Project acronym AMBH
Project Ancient Music Beyond Hellenisation
Researcher (PI) Stefan HAGEL
Host Institution (HI) OESTERREICHISCHE AKADEMIE DER WISSENSCHAFTEN
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), SH5, ERC-2017-ADG
Summary From medieval times, Arabic as well as European music was analysed in terms that were inherited from Classical Antiquity and had thus developed in a very different music culture. In spite of recent breakthroughs in the understanding of the latter, whose technicalities we access not only through texts and iconography, but also through instrument finds and surviving notated melodies, its relation to music traditions known from later periods and different places is almost uncharted territory.
The present project explores relations between Hellenic/Hellenistic music as pervaded the theatres and concert halls throughout and beyond the Roman empire, Near Eastern traditions – from the diatonic system emerging from cuneiform sources to the flourishing musical world of the caliphates – and, as far as possible, African musical life south of Egypt as well – a region that maintained close ties both with the Hellenised culture of its northern neighbours and with the Arabian Peninsula.
On the one hand, this demands collaboration between Classical Philology and Arabic Studies, extending methods recently developed within music archaeological research related to the Classical Mediterranean. Arabic writings need to be examined in close reading, using recent insights into the interplay between ancient music theory and practice, in order to segregate the influence of Greek thinking from ideas and facts that must relate to contemporaneous ‘Arabic’ music-making. In this way we hope better to define the relation of this tradition to the ‘Classical world’, potentially breaking free of Orientalising bias informing modern views. On the other hand, the study and reconstruction, virtual and material, of wind instruments of Hellenistic pedigree but found outside the confinements of the Hellenistic ‘heartlands’ may provide evidence of ‘foreign’ tonality employed in those regions – specifically the royal city of Meroë in modern Sudan and the Oxus Temple in modern Tajikistan.
Summary
From medieval times, Arabic as well as European music was analysed in terms that were inherited from Classical Antiquity and had thus developed in a very different music culture. In spite of recent breakthroughs in the understanding of the latter, whose technicalities we access not only through texts and iconography, but also through instrument finds and surviving notated melodies, its relation to music traditions known from later periods and different places is almost uncharted territory.
The present project explores relations between Hellenic/Hellenistic music as pervaded the theatres and concert halls throughout and beyond the Roman empire, Near Eastern traditions – from the diatonic system emerging from cuneiform sources to the flourishing musical world of the caliphates – and, as far as possible, African musical life south of Egypt as well – a region that maintained close ties both with the Hellenised culture of its northern neighbours and with the Arabian Peninsula.
On the one hand, this demands collaboration between Classical Philology and Arabic Studies, extending methods recently developed within music archaeological research related to the Classical Mediterranean. Arabic writings need to be examined in close reading, using recent insights into the interplay between ancient music theory and practice, in order to segregate the influence of Greek thinking from ideas and facts that must relate to contemporaneous ‘Arabic’ music-making. In this way we hope better to define the relation of this tradition to the ‘Classical world’, potentially breaking free of Orientalising bias informing modern views. On the other hand, the study and reconstruction, virtual and material, of wind instruments of Hellenistic pedigree but found outside the confinements of the Hellenistic ‘heartlands’ may provide evidence of ‘foreign’ tonality employed in those regions – specifically the royal city of Meroë in modern Sudan and the Oxus Temple in modern Tajikistan.
Max ERC Funding
775 959 €
Duration
Start date: 2018-09-01, End date: 2023-08-31
Project acronym ARCHADAPT
Project The architecture of adaptation to novel environments
Researcher (PI) Christian Werner Schlötterer
Host Institution (HI) VETERINAERMEDIZINISCHE UNIVERSITAET WIEN
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), LS8, ERC-2011-ADG_20110310
Summary One of the central goals in evolutionary biology is to understand adaptation. Experimental evolution represents a highly promising approach to study adaptation. In this proposal, a freshly collected D. simulans population will be allowed to adapt to laboratory conditions under two different temperature regimes: hot (27°C) and cold (18°C). The trajectories of adaptation to these novel environments will be monitored on three levels: 1) genomic, 2) transcriptomic, 3) phenotypic. Allele frequency changes during the experiment will be measured by next generation sequencing of DNA pools (Pool-Seq) to identify targets of selection. RNA-Seq will be used to trace adaptation on the transcriptomic level during three developmental stages. Eight different phenotypes will be scored to measure the phenotypic consequences of adaptation. Combining the adaptive trajectories on these three levels will provide a picture of adaptation for a multicellular, outcrossing organism that is far more detailed than any previous results.
