Objective
"Our aim is to understand basic functions of the predominant microbial life on our planet: anaerobic communities buried in the seabed and subsisting at the energetic limit for cellular processes. An estimated 90% of all prokaryotic microorganisms on Earth, comprising 1/10 of all living biomass, exist in the deep subsurface biosphere with a cellular energy flux that is orders of magnitude below anything studied in laboratory cultures so far. The cells are essentially non-growing with mean generation times of hundreds to thousands of years. Yet, these microorganisms drive major processes in the geosphere and control element cycles that affect hydrocarbon reservoirs, ocean chemistry, and global climate on geological time scales.
We will use and develop new approaches to study microbial life under extreme energy limitation with the aim to understand the microbial and environmental interactions in the deep biosphere. We will particularly target methanogenesis as a key process in the marine carbon cycle and the great diversity of unknown archaea. We will explore mean cellular energy fluxes of subsurface microbial communities and estimate the fraction of dormant versus active cells. We will determine the turnover rate of living and dead microbial biomass in the deep biosphere and analyze the energetic or kinetic controls on key metabolic processes. We will perform high-capacity genomic sequence analyses and use sensitive chemical and isotopic techniques to search for the coupling between phylogenetic identity and metabolic potential of dominant microorganisms. We will also analyze the genetic potential and physiological activity at the single-cell level to identify this coupling. Finally, we will apply the new microbiological and biogeochemical understanding of subsurface carbon mineralization in a global model of methane cycling in the sea bed."
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.
- natural sciences physical sciences astronomy planetary sciences planets
- natural sciences earth and related environmental sciences atmospheric sciences meteorology biosphera
- natural sciences chemical sciences organic chemistry aliphatic compounds
- natural sciences biological sciences microbiology
- natural sciences earth and related environmental sciences oceanography ocean chemistry
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Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
ERC-2011-ADG_20110310
See other projects for this call
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Host institution
8000 Aarhus C
Denmark
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.