Project description
Insight into gut microbiome membranes
The human gut microbiome plays a vital role in digestion, immunity and overall health. However, our understanding of the most common bacterial species in the gut remains incomplete, limiting efforts to develop therapies that promote healthy microbiome. Bacteroides, the dominant group of gut bacteria, interacts with the host and digests complex dietary components through its specialised outer membrane. With the support of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the Microbi-OM project aims to shed light into the assembly and maintenance of this membrane by investigating an implicated molecular machinery. Project findings could guide future microbiome engineering and next-generation therapeutics.
Objective
The human gut microbiome profoundly influences health by aiding digestion, defending against pathogens, and producing essential metabolites. While large-scale initiatives have advanced our understanding of microbiome composition and diversity, we still lack fundamental insight into its functional diversity, as many gut species diverge significantly from established model organisms at the genetic and phenotypic levels. This gap limits our ability to design microbiome-targeted therapeutics.
Bacteroides, the most abundant genus in the human gut, plays a central role in degrading complex dietary sugars and is thus a prime candidate for therapeutic strategies. A key feature underlying its success in gut colonization and defining characteristic for this phylum is its outer membrane (OM), enriched in surface lipoproteins (twice as many genes compared to E. coli). Lipoproteins come in two flavours: outer membrane proteins (OMPs) and surface-exposed lipoproteins (SELs), which together form a structural scaffold for the OM, and are essential for nutrient acquisition and communication with the host. However, the molecular principles by which Bacteroides traffics and assembles these lipoproteins into a functional OM remain largely unexplored.
The Microbi-OM project intends to uncover the mechanisms of OM biogenesis in Bacteroides by dissecting the role of the translocation and assembly module (TAM) complex in lipoprotein surface exposure, (phospho)lipid transport, and coordination with other OM biogenesis pathways. Through high-throughput functional genomics, in situ cross-linking, and proteomics, this project will deliver unprecedented molecular insights into how key gut commensals build and maintain their OM. By expanding the toolkit for studying non-traditional model organisms, Microbi-OM will set the stage for rational microbiome engineering and the development of next-generation therapeutics.
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 genetics
- natural sciences biological sciences biochemistry biomolecules proteins proteomics
- natural sciences biological sciences microbiology
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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)
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.
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HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
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Topic(s)
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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.
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-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
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Call for proposal
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Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2025-PF
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69117 Heidelberg
Germany
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