Akos Kovács
Professor Microbiome Ecology
- Name
- Prof.dr. A.T. Kovács
- Telephone
- +31 71 527 4384
- a.t.kovacs@biology.leidenuniv.nl
- ORCID iD
- 0000-0002-4465-1636
The Kovács lab concentrates on the growth and development of Bacilli during establishment of biofilms and interaction with rhizosphere microorganisms using a combination of molecular biology and eco-evolutionary approaches. We combine genome sequencing, genetic engineering, transcriptomics, and natural product chemistry to reveal the response of Bacillus subtilis to its biotic environment with the aim to predict biocontrol efficiency of this plant growth promoting rhizobacterium.
Postdocs
News
Professor Microbiome Ecology
- Science
- Instituut Biologie Leiden
- IBL Microbial Sciences
- Jensen C.N.G., Pang J.K.Y., Hahn C.M., Gottardi M., Husted S., Moelbak L., Kovács Á.T., Fimognari L. & Schulz A. (2024), Differential influence of Bacillus subtilis strains on Arabidopsis root architecture through common and distinct plant hormonal pathways, Plant Science 339: 111936.
- Xu X. & Kovács A.T. (2024), How to identify and quantify the members of the Bacillus genus?, Environmental Microbiology 26(2): e16593.
- Lyng M., Jørgensen J.P.B., Schostag M.D., Jarmusch S.A., Aguilar D.K.C., Lozano-Andrade C.N. & Kovács A.T. (2024), Competition for iron shapes metabolic antagonism between Bacillus subtilis and Pseudomonas marginalis, The ISME Journal 18(1): wrad001.
- Kovács Á.T. (2024), Plant cell wall component induced bacterial development, Trends in Microbiology 32(1): P1-3.
- Lyng M. & Kovács Á.T. (2023), Frenemies of the soil: Bacillus and Pseudomonas interspecies interactions, Trends in Microbiology 31(8): 845-857.
- Kovács Á.T. (2023), Colony morphotype diversification as a signature of bacterial evolution, microLife 4: uqad041.
- Sartor F., Xu X., Popp T., Dodd A.N., Kovács Á.T. & Merrow M. (2023), The circadian clock of the bacterium B. subtilis evokes properties of complex, multicellular circadian systems, Science Advances 9(31): eadh1308.
- Kovács Á.T. (2023), Diversification during cross-kingdom microbial experimental evolution, The ISME Journal 17: 1355-1357.
- Gallegos‐Monterrosa R. & Kovács Á.T. (2023), Phenotypic plasticity: the role of a phosphatase family Rap in the genetic regulation of Bacilli, Molecular Microbiology 120(1): 20-31.
- Hu G., Wang Y., Blake C., Nordgaard M., Liu X., Wang B. & Kovács Á.T. (2023), Parallel genetic adaptation of Bacillus subtilis to different plant species, Microbial Genomics 9(7): 001064.
- Danevčič T., Spacapan M., Dragoš A., Kovács Á.T. & Mandic-Mulec I. (2023), DegQ is an important policing link between quorum sensing and regulated adaptative traits in Bacillus subtilis, Microbiology Spectrum 11(5): e00908.
- Hu G., Wang Y., Liu X., Strube M.L., Wang B. & Kovács Á.T. (2023), Species and condition shape the mutational spectrum in experimentally evolved biofilms, mSystems 8(5): e00548-23.
- Lozano-Andrade C.N., Nogueira C.G., Henriksen N.N.S.E., Wibowo M., Jarmusch S.A. & Kovács Á.T. (2023), Establishment of a transparent soil system to study Bacillus subtilis chemical ecology, ISME Communications 3: 110.
- Kovács Á.T. (2023), Plant–microbe interactions: plant-exuded myo-inositol attracts specific bacterial taxa, Current Biology 33(15): R825-R827.
- Xu X., Nielsen L.J.D., Song L., Maróti G., Strube M.L. & Kovács Á.T. (2023), Enhanced specificity of Bacillus metataxonomics using a tuf-targeted amplicon sequencing approach, ISME Communications 3(1): 126.
