Objective
Archaea are increasingly recognized as globally abundant organisms that mediate important processes controlling greenhouse gases and nutrients. Our latest work, published in PNAS and Nature, suggests that Archaea dominate the biomass in the subseafloor. Their unique ability to cope with extreme energy starvation appears to be a selecting factor. Marine sediments are of crucial importance to the redox balance and climate of our planet but the regulating role of the deep biosphere remains one of the great puzzles in biogeochemistry. The unique and diverse sedimentary Archaea with no cultured representatives, so-called benthic archaea, are key to understanding this system. Their presumed ability to degrade complex recalcitrant organic residues highlights their relevance for the carbon cycle and as potential targets for biotechnology. I propose to study the role of benthic archaea in the carbon cycle and in the deep biosphere and to explore their life strategies. This task requires an interdisciplinary frontier research approach at the scale of an ERC grant, involving biogeochemistry, earth sciences, and microbiology. Central to my research strategy is the information contained in structural and isotopic properties of membrane lipids from benthic archaea, an area of research spearheaded by my lab. In-depth geochemical examination of their habitat will elucidate processes they mediate. Metagenomic analysis will provide a phylogenetic framework and further insights on metabolism. At the Archaeenzentrum in Regensburg, we will grow model Archaea under a set of environmental conditions and examine the impact on cellular lipid distributions in order to develop the full potential of lipids as proxies for studying nearly inaccessible microbial life. Attempts to enrich benthic archaea from sediments will complement this approach. This frontier research will constrain the role of benthic archaea in the Earth system and examine the fundamental properties of life at minimum energy.
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 physical sciences astronomy planetary sciences planets
- natural sciences biological sciences biochemistry biomolecules lipids
- natural sciences earth and related environmental sciences atmospheric sciences meteorology biosphera
- natural sciences biological sciences microbiology
- natural sciences earth and related environmental sciences geochemistry biogeochemistry
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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.
ERC-2009-AdG
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.
Host institution
28359 Bremen
Germany
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.