The Microme Project: A Knowledge-Based Bioinformatics Framework for Microbial Pathway Genomics

Objective

The exponential increase in microbial genome and metagenome sequencing throughput has widened the gap between sequence and functional understanding. A clear picture of metabolic processes across the spectrum of bacterial species is essential to enable the exploitation of microbial genomics for the purposes of environmental biotechnology. The Microme project endeavors to extend the scope of microbial genome annotation from functional assignment at the gene level to the systematic generation of pathway assemblies and genome-scale metabolic models. A few key ideas and design principles will enable the Microme reconstruction pipeline to achieve this ambitious goal.A clear definition of a metabolic pathway as a collection of reaction sets, each of which convert the same defined inputs into the same outputs, will allow species-specific pathway variants to be identified, assembled into networks, compared across species, and used for downstream computations. A unique pathways projection, curation and assembly cycle, feeding directly into the flow of newly sequenced genomes, will allow a qualitative increase in the speed and reliability of the pathway generation process. Pathways and models produced the pipeline will be accessible to the scientific community as an integrated resource via the Microme portal. Finally, taking advantage of the availability of pathway assemblies from a large sample of genomes, methods for comparative and phylogenetic analyses and novel metabolic engineering strategies for environmental biotechnology goals will be developed, applied to proof-of-concept studies, and integrated to the resource as an analytical tool layer. Microme will be supported by a robust bioinformatics infrastructure, developed by integrating a set of established European databases and tools, integrated with reference protein annotation, metabolites and reactions databases, and interfaced with the annotation pipelines of the two main European sequencing centers.

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: The European Science Vocabulary.

• engineering and technology industrial biotechnology metabolic engineering
• natural sciences computer and information sciences databases
• natural sciences biological sciences biochemistry biomolecules proteins
• engineering and technology environmental biotechnology
• natural sciences biological sciences genetics genomes

Programme(s)

Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.

• FP7-KBBE - Specific Programme "Cooperation": Food, Agriculture and Biotechnology

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.

• KBBE-2007-3-2-07 - NOVEL ENZYMES – The search for novel enzymes and micro-organisms for different bioprocesses
• KBBE-2007-3-2-08 - BIO-INFORMATICS - Microbial genomics and bio-informatics

Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

FP7-KBBE-2007-2A
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.

CP-IP - Large-scale integrating project

Coordinator

Participants (15)