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The Microbiota-Root-Shoot Axis in Plant Health and Disease

Project description

Insight into plant-microbial interactions

Healthy plants have diverse communities of commensal bacteria, fungi and other microorganisms in their roots that can protect plants from disease and promote water and nutrient absorption. Plant health and homeostasis are achieved through a mutually beneficial interaction between microbes and host. Funded by the European Research Council, the MICROBIOSIS project aims to investigate the connections between microbial root commensals and shoot development processes in Arabidopsis and tomato plants. The working hypothesis is that microbial root commensals and hosts have co-evolved to produce complex regulatory circuits that modulate plant health. Insight into these mechanisms will lead to the design of synthetic microbial communities that promote plant resistance to stresses.

Objective

Since 450 million years, roots of healthy plant are colonised by diverse communities of bacteria, fungi, and oomycetes which are known to extend host functions by protecting roots from disease or by promoting water and nutrient acquisition. More remarkably, recent evidence suggests that bidirectional signalling between belowground microbial commensals and distant aboveground host organs is likely critical for maintaining host-microbe homeostasis and plant health. Reminiscent of the critical role of the microbiota-gut-brain axis for modulating brain functions in animals, we recently obtained evidence supporting the role of the microbiota-root-shoot axis for integrating response to microbes belowground and response to light aboveground. MICROBIOSIS aims at thoroughly dissecting the bi-directional connections between microbial root commensals and shoot developmental processes using Arabidopsis and tomato as model plant systems. By testing the hypothesis that co-evolutionary history between microbial root commensals and their hosts have shaped complex regulatory circuits modulating plant health, MICROBIOSIS aims at unravelling the physiological relevance of the microbiota-root-shoot axis for maintaining host-microbe homeostasis and for integrating multiple stress responses occurring in distant root and shoot organs. Using multi-kingdom synthetic microbial communities, cutting-edge metabolome, microbiome and grafting techniques, as well as several innovative and advanced gnotobiotic plant systems in which below-ground and aboveground organs are physically separated, MICROBIOSIS has the ambition to 1) bridge the gap between functional biology and ecology, 2) decrypt root microbiota-dependant regulatory circuits promoting plant health, and 3) design synthetic multi-kingdom microbial communities with modular functions favouring resistance to multiple aboveground stresses.

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Topic(s)

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HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants

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Call for proposal

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(opens in new window) ERC-2022-COG

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Host institution

MAX-PLANCK-GESELLSCHAFT ZUR FORDERUNG DER WISSENSCHAFTEN EV
Net EU contribution

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.

€ 1 999 975,00
Address
HOFGARTENSTRASSE 8
80539 MUNCHEN
Germany

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Region
Bayern Oberbayern München, Kreisfreie Stadt
Activity type
Research Organisations
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Total cost

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.

€ 1 999 975,25

Beneficiaries (1)

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