Objective
The evolution of multicellular animals (metazoans) from a unicellular ancestor is one of the most significant leaps in the history of life. However, little is known about the mechanisms that enabled it. Upon the acquisition of multicellularity, many molecular level innovations should have occurred, especially in the systems responsible for cell adhesion, differentiation, and cell-cell communication. Investigation of a group of protists (unicellular or colonial eukaryotes) that is closely related to metazoans should provide deep insights into molecular mechanisms for this event. Among such protists, however, only unicellular choanoflagellates have been extensively studied so far. This project aims to fill this missing piece by applying comparative genomics and molecular biological approaches to Codonosiga botrytis, a colonial choanoflagellate and two additional protists Sphaeroforma arctica and Capsaspora owczarzaki, which were recently shown to be closely related to metazoans, like choanoflagellates. To this aim, 1) the complete genome sequences of Sphaeroforma and Capsaspora, which will be exclusively available in the host institute, will be analyzed and compared to those of metazoans, in order to identify the candidate genes that were relevant to the evolution of multicellularity. Then 2) the difference in the expression profiles between the colonial and unicellular stages of Sphaeroforma and Codonosiga will be studied to identify genes responsible for forming the colony, which might represent the ‘ancestral form’ of multicellularity in metazoans. Finally, 3) molecular biological methods will be developed and applied to these protists, and functions of the candidate genes identified in 1) and 2) will be analyzed. This should elucidate the functional ‘innovations’ that enabled the evolution of multicellularity. These data will have a major impact to a wide range of research fields, especially to the ‘evo-devo’, microbiology, and molecular evolution communities.
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: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.
- humanities history and archaeology history
- natural sciences biological sciences cell biology
- natural sciences biological sciences genetics genomes
- natural sciences biological sciences microbiology
- natural sciences biological sciences molecular biology molecular evolution
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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.
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.
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.
FP7-PEOPLE-IEF-2008
See other projects for this call
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.
Coordinator
08007 BARCELONA
Spain
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.