Descrizione del progetto
Esplorare i meccanismi di migrazione dei microbi del suolo
I microbi del suolo svolgono un ruolo fondamentale nel riciclare e distribuire le sostanze nutritive che favoriscono la crescita delle radici. La loro attività determina essenzialmente la fertilità del terreno stesso, nonché la salute generale delle piante. Dati gli attuali tassi di degrado del suolo, una migliore comprensione della migrazione e della colonizzazione di tali microbi potrebbe consentire di rivitalizzare terreni contaminati o sterili. Il progetto MICOL-FUNTRANS, finanziato dal programma di azioni Marie Skłodowska-Curie, studierà il meccanismo di trasporto mediato dalle ife fungine, che facilitano la traslocazione dei batteri. Innanzitutto, il progetto si propone di caratterizzare e identificare i microbi migranti in condizioni simulate; successivamente, si avvarrà dei risultati ottenuti per condurre un’innovativa ricerca in situ sullo sviluppo del suolo nell’arido avampaese di un ghiacciaio artico.
Obiettivo
Microbes in soil drive ecosystem services defining life on the Earth. Translocation of these microbes is key features in the spatial exploration of soil. This directly impacts major ecological processes such as niche colonization and the development of soil structure, but knowledge of how microbes migrate in soil is scarce. A potential universal mechanism is fungal hyphae mediated transport (FHMT) where bacteria use hyphae of fungi as a route to translocate in a directed manner. However, this has been solely observed in the laboratory, but not in soil where single-cell level studies are restricted by technical limits. MICOL-FUNTRANS overcomes these limitations by developing and exploiting a novel system combining microfluidics, microbiological and microscopical methods to i) observe microbial movement in soil-like systems and ii) identify single involved organisms. Micro-channels will provide treatments to compare soil colonization and structure formation with and without FHMT. Ultimately, findings will be upscaled to an ecological level in a dedicated field study using a glacier forefield in the Arctic, which constitutes a unique natural laboratory to study initial soil development as ongoing climate change melts glaciers and frees vast areas of barren soil at present.
The results of this project will foster an integrated view on the soil biome and push research on bacterial-fungal interactions to the centre of attention in soil microbiology and related industries. Specifically, knowledge of migration rates of microbes in soil will impact models on nutrient distribution and efforts in bioremediation of contaminated soil. A better understanding of the initial stages of soil structure formation at the micro-scale will impact efforts in soil quality and health preservation related actions, a topic of highest societal and economic interest as the degradation of soil is one of the most pressing environmental threads we are currently facing.
Campo scientifico
- natural sciencesphysical sciencesclassical mechanicsfluid mechanicsmicrofluidics
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesmicrobiologybacteriology
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesmicrobiologymycology
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesecologyecosystems
- natural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencesatmospheric sciencesclimatologyclimatic changes
Parole chiave
Programma(i)
- HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Main Programme
Meccanismo di finanziamento
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European FellowshipsCoordinatore
14473 POTSDAM
Germania