- Nordgaard M., Blake C., Maróti G, Hu G., Wang Y., Strube M.L. & Kovács Á.T. (2022), Experimental evolution of Bacillus subtilis on Arabidopsis thaliana roots reveals fast adaptation and improved root colonization, iScience 25(6): 104406.
- Jautzus T., Gestel J. van & Kovács Á.T. (2022), Complex extracellular biology drives surface competition during colony expansion in Bacillus subtilis, The ISME Journal 16(10): 2320-2328.
- Lin Y., Briandet R. & Kovács Á.T. (2022), Bacillus cereus sensu lato biofilm formation and its ecological importance, Biofilm 4: 100070.
- Lin Y., Xu X., Maróti G., Strube M.L. & Kovács Á.T. (2022), Adaptation and phenotypic diversification of Bacillus thuringiensis biofilm are accompanied by fuzzy spreader morphotypes, npj Biofilms and Microbiomes 8(1): 27.
- Sun X., Xu Z., Xie J., Hesselberg-Thomsen V., Tan T., Zheng D., Strube M.L., Dragoš A., Shen Q., Zhang R. & Kovács Á.T. (2022), Bacillus velezensis stimulates resident rhizosphere Pseudomonas stutzeri for plant health through metabolic interactions, The ISME Journal 16(3): 774-787.
- Jakab Á., Kovács F., Balla N., Tóth Z., Ragyák Á., Sajtos Z., Csillag K., Nagy-Köteles C., Nemes D., Bácskay I., Pócsi I., Majoros L., Kovács Á.T. & Kovács R. (2022), Physiological and transcriptional profiling of surfactin exerted antifungal effect against Candida albicans, Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy 152: 113220.
- Lyng M. & Kovács Á.T. (2022), Microbial ecology: metabolic heterogeneity and the division of labor in multicellular structures, Current Biology 32(34): R771-R774.
- Sartor F. Kovács Á.T. (2022), Rhythmic spatial self-organization of bacterial colonies, mBio 13(4): e01703-22.
- Kjeldgaard B., Neves A.R., Fonseca C., Kovács Á.T. & Domínguez-Cuevas P. (2022), Quantitative high-throughput screening methods designed for identification of bacterial biocontrol strains with antifungal properties, Microbiology Spectrum 10(2): e01433-21.
- Kiesewalter H.T., Lozano-Andrade C.N., Wibowo M., Strube M.L., Maróti G., Snyder D., Jørgensen T.S., Larsen T.O., Cooper V.S., Weber T. & Kovács Á.T. (2021), Genomic and chemical diversity of Bacillus subtilis secondary metabolites against plant pathogenic fungi, mSystems 6(1): e00770.
- Nordgaard M., Mortensen R.M.R., Kirk N.K., Gallegos‐Monterrosa R. & Kovács Á.T. (2021), Deletion of Rap‐Phr systems in Bacillus subtilis influences in vitro biofilm formation and plant root colonization, MicrobiologyOpen 10(3): e1212.
- Lin Y., Alstrup M., Pang J.K.Y., Maróti G., Er-Rafik M., Tourasse N., Økstad O.A. & Kovács Á.T. (2021), Adaptation of Bacillus thuringiensis to plant colonization affects differentiation and toxicity, mSystems 6(5): e00864.
- Lozano-Andrade C.N., Strube M.L. & Kovács Á.T. (2021), Complete genome sequences of four soil-derived isolates for studying synthetic bacterial community assembly, Microbiology Resource Announcements 10(46): e00848.
- Kovács Á.T. & Stanley-Wall N.R. (2021), Biofilm dispersal for spore release in Bacillus subtilis, Journal of Bacteriology 203(14): e00192.
- Hartmann R., Jeckel H., Jelli E., Singh P.K., Vaidya S., Bayer M., Rode D.K.H., Vidakovic L., Díaz-Pascual F., Fong J.C.N., Dragoš A., Lamprecht O., Thöming J.G., Netter N., Häussler S., Nadell C.D., Sourjik V., Kovács Á.T., Yildiz F.H. & Drescher K. (2021), Quantitative image analysis of microbial communities with BiofilmQ, Nature Microbiology 6(2): 151-156.
- Dragoš A., Priyadarshini B., Hasan Z., Strube M.L., Kempen P.J., Maróti G., Kaspar C., Bose B., Burton B.M., Bischofs I.B. & Kovács Á.T. (2021), Pervasive prophage recombination occurs during evolution of spore-forming Bacilli, The ISME Journal 15(5): 1344-1358.
