Project description
The role of viruses in marine carbon cycling
Nearly half of the conversion of carbon dioxide (CO2) into organic molecules – a process known as CO2 fixation or primary production – occurs in marine systems, environments dominated by marine cyanobacteria. However, viruses infecting these organisms can directly inhibit the CO2 fixation process. The EU-funded VirFix project aims to investigate the mechanism by which viral infection controls CO2 fixation under different light and nutrient conditions. Project results will contribute to new primary production models with important implications for global climate. Moreover, methodology developed in the project will help manipulate photosynthesis, allowing for its potential exploitation in energy generation.
Objective
Around half of the carbon dioxide (CO2) fixation on Earth occurs in marine systems, environments dominated by the cyanobacterial genera Synechococcus and Prochlorococcus. Viruses infecting these organisms (cyanophages) divert the flow of an estimated 20% of globally fixed CO2. Intriguingly, my lab has recently shown that cyanophage can directly inhibit host CO2 fixation capacity whilst at the same time carry genes essential for the light-driven reactions of photosynthesis. VirFix will elucidate the molecular basis of how viruses inhibit host CO2 fixation, which I hypothesise involves a novel protein based mechanism, and directly assess CO2 fixation rates in viral infected cells requiring the development of innovative approaches to both manipulate cyanophage genomes and enumerate viral infected cells in natural seawater samples. By focusing on how viral infection controls CO2 fixation under environmentally relevant light and nutrient conditions, Virfix will tackle novel concepts associated with elemental stoichiometry and pseudolysogeny and provide host mortality estimates which will directly inform and refine global primary production ecosystem models. In so doing, I will contribute new biological theory into how CO2 fixation is controlled at the global scale. Thus, I will be able to determine how viruses modulate primary production in organisms that are the most abundant phototrophs on the planet and whose abundance is expected to increase by 15-30% at the end of the 21st century due to global warming. By building innovative research directions on a solid foundation of host physiology and genomics I will contribute new understanding of photosynthesis and metabolism as subverted by cyanophage. Together, the proposed work has crucial implications for our understanding of marine carbon cycling and ultimately the planet’s climate and will provide novel genetic approaches for manipulating photosynthesis allowing for their potential exploitation in energy generation.
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 microbiology virology
- natural sciences biological sciences biochemistry biomolecules proteins
- natural sciences physical sciences astronomy planetary sciences planets
- natural sciences biological sciences genetics genomes
- natural sciences biological sciences botany
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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-ADG - Advanced 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-2019-ADG
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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.
CV4 8UW COVENTRY
United Kingdom
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