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.
PhD candidates
Postdocs
News
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Professor Microbiome Ecology
- Science
- Instituut Biologie Leiden
- IBL Microbial Sciences
- Kovács Á.T. (2024), Plant cell wall component induced bacterial development, Trends in Microbiology 32(1): P1-3.
- 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.
- 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.
- Xu X. & Kovács A.T. (2024), How to identify and quantify the members of the Bacillus genus?, Environmental Microbiology 26(2): e16593.
- Jensen C.N.G., Pang J.K.Y., Gottardi M., Kračun S.K., Svendsen B.A., Nielsen K.F., Kovács Á.T., Moelbak L., Fimognari L., Husted S. & Schulz A. (2024), Bacillus subtilis promotes plant phosphorus (P) acquisition through P solubilization and stimulation of root and root hair growth, Physiologia Plantarum 176(3): e14338.
- Richter A., Blei F., Hu G., Schwitalla J.W., Lozano-Andrade C.N., Xie J., Jarmusch S.A., Wibowo M., Kjeldgaard B., Surabhi S., Xu X., Jautzus T., Phippen C.B.W., Tyc O., Arentshorst M., Wang Y., Garbeva P., Larsen T.O., Ram A.F.J., Hondel C.A.M. van den, Maróti G. & Kovács Á.T. (2024), Enhanced surface colonisation and competition during bacterial adaptation to a fungus, Nature Communications 15: 4486.
- Hansen M.L., Dénes Z., Jarmusch S.A, Wibowo M., Lozano-Andrade C.N., Kovács Á.T., Strube M.L., Andersen A.J.C. & Jelsbak L. (2024), Resistance towards and biotransformation of a Pseudomonas-produced secondary metabolite during community invasion, The ISME Journal 18(1): wrae105.
- Lyng M., Þórisdóttir B., Sveinsdóttir S.H., Hansen M.L., Jelsbak L., Maróti G. & Kovács A.T. (2024), Taxonomy of Pseudomonas spp. determines interactions with Bacillus subtilis, mSystems : e00212-24.
- Xu, X., Pioppi A., Kiesewalter H.T., Strube M.L. & Kovács Á.T. (2024), Disentangling the factors defining bacillus subtilis group species abundance in natural soils, Environmental Microbiology 26(9): e16693.
- Northen T.R., Kleiner M., Torres M., Kovács Á.T., Nicolaisen M.H., Krzyżanowska D.M., Sharma S., Lund G., Jelsbak L., Baars O., Kindtler N.L., Wippel K., Dinesen C., Ferrarezi J.A., Marian M., Pioppi A., Xu X., Andersen T., Geldner N., Schulze-Lefert P., Vorholt J.A. & Garrido-Oter R. (2024), Community standards and future opportunities for synthetic communities in plant–microbiota research, Nature Microbiology 9: 2774-2784.
- 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), Colony morphotype diversification as a signature of bacterial evolution, microLife 4: uqad041.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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), Plant–microbe interactions: plant-exuded myo-inositol attracts specific bacterial taxa, Current Biology 33(15): R825-R827.
- Kovács Á.T. (2023), Diversification during cross-kingdom microbial experimental evolution, The ISME Journal 17: 1355-1357.
- 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.
- 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.
- Lyng M. & Kovács Á.T. (2023), Frenemies of the soil: Bacillus and Pseudomonas interspecies interactions, Trends in Microbiology 31(8): 845-857.
- 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.
- Sartor F. Kovács Á.T. (2022), Rhythmic spatial self-organization of bacterial colonies, mBio 13(4): e01703-22.
- Lyng M. & Kovács Á.T. (2022), Microbial ecology: metabolic heterogeneity and the division of labor in multicellular structures, Current Biology 32(34): R771-R774.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Lin Y., Briandet R. & Kovács Á.T. (2022), Bacillus cereus sensu lato biofilm formation and its ecological importance, Biofilm 4: 100070.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Kovács Á.T. & Stanley-Wall N.R. (2021), Biofilm dispersal for spore release in Bacillus subtilis, Journal of Bacteriology 203(14): e00192.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Kovács A.T. (2020), A fungal scent from the cheese, Environmental Microbiology 22(11): 4524-4526.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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., 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Kovács A.T. (2019), Bacillus subtilis, Trends in Microbiology 27(8): 724-725.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Hölscher T., Schiklang T., Dragoš A., Dietel A.K., Kost C. & Kovács A.T. (2018), Impaired competence in flagellar mutants of Bacillus subtilis is connected to the regulatory network governed by DegU, Environmental Microbiology Reports 10(1): 23-32.
- 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.
- van den Esker M.H., Kovács Á.T. & Kuipers O.P. (2017), From cell death to metabolism: Holin-Antiholin homologues with new functions, mBio 8(6): e01963-17.
- Kovács Á.T., Grau R. & Pollitt E.J.G. (2017), Surfing of bacterial droplets: Bacillus subtilis sliding revisited, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 114(42): E8802.
- Gallegos-Monterrosa R., Kankel S., Götze S., Barnett R., Stallforth P. & Kovács Á.T. (2017), Lysinibacillus fusiformis M5 induces increased complexity in Bacillus subtilis 168 colony biofilms via hypoxanthine, Journal of Bacteriology 199(22): e00204-17.
- Dragoš A., Kovács Á.T. & Claessen D. (2017), The role of functional amyloids in multicellular growth and development of Gram-positive bacteria, Biomolecules 7(3): 60.
- Hölscher T. & Kovács Á.T. (2017), Sliding on the surface: bacterial spreading without an active motor, Environmental Microbiology 19(7): 2537-2545.
- Martin M., Dragoš A., Hölscher T., Maróti G., Bálint B., Westermann M. & Kovács Á.T. (2017), De novo evolved interference competition promotes the spread of biofilm defectors, Nature Communications 8: 15127.
- Dragoš A. & Kovács Á.T. (2017), The peculiar functions of the bacterial extracellular matrix, Trends in Microbiology 25(4): 257-266.
- Mhatre E., Sundaram A., Hölscher T., Mühlstädt M., Bossert J. & Kovács Á.T. (2017), Presence of calcium lowers the expansion of Bacillus subtilis colony biofilms, Microorganisms 5(10): 7.
- Raie D.S., Mhatre E., Thiele M., Labena A., El-Ghannam G., Farahat L.A., Youssef T., Fritzsche W. & Kovács Á.T. (2017), Application of quercetin and its bio-inspired nanoparticles as anti-adhesive agents against Bacillus subtilis attachment to surface, Materials Science and Engineering: C 70: 753-762.
- Esker M.H. van den, Kovács A.T. & Kuipers O.P. (2017), YsbA and LytST are essential for pyruvate utilization in Bacillus subtilis, Environmental Microbiology 19(1): 83-94.
- Krawinkel J., Torres-Mapa M.L., Mhatre E., Kovács Á.T. & Heisterkamp A. (2017), Structural damage of Bacillus subtilis biofilms using pulsed laser interaction with gold thin films, Journal of Biophotonics 10(8): 1043-1052.
- Official supervisory activity of PhD student who moved to Leiden University as guests