Project description
Leveraging algal metabolic diversity to investigate metabolic bottlenecks
The world’s population is expected to reach 9.7 billion by 2050, and meeting the increasing demand for food while ensuring environmental sustainability is important. The EU-funded FRIDOM project is motivated by the need to sustainably increase food production by 70 %. In this context, it will identify metabolic bottlenecks in photosynthetic cells using cutting edge experimental and computational approaches. Photosynthesis-related pathways are considered a promising target for crop improvement to increase agricultural yield. While studies have shown that photosynthetic efficiency is higher in microalgae than in most other plants, the underlying reasons are unclear. The knowledge gained from the FRIDOM project will help address the challenge of feeding a growing population sustainably.
Objective
A ~70% increase in food production is required to feed the world population by 2050, putting increased productivity on a collision course with environmental and sustainability goals. Aiming to meet this growing demand, photosynthesis-related pathways are regarded as a promising target for crop improvement to increase agricultural yield, however, they remain mostly unexploited. Furthermore, while empirical studies have shown that photosynthetic efficiency is higher in microalgae than in both C3 or C4 crops, the underlying reasons remain unclear. Identifying metabolic bottlenecks in photosynthetic cells remains a holy grail of plant research. However, with recent progress made in cross-kingdom plant flux analyses, the time is ripe to tackle photosynthetic metabolism with state-of-the-art experimental and computational approaches as a target for plant yield improvement.
In this project, I propose to address the following key questions: (1) What role is played by photosynthetic metabolism in setting the upper limits for growth of photosynthetic cells? and in this respect, (2) What makes some photosynthetic cells grow faster than others? We will combine cutting-edge tools for comparative flux analyses with genetic approaches applied on algae and higher-plants to identify and validate metabolic bottlenecks for plant growth as targets for crop yield improvement. These research aims fall well within my unique set of expertise. Ive characterized the metabolism of the fastest growing photosynthetic cells, and mapped the metabolic networks of algae compared with C3 and C4 plant models, using a novel microfluidics setup which I developed, facilitating non-stationary stable isotope analysis at steady state conditions in liquid algal cultures. Successful outcome of this project will shed light on the magnitude of photosynthetic metabolism effects on plant growth and help reshape the field of targeting photosynthetic-related pathways for crop-plant yield improvements.
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.
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.
- natural sciences biological sciences microbiology phycology
- social sciences economics and business economics production economics productivity
- agricultural sciences agriculture, forestry, and fisheries agriculture
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Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
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.
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HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
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Topic(s)
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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.
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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.
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants
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Call for proposal
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Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2022-STG
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
67663 Kaiserslautern
Germany
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