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Diversity of bacteriophages in the ancient human microbiome

Objective

While recent work has begun to shed light on the microbiota, which includes the trillions of bacteria and phages that inhabit our body, our understanding of its evolution over the course of human history is limited. To answer research questions regarding the development of the human microbiota over time, researchers have begun to sequence ancient DNA from well-preserved fecal and dental samples to understand their bacterial community composition. However, an important group of the microbiota, bacterial viruses (or bacteriophages), which play a large role in influencing bacterial community structure and can affect human health and disease, are often understudied in these ancient samples. Here, we propose ARCHAIC (bActeRiophage in the anCient HumAn mICrobiome), a project which aims to answer key questions regarding these important viral populations in these ancient samples. Using an integrative and collaborative approach, we will use sequencing data of ancient paleofeces and dental calculus to study the oral and gut microbiome from a variety of time periods. This novel work will allow us to develop a pipeline to identify viruses in ancient samples and answer the question - do ancient bacteriophage populations resemble modern ones? In addition, by identifying phages in these ancient samples, we will be able to probe the sequencing data for insights on phage evolution, the development of bacterial defense systems against phages, as well as reconstruct ancient phage genomes to identify novel phage/host pairs. ARCHAIC will move the field of phage biology forward by identifying phages in these relatively understudied ancient samples and will have results that will be applicable to the fields of bacterial evolution, anthropology, and bioinformatics.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

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Keywords

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Programme(s)

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Topic(s)

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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.

HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships

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Call for proposal

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

(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2022-PF-01

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Coordinator

UNIVERSITY COLLEGE CORK - NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND, CORK
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.

€ 199 694,40
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.

No data

Partners (1)

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