I am an environmental/evolutionary microbiologist interested in microbe-microbe interactions within microbial host symbioses and how environmental changes might influence these interactions and, thus, host fitness and ecosystem functions.  My research includes field and laboratory settings and uses a combination of molecular methods as well as experimental approaches under laboratory conditions.

Current closing and ongoing projects:

The gut microbiota dimension of honeybee viral spill-over to wild pollinators
To further deepen my understanding of the importance of microbe-microbe interactions for the ecology, evolution and phenotype of a host, I recently started a post-doc project in which I will investigate the bacterial community's role in bumblebees affected by viral spillover from honeybees.
Together with Simon Tragust and in collaboration with Robert Paxton, and Oliver Schweiger, I will investigate if the bacterial community can provide protection against the virus, similar to what has been found in honeybees (Dosch et al., 2021). Next, the project will try to target bacterial players underlying these effects. And finally, we want to see how environmental stressors, such as agrochemicals, will influence these interactions. The project is funded by the state Saxony-Anhalt to support integrative Biodiversity Research between the Martin-Luther University Halle Wittenberg and the Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research, iDiv (MLU|BioDivFund).
A neglected host-parasite association
A long-time, ongoing project in collaboration with Oliver Otti and his family, Simon Tragust, Thomas Schmitt, Zsolt Karpati, Adrian Richter, Kenny Jandausch, Brendon Boudinot, and ant collectors from all over Europe, we are investigating the life-history, cuticular hydrocarbon profile, prevalence and morphological and behavioural host changes in a so far barely described host-parasite association between L. niger ant queens and the dipteran parasitoid Strongygaster globula.

Planned project:

The role in adaptation of the microbiome in an invasive ant species
Overall, my research thus far suggests that the microbial community plays a significant role in how organisms respond to environmental changes. This has directed my interest towards the role of microbes in host adaptation and the ways in which microbial interactions influence ecological and evolutionary processes. Indeed, it has been proposed that the microbial community may buffer rapid environmental disturbances, thereby assisting organisms in adapting to evolving environmental conditions and bridging the time required for the host genome to adapt and evolve (Rosenberg & Zilber-Rosenberg, 2018).

Against this background, I plan to explore this topic in invasive alien species, as they must continuously adapt to new environmental conditions when translocated. The importance of the microbial community associated with invasive organisms only started recently to gain attention, e.g. (Galià-Camps et al., 2023; Zhang et al., 2024), but potentially be one factor able to explain why some species become invasive while others are not.

To investigate the role of the microbial community in the adaptation of invasive species, I will choose the invasive garden ant Lasius neglectus in Europe (Ugelvig et al., 2008). In the chosen system, I will combine field investigations and experimental manipulations together with metagenomics and metatranscriptomics to study microbial community changes in terms of composition and function, as well as host changes in phenotype and fitness. Overall, this work will shed light on whether the microbiome might help to explain the success of invasive species and, more broadly, whether host associated microbial communities can help a host adapt to unfavourable conditions, as suggested by Rosenberg & Zilber-Rosenberg (2018).
 

Streicher T, Brinker P, Tragust S and Paxton RJ (2024). Host Barriers Limit Viral Spread in a Spillover Host: A Study of Deformed Wing Virus in the Bumblebee Bombus terrestris. Viruses, 16(4): 607. https://doi.org/10.3390/v16040607

Brinker P, Chen F, Chehida YB, Beukeboom LW, Fontaine MC, & Salles JF (2022). Microbiome composition is shaped by geography and population structure in the parasitic wasp Asobara japonica, but not in the presence of the endosymbiont Wolbachia. Molecular Ecology, 00: 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.16699   Scripts/Data to the publication

Tragust S, Brinker P, Rossel N, & Otti O (2020). Balancing life history investment decisions in founding ant queens. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 8: 76. https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2020.00076 

Brinker P, Fontaine MC, Beukeboom LW, & Salles JF (2019). Host, symbionts, and the microbiome: the missing tripartite interaction. Trends in Microbiology, 27(6): 480-488. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tim.2019.02.002   

Brinker P, Weig A, Rambold G, Feldhaar H, & Tragust S (2019). Microbial community composition of nest-carton and adjoining soil of the ant Lasius fuliginosus and the role of host secretions in structuring microbial communities. Fungal Ecology, 38: 44-53. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.funeco.2018.08.007