Janneke Balk
Project Leader
Biological Chemistry
Contact details
Research interests
My research is focussed on the role of metals, in particular iron, in plants and microbes. Iron is a versatile catalyst most commonly associated with proteins in the form of iron-sulfur clusters or haem. In the past years we have identified several proteins that are involved in the assembly of iron-sulfur proteins, using the model plant Arabidopsis, the green alga Chlamydomonas and yeasts. Ultimately, the iron that plants take up from the soil and use for their own needs is an important source of human iron nutrition.
Recent Publications (selection)
Balk J and Pilon M (2011). Ancient and essential: the assembly of iron-sulfur clusters in plants. Trends Plant Sci. 16: 218-26.
Godman JE, Molnár A, Baulcombe DC and Balk J (2010). RNA silencing of hydrogenase(-like) genes and investigation of their physiological roles in the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. Biochem J. 431: 345-51.
Teschner J, Lachmann N, Schulze J, Geisler M, Selbach K, Santamaria-Araujo J, Balk J, Mendel RR and Bittner F (2010). A novel role for the mitochondrial ABC transporter ATM3 from Arabidopsis in molybdenum cofactor biosynthesis. Plant Cell 22:468-80.
Bernard DG, Cheng Y, Zhao Y and Balk J (2009). An allelic mutant series of ATM3 reveals its key role in the biogenesis of cytosolic iron-sulfur proteins in Arabidopsis. Plant Physiol. 151: 590-602.
Bych K, Netz DJA, Pierik AJ, Vigani G, Bill E, Lill R and Balk J (2008). The essential cytosolic iron sulfur protein NBP35 acts without CFD1 partner in the green lineage. J. Biol. Chem. 283: 35797-804.
Bych K, Kerscher S, Netz DJA, Pierik AJ, Zwicker K, Huynen MA, Lill R, Brandt U and Balk J (2008). The iron-sulfur protein Ind1 is required for effective complex I assembly. EMBO J, 27: 1736-46.
Godman JE and Balk J (2008). Genome analysis of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii reveals the existence of multiple, compartmentalized iron-sulfur protein assembly machineries of different evolutionary origin. Genetics 179, 59-68.
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