Project description
Understanding nitrifying communities in wastewater treatment
Microbial interactions play a role in shaping the structure and function of microbiomes in wastewater treatment plants, or WWTPs, directly influencing how effectively these systems operate. Among these microbes, nitrifiers (chemolithoautotrophs and key primary producers) are central to understanding inorganic carbon flow, especially when studied using stable isotope techniques. With the support of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the INTERACT project will use network analysis and cell-sorting techniques to identify co-existing species and analyse their genomes through metagenomics to uncover potential connections. These insights will be confirmed using advanced methods such as fluorescence in situ hybridisation (FISH), stable isotope probing (SIP) and chemical imaging. By shedding light on the complex relationships within wastewater communities, INTERACT aims to offer valuable insights for broader microbiome research.
Objective
Microbial interactions shape the structure, function, and resilience of microbiomes in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), directly impacting performance. Nitrifiers, as chemolithoautotrophs and primary producers, are particularly suitable for studying these interactions by assessing carbon flow through metabolite tracing with stable isotopes. This project aims to uncover the principles governing microbial interactions between nitrifiers and their partners through three work packages: identifying interaction partners, inferring their interactions by genome analysis, and verifying these interactions in situ. Potential partners will be identified combining co-occurrence network analyses, fluorescence-activated cell sorting of activated sludge microflocs containing nitrifiers, and amplicon sequencing to identify co-sorted microbes. Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) will be used to confirm their spatial co-localization with nitrifiers. Next, deep long-read metagenomics will generate metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) of nitrifiers and their potential partners for genome analysis and metabolic modeling, identifying possible types of interactions. The hypothesized interactions will be verified using FISH and stable isotope probing (SIP) combined with chemical imaging such as mid-infrared photothermal (MIP) imaging and matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization mass spectrometry imaging (MALDI-MSI) to identify exchanged metabolites in situ. This project is among the first to integrate SIP, FISH, and chemical imaging (MIP and MALDI-MSI) to study microbe-microbe interactions directly in complex microbiomes at the single-cell or cell cluster level. The findings will provide new insights into interaction mechanisms within complex microbiome and help design strategies to promote stable nitrifying communities in WWTPs. The developed workflow will also be highly valuable for studying microbial interactions in other environmental and medical microbiomes.
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.
- engineering and technology environmental engineering water treatment processes wastewater treatment processes
- natural sciences biological sciences genetics genomes
- natural sciences biological sciences microbiology
- natural sciences physical sciences optics laser physics
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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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HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
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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.
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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.
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
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Call for proposal
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(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2024-PF-01
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1010 Wien
Austria
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