Project description
New ways to harness the microbiome for healthier, more resilient tomato plants
The rhizosphere microbiome is a community of microorganisms around plant roots that significantly enhances nutrient uptake, yield and stress tolerance. Although much is known about how polyphenols help control root microbiomes, the role of alkaloids – a class of plant metabolites involved in signalling and defence – remains largely unexplored. With the support of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the ALKBIOTA project aims to uncover how alkaloids influence the tomato root microbiome under stress conditions such as nitrogen deficiency and pathogen attack. Researchers will analyse the interplay between alkaloids and microbiomes, employing synthetic microbial communities and bioinformatics tools. Project outcomes will provide new insights into how tomatoes use alkaloids to communicate with their microbiome, revealing promising avenues for improving crop resilience and productivity.
Objective
Plants host diverse communities of microorganisms called plant microbiome that provide specific services by several mechanisms.
Because of its capacity to enhance plant nutrient uptake, yield, and tolerance to challenging conditions, the rhizosphere microbiome
stands as a valuable bioresource for fostering sustainable agriculture. However, there remains a lack in comprehending the process of
interaction within the rhizosphere-microbiome ecosystem. Plants secrete a broad of secondary metabolites, which vary with species
and may interact with the biota. Alkaloids, a class of secondary metabolites play a major role in plants' signaling and defense.
Although significant progress has been made in elucidating the role of polyphenols in controlling Arabidopsis roots microbiome,
little is known about the impact of the alkaloids on microbiome shaping. In this project, we intend to dissect the hidden role of
alkaloids in controlling the root microbiome of tomato in response to biotic/abiotic stress and to determine the related microbial
processes and services that will help the plant under stress using a multidisciplinary approach. We first seek to identify the effects of
Phytophthora infestans attack and nitrogen deficiency on the composition of tomato root-microbiome. Then, we intend to unravel
the biological role of alkaloids on microbiome control under stressful conditions. Afterward, the interrelation microbiome and
alkaloids will be better defined using SynComs. Finally, we will employ bioinformatics pipelines to analyze data and to decode the
correlation alkaloids-microbiome-plant performance. The outcomes of this project will provide new insights on the interaction
tomato-alkaloids and microbiome, allowing for a better understanding of alkaloids, and how tomato use it to communicate with the
microbiome under stresses. It will reveal promising avenues for leveraging alkaloids as signals to control and harness the
rhizomicrobiome to enhance tomato fitness and production
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 ecology ecosystems
- agricultural sciences agriculture, forestry, and fisheries agriculture
- natural sciences biological sciences microbiology
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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.
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.
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
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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) HORIZON-MSCA-2024-PF-01
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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.
50931 Koln
Germany
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.