Furthermore, the proposal addresses the question of how adaptation on these three levels is reversible if the environment reverts to ancestral conditions. The third aspect of adaptation covered in the proposal is the question of repeatability of adaptation. Again, this question will be addressed on the three levels: genomic, transcriptomic and phenotypic. Using replicates with different degrees of genetic similarity, as well as closely related species, we will test how similar the adaptive response is.
This large-scale study will provide new insights into the importance of standing variation for the adaptation to novel environments. Hence, apart from providing significant evolutionary insights on the trajectories of adaptation, the results we will obtain will have important implications for conservation genetics and commercial breeding.
Summary
One of the central goals in evolutionary biology is to understand adaptation. Experimental evolution represents a highly promising approach to study adaptation. In this proposal, a freshly collected D. simulans population will be allowed to adapt to laboratory conditions under two different temperature regimes: hot (27°C) and cold (18°C). The trajectories of adaptation to these novel environments will be monitored on three levels: 1) genomic, 2) transcriptomic, 3) phenotypic. Allele frequency changes during the experiment will be measured by next generation sequencing of DNA pools (Pool-Seq) to identify targets of selection. RNA-Seq will be used to trace adaptation on the transcriptomic level during three developmental stages. Eight different phenotypes will be scored to measure the phenotypic consequences of adaptation. Combining the adaptive trajectories on these three levels will provide a picture of adaptation for a multicellular, outcrossing organism that is far more detailed than any previous results.
Furthermore, the proposal addresses the question of how adaptation on these three levels is reversible if the environment reverts to ancestral conditions. The third aspect of adaptation covered in the proposal is the question of repeatability of adaptation. Again, this question will be addressed on the three levels: genomic, transcriptomic and phenotypic. Using replicates with different degrees of genetic similarity, as well as closely related species, we will test how similar the adaptive response is.
This large-scale study will provide new insights into the importance of standing variation for the adaptation to novel environments. Hence, apart from providing significant evolutionary insights on the trajectories of adaptation, the results we will obtain will have important implications for conservation genetics and commercial breeding.
Max ERC Funding
2 452 084 €
Duration
Start date: 2012-07-01, End date: 2018-06-30
Project acronym BETLIV
Project Returning to a Better Place: The (Re)assessment of the ‘Good Life’ in Times of Crisis
Researcher (PI) Valerio SIMONI RIBA
Host Institution (HI) FONDATION POUR L INSTITUT DE HAUTES ETUDES INTERNATIONALES ET DU DEVELOPPEMENT
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH5, ERC-2017-STG
Summary What makes for a valuable and good life is a question that many people in the contemporary world ask themselves, yet it is one that social science research has seldom addressed. Only recently have scholars started undertaking inductive comparative research on different notions of the ‘good life’, highlighting socio-cultural variations and calling for a better understanding of the different imaginaries, aspirations and values that guide people in their quest for better living conditions. Research is still lacking, however, on how people themselves evaluate, compare, and put into perspective different visions of good living and their socio-cultural anchorage. This project addresses such questions from an anthropological perspective, proposing an innovative study of how ideals of the good life are articulated, (re)assessed, and related to specific places and contexts as a result of the experience of crisis and migration. The case studies chosen to operationalize these lines of enquiry focus on the phenomenon of return migration, and consist in an analysis of the imaginaries and experience of return by Ecuadorian and Cuban men and women who migrated to Spain, are dissatisfied with their life there, and envisage/carry out the project of going back to their countries of origin (Ecuador and Cuba respectively). The project’s ambition is to bring together and contribute to three main scholarly areas of enquiry: 1) the study of morality, ethics and what counts as ‘good life’, 2) the study of the field of economic practice, its definition, value regimes, and ‘crises’, and 3) the study of migratory aspirations, projects, and trajectories. A multi-sited endeavour, the research is designed in three subprojects carried out in Spain (PhD student), Ecuador (Post-Doc), and Cuba (PI), in which ethnographic methods will be used to provide the first empirically grounded study of the links between notions and experiences of crisis, return migration, and the (re)assessment of good living.
