Anaerobic bacteria are among the oldest organisms on earth. As oxygen is life-threatening for them, they have developed special metabolic pathways that enable them to survive in oxygen-free regions. Anaerobic bacteria are also found in the human intestine, where they have a considerable influence on health. But that's not all. Their special metabolism also makes them sought-after tools in biotechnology. So far, they have played a subordinate role here. With the "AnoxyGen" project, Jena-based natural product researcher Christian Hertweck wants to change this.

Legumes such as peas and soy are not only valuable sources of protein for the production of food and animal feed. They are also important helpers in making agriculture more sustainable. Their ability to bind nitrogen from the air via the roots with the help of bacteria makes legumes a natural soil conditioner. However, the cultivation of such protein crops is still a niche in Germany and the EU. This is set to change.

Wheat is one of the most important food crops and, after maize, provides the world's largest harvest yields. Many foods, from bread and pizza to beer, are made from this grain. However, extreme weather conditions such as droughts and floods repeatedly cause crop losses – including wheat. Farmers are already trying to supply food crops with important nutrients such as nitrogen through fertilization and to secure wheat yields.

Whether bud formation, leaf emergence, flower or fruit formation: The development of a plant is characterised by the seasons. However, climate change and, above all, higher temperatures have shifted the life cycle of plants in many places in recent years. Recording such phenotypic changes on a large scale is essential for researchers in order to draw conclusions about the effects of climate change on plants. With the plant identification app Flora Incognita, a tool has been providing researchers with observation data on a large scale for several years.

Away from monocultures, pesticides and heavy agricultural machinery, permaculture established itself worldwide in the 1970s as a near-natural farming concept as a counterpart to conventional agriculture. In Germany, this organic farming model has also been practised by some farmers for decades. On permaculture areas, for example, fields are supplemented with trees and shrubs. Mineral fertilisers and pesticides are not used and the keeping of livestock is integrated into the cultivation of crops.

Peacock feathers or butterfly wings, such as those of the peacock butterfly, fascinate with their splendid colours. However, it is not pigments that are responsible for this iridescent effect, but tiny structures that reflect the light in a special way. Some bacteria also have the talent to form similarly glittering and iridescent structures. Researchers from the Cluster of Excellence ‘Balance of the Microverse’ at the University of Jena have now taken a closer look at bacterial colonies with this talent.

Large quantities of green waste, food waste and sewage sludge accumulate in every city and municipality. Tapping into these biogenic residues as a source of raw materials and optimising their use as materials and energy is an important cornerstone on the path to a sustainable and cycle-oriented bioeconomy. Stuttgart now wants to drive forward the transition to a bio-based circular economy in a targeted manner. The state capital of Baden-Württemberg is the first municipality in Germany to draw up its own urban bioeconomy strategy.

Utilising carbon dioxide (CO₂) as an alternative source of carbon is a promising approach to making industrial chemical production processes more climate-friendly and sustainable. In the FUMBIO project, researchers from the Centre for Synthetic Microbiology (SYNMIKRO) at the University of Marburg and the universities in Saarbrücken and Kaiserslautern-Landau, led by the chemical company BASF, want to develop such a sustainable production process for the manufacture of the platform chemical fumaric acid.