- Eelderink-Chen Z., Bosman J., Sartor F., Dodd A.N., Kovács Á.T. & Merrow M. (2021), A circadian clock in a nonphotosynthetic prokaryote, Science Advances 7(2): eabe2086.
- Blake C., Christensen M.N. & Kovács Á.T. (2021), Molecular aspects of plant growth promotion and protection by Bacillus subtilis, Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions 34(1): 15-25.
- Steinke K., Mohite O.S., Weber T. & Kovács Á.T. (2021), Phylogenetic distribution of secondary metabolites in the Bacillus subtilis species complex, mSystems 6(2): e00057.
- Arnaouteli S., Bamford N.C., Stanley-Wall N.R. & Kovács Á.T. (2021), Bacillus subtilis biofilm formation and social interactions, Nature Reviews Microbiology 19(9): 600-614.
- Dragos A., Andersen A.J.C., Lozano-Andrade C.N., Kempen P.J., Kovács A.T. & Strube M.L. (2021), Phages carry interbacterial weapons encoded by biosynthetic gene clusters, Current Biology 31(16): 3479-3489.
- Gallegos-Monterrosa R., Christensen M.N., Barchewitz T., Koppenhöfer S., Priyadarshini B., Bálint B., Maróti G., Kempen P.J., Dragoš A. & Kovács Á.T. (2021), Impact of Rap-Phr system abundance on adaptation of Bacillus subtilis, Communications Biology 4(1): 468.
- Blake C., Nordgaard M., Maróti G. & Kovács Á.T. (2021), Diversification of Bacillus subtilis during experimental evolution on Arabidopsis thaliana and the complementarity in root colonization of evolved subpopulations, Environmental Microbiology 23(10): 6122-6136.
- Falcón García C., Kretschmer M., Lozano-Andrade C.N., Schönleitner M., Dragoŝ A., Kovács A.T. & Lieleg O. (2020), Metal ions weaken the hydrophobicity and antibiotic resistance of Bacillus subtilis NCIB 3610 biofilms, npj Biofilms and Microbiomes 6: 1.
- Kiesewalter H.T., Lozano-Andrade C.N., Maróti G., Snyder D., Cooper V.S., Jørgensen T.S., Weber T. & Kovács A.T. (2020), Complete genome sequences of 13 Bacillus subtilis soil isolates for studying secondary metabolite diversity, Microbiology Resource Announcements 9(2): e01406-19.
- Garde R., Ibrahim B., Kovács A.T. & Schuster S. (2020), Differential equation-based minimal model describing metabolic oscillations in Bacillus subtilis biofilms, Royal Society Open Science 7(2): 190810.
- Martin M., Dragoš A., Otto S.B., Schäfer D., Brix S., Maróti G. & Kovács A.T. (2020), Cheaters shape the evolution of phenotypic heterogeneity in Bacillus subtilis biofilms, The ISME Journal 14(9): 2302-2312.
- Otto S.B., Martin M., Schäfer D., Hartmann R., Drescher K., Brix S., Dragoš A. & Kovács A.T. (2020), Privatization of biofilm matrix in structurally heterogeneous biofilms, mSystems 5(4): e00425-20.
- Kovács A.T. (2020), A fungal scent from the cheese, Environmental Microbiology 22(11): 4524-4526.
- Thérien M., Kiesewalter H.T., Auria E., Charron-Lamoureux V., Wibowo M., Maróti G., Kovács A.T. & Beauregard P.B. (2020), Surfactin production is not essential for pellicle and root-associated biofilm development of Bacillus subtilis, Biofilm 2: 100021.
- Garde R., Ewald J., Kovács A.T. & Schuster S. (2020), Modelling population dynamics in a unicellular social organism community using a minimal model and evolutionary game theory, Open Biology 10(11): 200206.
- Kiesewalter H.T., Lozano-Andrade C.N., Strube M.L. & Kovács A.T. (2020), Secondary metabolites of Bacillus subtilis impact the assembly of soil-derived semisynthetic bacterial communities, Beilstein Journal of Organic Chemistry 16: 2983-2998.