Summary
What makes for a valuable and good life is a question that many people in the contemporary world ask themselves, yet it is one that social science research has seldom addressed. Only recently have scholars started undertaking inductive comparative research on different notions of the ‘good life’, highlighting socio-cultural variations and calling for a better understanding of the different imaginaries, aspirations and values that guide people in their quest for better living conditions. Research is still lacking, however, on how people themselves evaluate, compare, and put into perspective different visions of good living and their socio-cultural anchorage. This project addresses such questions from an anthropological perspective, proposing an innovative study of how ideals of the good life are articulated, (re)assessed, and related to specific places and contexts as a result of the experience of crisis and migration. The case studies chosen to operationalize these lines of enquiry focus on the phenomenon of return migration, and consist in an analysis of the imaginaries and experience of return by Ecuadorian and Cuban men and women who migrated to Spain, are dissatisfied with their life there, and envisage/carry out the project of going back to their countries of origin (Ecuador and Cuba respectively). The project’s ambition is to bring together and contribute to three main scholarly areas of enquiry: 1) the study of morality, ethics and what counts as ‘good life’, 2) the study of the field of economic practice, its definition, value regimes, and ‘crises’, and 3) the study of migratory aspirations, projects, and trajectories. A multi-sited endeavour, the research is designed in three subprojects carried out in Spain (PhD student), Ecuador (Post-Doc), and Cuba (PI), in which ethnographic methods will be used to provide the first empirically grounded study of the links between notions and experiences of crisis, return migration, and the (re)assessment of good living.
Max ERC Funding
1 500 000 €
Duration
Start date: 2018-02-01, End date: 2023-01-31
Project acronym CLLCLONE
Project Harnessing clonal evolution in chronic lymphocytic leukemia
Researcher (PI) Davide ROSSI
Host Institution (HI) FONDAZIONE PER L'ISTITUTO ONCOLOGICO DI RICERCA (IOR)
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), LS7, ERC-2017-COG
Summary Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), the most common leukemia in adults, is addicted of interactions with the microenvironment. The B-cell receptor (BCR) is one of the most important surface molecules that CLL cells use to gain oncogenic signals from the microenvironment. The critical role of BCR signaling for the pathogenesis of CLL is supported by the therapeutic success of ibrutinib, a targeted agent that disrupts the BCR pathway. Beside microenvironment-promoted oncogenic signals, the biology of CLL is also driven by molecular lesions and clonal evolution, that mark CLL progression and treatment resistance. The interconnection between microenvironment-promoted oncogenic signals and clonal evolution has been postulated in CLL but never proven because of the lack of suitable ex vivo models. Ibrutinib allows the unprecedented opportunity of assessing the contribution of cell signaling to cancer clonal evolution directly in vivo in patients. The project working hypothesis is that mutation- and selection-driven clonal evolution is promoted by microenvironment-induced signals, including those propagated from the BCR. According to this hypothesis: i) BCR signaling inhibition due to ibrutinib should stop clonal evolution; while ii) acquisition of by-pass mechanisms that keep ongoing signaling should promote mutation and selection despite BCR inhibition, thus favoring CLL clonal evolution and ibrutinib resistance. In this scenario, the combination of ibrutinib with drugs that overcome by-pass mechanisms could prevent clonal evolution, thus improving treatment efficacy and patient outcome. In order to address our working hypothesis, we will take advantage of clinical trial and co-clinical trial samples to monitor signaling and clonal evolution under ibrutinib and ibrutinib-based combination treatments.
