diff --git a/src/app/pages/explorer-page/explorer-page.component.ts b/src/app/pages/explorer-page/explorer-page.component.ts
index fa89131232ceecca33da994cf3a5e253c4b5ec82..9875145521bce3771192d8f456a426e72442e28e 100644
--- a/src/app/pages/explorer-page/explorer-page.component.ts
+++ b/src/app/pages/explorer-page/explorer-page.component.ts
@@ -471,9 +471,10 @@ export class ExplorerPageComponent implements OnInit, AfterViewInit {
    */
   public setConfigNodeGroup(key: string, nodeGroups: { [key: string]: NodeGroup } | {}) {
     // make sure that return-groups (seeds, drugs, found nodes) are set
-    // const defaultNodeGroups = JSON.parse(JSON.stringify(defaultConfig.nodeGroups));
+    const defaultNodeGroups = JSON.parse(JSON.stringify(defaultConfig.nodeGroups));
     // user merge function to do deep merge
-    // nodeGroups = merge(defaultNodeGroups, nodeGroups);
+    nodeGroups = merge(defaultNodeGroups, nodeGroups);
+
 
     // make sure all keys are set
     Object.entries(nodeGroups).forEach(([key, group]) => {
@@ -533,8 +534,8 @@ export class ExplorerPageComponent implements OnInit, AfterViewInit {
    */
   public setConfigEdgeGroup(key: string, edgeGroups: { [key: string]: EdgeGroup }) {
     // make sure that default-groups are set
-    // const defaultNodeGroups = JSON.parse(JSON.stringify(defaultConfig.edgeGroups));
-    // edgeGroups = merge(defaultNodeGroups, edgeGroups);
+    const defaultNodeGroups = JSON.parse(JSON.stringify(defaultConfig.edgeGroups));
+    edgeGroups = merge(defaultNodeGroups, edgeGroups);
 
     // // do not allow '_' in node Group names since it causes problems with backend
     // edgeGroups = removeUnderscoreFromKeys(edgeGroups)
diff --git a/src/index.html b/src/index.html
index 0bd2c9cbd6e8a1490d030c9955430f7386f63537..f694e15ae52afd489495f662ba092283137e3cd8 100644
--- a/src/index.html
+++ b/src/index.html
@@ -118,7 +118,7 @@ Export As Graphml Button<br>
 
   <drugst-one id="netexp1"
                 pluginId="2"
-                groups='{}'
+                groups='{"nodeGroups":{}}'
                 config='{"identifier":"entrez","title":"Breast cancer example network","nodeShadow":true,"edgeShadow":false,"autofillEdges":true,"interactionProteinProtein":"STRING","licensedDatasets":true,"selfReferences":false}'
                 network='{"nodes":[{"id":"7040","label":"7040"}]}'>
   </drugst-one>