlas for Global Wheat Improvement

European and American Maize: Same Same, but Different

Scientists at PGSB

Scientists at PGSB

Prof. Dr. Klaus F.X. Mayer

Prof. Dr. Manuel Spannagl

Dr. Heidrun Gundlach

Dr. Georg Haberer

Dr. Thomas Lux

Dr. Maxim Messerer

Vanda Marosi

Sepideh Jafarian

Publications

Integrating Arabidopsis and crop species gene discovery for crop improvement.

Genomic and transcriptomic insights into legume-rhizobia symbiosis in the nitrogen-fixing tree Robinia pseudoacacia.

Genomics: To be (or not to be) a duckweed.

Genus-wide plant pangenome could inform next-generation crop design.

A barley pan-transcriptome reveals layers of genotype-dependent transcriptional complexity.

The giant genome of lily provides insights into the hybridization of cultivated lilies.

Date palm diverts organic solutes for root osmotic adjustment and protects leaves from oxidative damage in early drought acclimation.

Structural variation in the pangenome of wild and domesticated barley.

The genetics of fruit skin separation in date palm.

Gaining or cutting SLAC: the evolution of plant guard cell signalling pathways.

Contact us

Prof. Dr. Klaus F.X. Mayer

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