A love of parasites

Broomrape, rattle, dodder. It's not only the wonderful-sounding names that these plants have in common - it's also the way they live, because they do so at the expense of other plants, robbing them of water and nutrients in order to secure their own existence. And, in doing so, they have exerted a fascination on Dr. Susann Wicke, an associate professor at the University of Münster. Susann Wicke, a biologist, has a preference for plants with a 'certain something', and one thing she is certain of is that, as she says, "We still don't know enough about these fascinating species. How for example, genetically speaking, does a parasitic plant differ from a 'normal' plant? What evolutionary adaptations were necessary for it to be able to actually develop such a way of life?" These are questions which Susann Wicke, 37, has been studying since 2012 at Münster University, and as the leader of an Emmy Noether research group in the past two years. This year she was awarded the Junior Researcher Prize by the Universitätsgesellschaft (Friends of Münster University) . In most cases, it is agriculture which brings parasitic plants to the attention of humans.