- Wagner K., Krause K., Gallegos-Monterrosa R., Sammer D., Kovács A.T. & Kothe E. (2019), The ectomycorrhizospheric habitat of Norway Spruce and Tricholoma vaccinum: promotion of plant growth and fitness by a rich microorganismic community, Frontiers in Microbiology 10: 307.
- Kovács A.T. (2019), Bacillus subtilis, Trends in Microbiology 27(8): 724-725.
- López-Goñi I., Giner-Lamia J., Álvarez-Ordoñez A., Benitez-Páez A., Claessen D., Cortesao M., de Toro M., García-Ruano D., Granato E.., Kovács A.T., Romalde J.L., Sana T.G., Sánchez-Angulo M., Sangari F.J., Smits W.K., Sturm T., Thomassin J.L., Valdehuesa K.N.G. & Zapotoczna M. (2019), #EUROmicroMOOC: using Twitter to share trends in microbiology worldwide, FEMS Microbiology Letters 366(11): fnz141.
- Kjeldgaard B., Listian S.A., Ramaswamhi V., Richter A., Kiesewalter H.T. & Kovács A.T. (2019), Fungal hyphae colonization by Bacillus subtilis relies on biofilm matrix components, Biofilm 1: 100007.
- Kovács A.T. & Dragoš A. (2019), Evolved biofilm: review on the experimental evolution studies of Bacillus subtilis pellicles, Journal of Molecular Biology/JMB Online 431(23): 4749-4759.
- Sartor F., Eelderink-Chen Z., Aronson B., Bosman J., Hibbert L.E., Dodd A.N., Kovács A.T. & Merrow M. (2019), Are there circadian clocks in non-photosynthetic bacteria?, Biology 8(2): 41.
- Devi S., Kiesewalter H.T., Kovács R., Frisvad J.C., Weber T., Larsen T.O., Kovács A.T. & Ding L. (2019), Depiction of secondary metabolites and antifungal activity of Bacillus velezensis DTU001, Synthetic and Systems Biotechnology 4(3): 142-149.
- Dragoš A., Lakshmanan N., Martin M., Horváth B., Maróti G., Falcón García C., Lieleg O. & Kovács A.T. (2018), Evolution of exploitative interactions during diversification in Bacillus subtilis biofilms, FEMS Microbiology Ecology 94(1): fix155.
- Tauber J.P., Gallegos-Monterrosa R., Kovács A.T., Shelest E. & Hoffmeister D. (2018), Dissimilar pigment regulation in Serpula lacrymans and Paxillus involutus during inter-kingdom interactions, Microbiology 164(1): 65-77.
- Richter A., Hölscher T., Pausch P., Sehrt T., Brockhaus F., Bange G. & Kovács A.T. (2018), Hampered motility promotes the evolution of wrinkly phenotype in Bacillus subtilis, BMC Evolutionary Biology 18: 155.
- Raie D., Mhatre E., El-Desouki D., Labena A., El-Ghannam G., Farahat L., Youssef T., Fritzsche W. & Kovács A.T. (2018), Effect of novel quercetin titanium dioxide-decorated multi-walled carbon nanotubes nanocomposite on Bacillus subtilis biofilm development, Materials 11(1): 157.
- Dragoš A., Kiesewalter H., Martin M., Hsu C.Y., Hartmann R., Wechsler T., Eriksen C., Brix S., Drescher K., Stanley-Wall N., Kümmerli R. & Kovács A.T. (2018), Division of labor during biofilm matrix production, Current Biology 28(12): 1903-1913.
- Dragoš A., Martin M., Falcón García C., Kricks L., Pausch P., Heimerl T., Bálint B., Maróti G., Bange G., López D., Lieleg O. & Kovács A.T. (2018), Collapse of genetic division of labour and evolution of autonomy in pellicle biofilms, Nature Microbiology 3: 1451-1460.
- Hölscher T., Schiklang T., Dragoš A., Dietel A.K., Kost C. & Kovács A.T. (2017), Impaired competence in flagellar mutants of Bacillus subtilis is connected to the regulatory network governed by DegU, Environmental Microbiology Reports 10(1): 23-32.
- Official supervisory activity of PhD student who moved to Leiden University as guests