Project description
Research could shed more light on how bacteria induce ice formation
Ice-nucleating bacteria can promote the growth of ice more effectively than any known material. Using specialised ice-nucleating proteins (INPs), they cause frost damage to plants, and, when airborne, they control precipitation by freezing super-cooled water in clouds. The EU-funded F-BioIce project aims to reveal further information regarding the molecular mechanisms behind INPs that so far have remained elusive. The project will devise new strategies that could lead to a paradigm shift in the entire field of ice nucleation. It could also aid the search for similar processes in ice-active fungi and pollen as well as abiotic ice nucleators – feldspar, silica and soot. The project's findings will serve as critical input for climate models and new freezing technologies for food preservation, cryomedicine and cloud seeding.
Objective
Ice active bacteria can promote the growth of ice more effectively than any other material known. Using specialized ice nucleating proteins (INPs), they attack plants by frost damage and, when airborne in the atmosphere, they drive ice nucleation within clouds and control global precipitation patterns. The control INPs exert over water phase transitions has relevance for disciplines as diverse as climatology, plant pathology, biomedicine and material science. Despite the apparent importance, the molecular mechanisms behind INP freezing have remained largely elusive. This lack of our knowledge can be traced back to the challenges in studying protein and water structure and dynamics at the very interface between monolayers of proteins and water.
With F-BioIce my team and I want to reveal the molecular details of INP function. We ask the questions: What is the structural basis for protein control of freezing? What structural motifs do proteins use to interact with water, and what is the configuration of water molecules that INPs imprint into interfacial water layers? What is the role of structural dynamics and for surface freezing? We will develop new methods based on sum frequency generation (SFG) spectroscopy to determine mode of action by which INPs interact with and manipulate water. The INPs and water structure will be obtained by combining three rising methods in the field: SFG techniques that I have been spearheading, computer simulations and cryo-electron microscopy. We will study model water surfaces and, for the first time, realistic water aerosols interacting with INPs. These new strategies could lead to a paradigm shift in the entire field of ice nucleation and a search for similar processes in ice active fungi and pollen and abiotic ice nucleators – feldspar, silica and soot. The obtained information will provide critical input for climate models and revolutionary new freezing technologies for food preservation, cryomedicine and cloud seeding.
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 biochemistry biomolecules proteins
- natural sciences physical sciences optics microscopy
- medical and health sciences basic medicine pathology
- natural sciences earth and related environmental sciences atmospheric sciences climatology
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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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H2020-EU.1.1. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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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.
ERC-COG - Consolidator Grant
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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.
(opens in new window) ERC-2018-COG
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
8000 Aarhus C
Denmark
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.