Max Planck Institutes and Experts

The competition of plants and soil microorganisms for important nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus is a key determinant of the amount of carbon that can be stored in land ecosystems. Combining new laboratory experiments and improved numerical ecosystem models generates new insights into the intricate effects of this nutrient limitation for the future development of land carbon storage. This research contributes to a better understanding of the effects of anthropogenic carbon dioxide emission of climate.

During the Quaternary, changes in atmospheric CO₂ concentrations led to major climate changes such as glacial/interglacial cycles. Our studies indicate that the combination of a decrease in ocean overturning through an increased stratification in the Antarctic zone of the Southern Ocean and increased organic carbon export through iron fertilization in the sub-Antarctic zone of the Southern Ocean can explain much of the G/IG's atmospheric CO₂ changes during the last 800,000 years and the entire Quaternary.

Thin molecular layers such as biological lipid membranes have diverse functions in Nature. But molecular layers play important roles in technology and biotechnology as well, where they improve, for instance, the biocompatibility of surfaces, or serve as lubricants and reduce shear friction. Researchers at the Biomaterials department use advanced x-ray and neutron scattering methods to structurally characterize such layers in order to obtain new insights into their functioning.

A key principle for the rational design of cell factories is the stoichiometric coupling of growth and product synthesis, which makes production of the desired compound obligatory for growth. Using mathematical models and new computational algorithms, researchers at the Max Planck Institute in Magdeburg showed that coupling of growth and production is feasible under appropriate genetic interventions for almost all metabolites in five major production organisms. These results are of fundamental importance for rational metabolic engineering in biotechnology.

Materials which are subject to cyclic load, are often prone to fatigue and failure. An international team of scientists at the Max-Planck-Institut für Eisenforschung developed a new steel inspired by the laminated structure of bone and thus preventing crack propagation on the microscale which would lead to fatigue.