Manuel Kleiner
Asst Professor
Microbiomes and Complex Microbial Communities Cluster
Department of Plant and Microbial Biology
Thomas Hall 4510B
Bio
Microbial communities are ubiquitous in all environments on Earth that support life, and they play crucial roles in global biogeochemical cycles, plant and animal health, and biotechnological processes. However, most microbial species from a given habitat cannot be cultured and thus cannot be experimentally characterized in the laboratory. Therefore, to study environmental microbes we rely on so-called cultivation-independent methods that allow us to study microorganisms directly in their environment.
We study the metabolism, physiology, and evolutionary ecology of microbial symbioses and uncultured microorganisms. To this end we develop and use cultivation-independent approaches such as metagenomics, metaproteomics, and metabolomics, as well as more targeted approaches such as enzyme assays, single-cell imaging methods, and stable isotope-based experiments. We combine the study of uncultured microorganisms with genetic, molecular, and biochemical studies on cultivable microorganisms to gain an in-depth understanding of specific metabolic pathways and physiological strategies.
The current projects focus on:
- factors governing energy efficiency of metabolism in free-living and symbiotic bacteria, looking specifically at a novel CO2 fixation pathway
- the role of horizontal gene transfer in the metabolic evolution of bacterial symbionts
- development of cutting-edge methods for microbial community analyses focusing on metagenomics and high-end mass spectrometry based metaproteomics
Learn more at https://kleinerlab.cals.ncsu.edu/
Education
Diplom Biology University of Greifswald, Germany 2008
Ph.D. Marine Microbiology Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, Germany 2012
Area(s) of Expertise
Microbial physiology and metabolism, bacteria-animal symbiosis , metagenomics and metaproteomics, environmental microbiology, marine microbiology, and renewable resources
Publications
- Considerations for constructing a protein sequence database for metaproteomics , COMPUTATIONAL AND STRUCTURAL BIOTECHNOLOGY JOURNAL (2022)
- De novo phytosterol synthesis in animals , (2022)
- Activation of the Type VI Secretion System in the Squid Symbiont Vibrio fischeri Requires the Transcriptional Regulator TasR and the Structural Proteins TssM and TssA , JOURNAL OF BACTERIOLOGY (2021)
- Bacterial symbiont subpopulations have different roles in a deep-sea symbiosis , ELIFE (2021)
- Critical Assessment of MetaProteome Investigation (CAMPI): a multi-laboratory comparison of established workflows , NATURE COMMUNICATIONS (2021)
- Evaluation of RNAlater as a Field-Compatible Preservation Method for Metaproteomic Analyses of Bacterium-Animal Symbioses , MICROBIOLOGY SPECTRUM (2021)
- Evaluation of RNAlater™ as a field-compatible preservation method for metaproteomic analyses of bacteria-animal symbioses , (2021)
- Evaluation of Sample Preservation and Storage Methods for Metaproteomics Analysis of Intestinal Microbiomes , MICROBIOLOGY SPECTRUM (2021)
- Fidelity varies in the symbiosis between a gutless marine worm and its microbial consortium , (2021)
- Five key aspects of metaproteomics as a tool to understand functional interactions in host-associated microbiomes , PLOS PATHOGENS (2021)