Objective
Contamination with organic pollutants is widespread in nature and a notorious threat to our water resources. Two central paradigms are currently understood to control biodegradation in groundwater and sediments: (i) Redox gradients and interphases between compartments are hot-spots for contaminant breakdown, and (ii) biodegradation is primarily limited by local electron acceptor availability, in particular of oxygen. My group has published leading contributions to this understanding in recent years, especially in elucidating the ecology of anaerobic toluene degraders in aquifers.
This project now aims to question these established paradigms and to elaborate a ground-breaking new perspective of the role of molecular oxygen in pollutant degradation in anoxic compartments. The hypotheses at the heart of the project originate from a combination of own recent findings, partially inconsistent with the current understanding of process and degrader stratification at redox gradients. These are now interpreted in the light of exciting recent advances in the fields of electromicrobiology and oxygenic anaerobic respiration.
POLLOX postulates that oxygen-dependent degradation of pollutants in anaerobic compartments is possible by two unrecognised physiological adaptations of degraders. I want to verify the hypothesis that filamentous Desulfobulbaceae can anaerobically oxidise toluene via long-distance (1-2 cm) electron transfer to oxygen across redox gradients (aim 1). Furthermore, I postulate that monooxygenase-dependent toluene degraders, in absence of external oxygen, can be active via self-sustained production of oxygen by nitric oxide dismutation (aim 2). POLLOX proposes to perform targeted lab experiments and field surveys to verify both hypotheses and to elaborate the ecological niches in which respective degraders and processes are relevant in situ (aim 3). The generic mechanisms to be elaborated here have the potential to open new doors for bioremediation in the future.
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.
- engineering and technology environmental biotechnology bioremediation
- natural sciences earth and related environmental sciences hydrology
- natural sciences biological sciences ecology
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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-2013-CoG
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
95447 BAYREUTH
Germany
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.