Pathogens of Algae for Biocontrol and Biosecurity

Projektinformationen

PHABB

ID Finanzhilfevereinbarung: 101120280

DOI

10.3030/101120280

EK-Unterschriftsdatum 5 Oktober 2023

Startdatum 1 Januar 2024

Enddatum 31 Dezember 2027

Finanziert unter

• Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)

Gesamtkosten

Keine Daten

EU-Beitrag

€ 2 181 988,80

Koordiniert durch

MUSEUM NATIONAL D'HISTOIRE NATURELLE
France

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - PHABB (Pathogens of Algae for Biocontrol and Biosecurity)

Berichtszeitraum: 2024-01-01 bis 2025-12-31

Zusammenfassung vom Kontext und den Gesamtzielen des Projekts

Micro- and macroalgae are fundamental components of aquatic ecosystems and will play an increasingly important role in our future. While many algae are beneficial, such as seaweeds used for food, biofuels, pharmaceuticals, and cosmetics, others can have detrimental effects. Harmful algal blooms (HABs), for instance, degrade water quality and can severely impact wild and farmed fish and shellfish, as well as drinking water resources. Climate change is further exacerbating the frequency and intensity of these blooms. As a result, HABs pose growing challenges to global aquaculture, including seaweed farming, the fastest expanding aquaculture sector and one with major socio-economic importance in many regions.
PHABB addresses these challenges through a unifying research question: how can we fight pathogens of algae to safeguard seaweed production, and exploit them to combat harmful algal blooms? To tackle this, PHABB brings together a consortium of European academic and industrial partners with complementary expertise spanning marine and freshwater algal–pathogen interactions, microbial ecology and evolution, epidemiology, taxonomy, microscopy, and omics approaches. Within this framework, ten doctoral candidates are being trained to investigate the biological and evolutionary drivers of microbial community dynamics, virulence, and host specificity, with the ultimate goal of developing innovative strategies for disease management in seaweeds and biocontrol of HABs. We expect PHABB to have a lasting impact on both research and industry in this field, primarily through the doctoral candidates, who will carry and apply the expertise developed during the programme throughout their careers.

Arbeit, die ab Beginn des Projekts bis zum Ende des durch den Bericht erfassten Berichtszeitraums geleistet wurde, und die wichtigsten bis dahin erzielten Ergebnisse

A mixed online and face-to-face training programme has been implemented, providing a dedicated setting for hands-on training and scientific exchange. This has enabled to establish a strong consortium dynamic, with effective collaboration between partners and a cohesive cohort of doctoral candidates. Network-wide training for DCs covered both technical expertise and transversal skills such as scientific communication, data management, career development, and outreach.
At this interim stage, each DC has initiated experimental work on their respective project, which is starting to yield scientific results. This includes characterising the dynamics of algal – pathogen interaction in freshwater or brackish bodies with metabarcoding techniques, isolating microalgae and their pathogens in laboratory cultures, acquiring metabarcoding data on the microbiota associated to seaweeds, characterising the phylogenetic relationship of novel pathogens of seaweeds, as well as acquiring and annotating genomes and transcriptomes of algae and of their oomycete pathogens.

Fortschritte, die über den aktuellen Stand der Technik hinausgehen und voraussichtliche potenzielle Auswirkungen (einschließlich der bis dato erzielten sozioökonomischen Auswirkungen und weiter gefassten gesellschaftlichen Auswirkungen des Projekts)

At this interim stage, when the DCs have been for a year into their PhD research, the impacts are still mostly scientific and relate to the acquisition of new knowledge. Secondments are planned with academic partners or companies, which will further the international experience of doctoral candidates and create opportunities for knowledge transfer. The potential of exploiting results, e.g. through patenting, is reviewed regularly by the SB.