Objective
As any other obligate parasite, Plasmodium depends on its hosts and on the nutrients they provide to survive and complete its life cycle. Surprisingly, nothing is know about Plasmodium’s capacity to sense nutrients or its host’s nutritional status and thereby reprogram its metabolism. Our preliminary data provides unequivocal evidence that Plasmodium has the ability to sense the host low-nutrient status and adapt to it by decreasing its multiplication rate. Thus, the overall goal of the present proposal is to unveil the molecular mechanisms by which parasites are capable to sense and adapt to environmental signals originated from nutrients and to determine its impact on the course and virulence of infection. To that end we propose to: (i) Identify Plasmodium pathway(s) that sense (host) nutritional changes; (ii) Uncover which molecules are sensed by Plasmodium during its intracellular development; (iii) Study the impact of the parasite’s nutrient sensing pathways activity on the course of infection; and (iv) Evaluate host nutritional status sensing as a common feature in parasites. The present proposal moves towards a change of paradigm on how host-parasite interactions are viewed. By definition, since a parasite requires a host in order to survive, a decrease in the availability of an essential molecule obtained from the host will weaken the parasite and render it incapable of succeeding in its life cycle. The rationale behind this proposal is that parasites monitor host nutritional environment and, prior to any nutrient(s) becoming limiting, are able to respond and adapt to the sensed alteration(s). Multidisciplinary approaches that combine genetic, genomic, cell biological and physiological methodologies will be used. Results arising from the present proposal will provide novel insights into the cell biology of these parasites and will increase our understanding of the interactions that these parasites maintain with their hosts.
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.
You need to log in or register to use this function
We are sorry... an unexpected error occurred during execution.
You need to be authenticated. Your session might have expired.
Thank you for your feedback. You will soon receive an email to confirm the submission. If you have selected to be notified about the reporting status, you will also be contacted when the reporting status will change.
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-2012-StG_20111109
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
1649 028 Lisboa
Portugal
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.