Objective
Microbial communities (=microbiota) associated with multicellular organisms play an important role in host nutrition and development. Advances in sequencing technology have revealed an unexpectedly high diversity of microbiota; these advances are not, however, matched by advances in our understanding of the evolutionary factors that structure microbiota. The goal of this proposal is to fill this knowledge gap. Evolutionary models developed for simple host-symbiont relationships have identified a number of factors that shape these relationships: mode of transmission (horizontal versus maternal transmission), host ranges and fitness effects for the host. Together these factors influence the role of selection among hosts and the role of selection within hosts (among microbes), the two levels of selection that are believed to shape host-symbiont coevolution. Here I intend to expand these models to host - microbiota interactions.
My objectives are to use next-generation sequencing to conduct a comparative study of bacterial microbiota structure and to combine this work with experiments that explore the underlying evolutionary processes. I will focus on the crustacean family Daphniidae (mainly the genus Daphnia)¿a system ideally suited for studies in the field and laboratory. I will test hypotheses about the evolution of mutualism, virulence, cheating and coevolution, as well as test for the role of mode of transmission and host specificity. The analysis of host-microbiota associations will be conducted for entire microbiota and for stepwise simplified, but biologically meaningful subsets.
Testing general models for the evolution of microbiota will have implications far beyond the chosen model system, ranging from ecology and evolution to agricultural sciences and medicine. The proposed study is innovative, significant and risk-taking and will combine skills in evolutionary biology, experimental design, bioinformatics and molecular biology.
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 biological sciences ecology
- natural sciences biological sciences evolutionary biology
- medical and health sciences health sciences nutrition
- natural sciences biological sciences biological behavioural sciences ethology biological interactions
- natural sciences biological sciences molecular biology
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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-2010-AdG_20100317
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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
4051 Basel
Switzerland
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.