Project description
Exploring the chemical language of coral symbiosis
Coral reefs are home to an extraordinary diversity of life, yet they face severe threats from human activities. These stressors disrupt the delicate balance between corals and their microbial symbionts, including microalgae and bacteria, which are crucial for coral health. However, corals do not transmit these symbionts to their offspring, making their acquisition from the environment essential. We lack understanding of how symbionts locate and colonise corals, and how their interactions support coral growth. The ERC-funded SymbioCues project will identify the chemical cues that drive symbiont recruitment and colonisation. Through innovative approaches, the project will explore the chemical exchanges between bacteria, microalgae, and corals, offering new insights into coral health and resilience.
Objective
Coral reefs are the most diverse marine ecosystems, but are currently threatened by anthropogenic stressors that disrupt the relationship between the coral host and its microbial symbionts (i.e. endosymbiotic microalgae and bacteria). While these symbionts are fundamental to coral health, corals do not generally transmit them to their offspring, who have to acquire them from the environment. Despite the critical roles of microbial symbionts for coral health, we still do not know how they find and colonise their coral hosts, which key compounds are exchanged between the various partners once in symbiosis, and to what extent bacterial symbionts contribute to coral growth.
My previous research has revealed the importance of chemotaxis in other marine symbioses, a behaviour allowing microbes to find their host by homing in on the chemical cues it produces. Building on my previous research and preliminary data, I hypothesise that coral symbionts also use chemotaxis to find and colonise corals. Using a unique combination of cutting-edge approaches, this project aims to characterise the onset and functional consequences of coral-microbe symbioses. More specifically, it will:
(1) identify the chemical cues underpinning the recruitment of coral symbionts, using analytical chemistry approaches and in situ chemotaxis assays that I previously developed;
(2) determine how key bacterial symbionts colonise their coral host, through genetic engineering of the bacterial symbionts with live imaging and microscopy;
(3) characterise the chemical exchanges between bacteria, microalgae, and their coral host, by combining co-culture assays, omics, and high-resolution secondary ion mass spectrometry.
By deciphering the chemical language of coral symbiosis, this project will reveal biological processes at the foundation of coral health, a game changer in the current context of widespread reef degradation.
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 bacteriology
- natural sciences physical sciences optics microscopy
- natural sciences biological sciences ecology ecosystems
- natural sciences biological sciences biological behavioural sciences ethology biological interactions
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Keywords
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)
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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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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.
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Call for proposal
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(opens in new window) ERC-2024-COG
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75794 PARIS
France
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