Objective
To enable management of polluted sites, regulatory and scientific focus is on developing sensitive sub lethal (cellular, biochemical, molecular) indicators for early recognition, identification and analysis of chemical effects. Current tools are based on detoxification mechanisms that can only be linked to ecological parameters by correlation. To provide immediate ecological relevance of biomarkers this project aims to identify molecular parameters (e.g. genes) that are functional components of life-cycle traits important to population fitness. In addition to the focus on risk assessment (a priority area in Thematic Sub-Priority 1.6.3 Global Change and Ecosystems), research into genetic control of life-cycle (i.e. longevity) is at the cutting edge of life-science research making the work of direct relevance to human health and the biotechnology sector. To identify genes functional linked to life-cycle, two species have been selected; the long living, slow reproducing earthworm Lubricous rubellas and the opportunistic, short living, fast reproducing nematode Caenorhabditis elegant. L. rubellas is one of the few environmentally relevant soil species that is genetically well studied, ubiquitous and established in ecotoxicology and biomarker research. C. elegant has a fully sequenced genome and functional genomic tools are available (gene knock out and RNAi). The staged research programme we plan will
1) screen functional Expressed Sequence Tags to identify L. rubellas genes possibly linked to life-cycle;
2) establish functional links between growth, reproductive rates and gene expression;
3) determine the population level relevance of toxicant induced life-cycle changes;
4) validate the relevance of the functional linkage in L. rubellas;
5) determine how expression of functional linked genes relates to fitness in C. elegant;
6) mechanistically validate the best candidate genes and their fundamental and conserved functional roles.
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.
- medical and health sciences health sciences public health
- natural sciences biological sciences genetics genomes
- natural sciences biological sciences zoology invertebrate zoology
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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.
FP6-2002-MOBILITY-5
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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
SWINDON
United Kingdom
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.