Project description
Phage-bacteria interactions for defence and anti-defence mechanisms
Genetic conflicts between hosts and pathogens have shaped innate immunity. Recent findings reveal that bacterial defences against phages share evolutionary links with eukaryotic immunity, suggesting that studying these interactions can enhance our understanding of host-pathogen dynamics. The ERC-funded CODA project aims to identify new defence and evasion mechanisms. This will enhance our understanding of host-pathogen interactions. The project will also identify innate immunity components from bacterial defences and use bioinformatics to predict protein domains that induce immune cell death in bacteria and are conserved in eukaryotes. These effectors will be characterised for engineering new immune proteins in human cells. Additionally, the project will explore how phages and eukaryotic viruses evade host immunity, using high-throughput screening.
Objective
Across the tree of life, genetic conflicts between hosts and pathogens have fueled the diversification of intracellular defenses that collectively define innate immunity. While prokaryotic and eukaryotic immunity have long been considered distinct, the recent discoveries of multiple defense systems protecting bacteria against viruses called phages have profoundly challenged this paradigm. In particular, some components of eukaryotic innate immunity were shown to have a deep evolutionary origin in bacterial defenses. The existence of ancient immune components suggests that phage-bacteria interactions can illuminate the genetic conflicts between hosts and pathogens across the tree of life, which I propose to explore through two angles.
Firstly, I propose to discover novel players of innate immunity based on bacterial defenses. A bioinformatic pipeline will systematically predict protein domains that trigger immune cell death in bacterial defenses and are conserved in eukaryotes. These effectors will be biochemically characterized in bacteria and beyond to unveil novel immune strategies disseminated across the tree of life. We will then exploit this evolutionary conservation to engineer novel immune proteins in human cells based on effectors found in other kingdoms of life.
Secondly, I hypothesize that phages and eukaryotic viruses in turn evolved similar strategies to evade immunity. We aim to discover new anti-defenses in phages and to translate them to the world of eukaryotic viruses. To do so, we will implement high-throughput screens to test the anti-defense activity of thousands of small phage genes. We will also conduct structural homology searches to reveal anti-defense mechanisms shared between phages and eukaryotic viruses and characterize them experimentally.
Altogether, this project will reveal novel molecular mechanisms of defense and anti-defense in bacteria and beyond, shedding light on the principles of host-pathogen interactions across the biosphere.
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 biological sciences evolutionary biology
You need to log in or register to use this function
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)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
-
HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
See all projects funded under this programme
Topic(s)
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.
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.
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.
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-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants
See all projects funded under this funding scheme
Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2025-STG
See all projects funded under this callHost institution
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.
75794 PARIS
France
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.