Summary
Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), the most common leukemia in adults, is addicted of interactions with the microenvironment. The B-cell receptor (BCR) is one of the most important surface molecules that CLL cells use to gain oncogenic signals from the microenvironment. The critical role of BCR signaling for the pathogenesis of CLL is supported by the therapeutic success of ibrutinib, a targeted agent that disrupts the BCR pathway. Beside microenvironment-promoted oncogenic signals, the biology of CLL is also driven by molecular lesions and clonal evolution, that mark CLL progression and treatment resistance. The interconnection between microenvironment-promoted oncogenic signals and clonal evolution has been postulated in CLL but never proven because of the lack of suitable ex vivo models. Ibrutinib allows the unprecedented opportunity of assessing the contribution of cell signaling to cancer clonal evolution directly in vivo in patients. The project working hypothesis is that mutation- and selection-driven clonal evolution is promoted by microenvironment-induced signals, including those propagated from the BCR. According to this hypothesis: i) BCR signaling inhibition due to ibrutinib should stop clonal evolution; while ii) acquisition of by-pass mechanisms that keep ongoing signaling should promote mutation and selection despite BCR inhibition, thus favoring CLL clonal evolution and ibrutinib resistance. In this scenario, the combination of ibrutinib with drugs that overcome by-pass mechanisms could prevent clonal evolution, thus improving treatment efficacy and patient outcome. In order to address our working hypothesis, we will take advantage of clinical trial and co-clinical trial samples to monitor signaling and clonal evolution under ibrutinib and ibrutinib-based combination treatments.
Max ERC Funding
1 940 000 €
Duration
Start date: 2018-07-01, End date: 2023-06-30
Project acronym Ecol of interactions
Project Developing the predictive ecology of plant-animal interactions across space and time
Researcher (PI) Catherine GRAHAM
Host Institution (HI) EIDGENOESSISCHE FORSCHUNGSANSTALT WSL
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), LS8, ERC-2017-ADG
Summary In the face of the alarming pace of recent environmental change we lack the tools to accurately predict how biodiversity and ecosystem services will respond. One key gap in knowledge that limits our predictive ability is uncertainty concerning how the biotic interactions will change. Developing a predictive science of species interactions requires integrating evolutionary, biogeographic and ecological mechanisms acting at different spatial and temporal scales. We will use a hierarchical cross-scale approach, combining phylogeography, network ecology, statistical modelling and experiments, to disentangle the mechanisms governing species richness and mutualistic interactions in tropical hummingbirds and their food plants. Hummingbirds and their food plants are an excellent model system because they are highly diverse, highly specialized, and logistically feasible to study. Our objectives are to (1) evaluate the influence of factors, such as trait-matching, environmental conditions and relatedness, on network structure; (2) quantify how and why interaction beta-diversity (i.e., reflecting the change in both species composition, and in interacting partners) changes across elevation gradients in each of three biogeographic regions with distinct evolutionary histories (mountain regions in Costa Rica, Ecuador, Brazil); (3) evaluate the importance of multiple factors, such as trait-matching, environmental conditions, relatedness and abundance, on species interactions and network structure; and (4) develop a predictive model of species interactions and evaluate its performance using cross-validation and experimentation. Together, these tasks will provide new insight into one of the central enigmas in ecology, namely, why species diversity and its interaction architecture change across space and time. We will also be able predict how species interactions will change from present to the future, which is essential for the conservation of biodiversity and ecosystem services.
Summary
In the face of the alarming pace of recent environmental change we lack the tools to accurately predict how biodiversity and ecosystem services will respond. One key gap in knowledge that limits our predictive ability is uncertainty concerning how the biotic interactions will change. Developing a predictive science of species interactions requires integrating evolutionary, biogeographic and ecological mechanisms acting at different spatial and temporal scales. We will use a hierarchical cross-scale approach, combining phylogeography, network ecology, statistical modelling and experiments, to disentangle the mechanisms governing species richness and mutualistic interactions in tropical hummingbirds and their food plants. Hummingbirds and their food plants are an excellent model system because they are highly diverse, highly specialized, and logistically feasible to study. Our objectives are to (1) evaluate the influence of factors, such as trait-matching, environmental conditions and relatedness, on network structure; (2) quantify how and why interaction beta-diversity (i.e., reflecting the change in both species composition, and in interacting partners) changes across elevation gradients in each of three biogeographic regions with distinct evolutionary histories (mountain regions in Costa Rica, Ecuador, Brazil); (3) evaluate the importance of multiple factors, such as trait-matching, environmental conditions, relatedness and abundance, on species interactions and network structure; and (4) develop a predictive model of species interactions and evaluate its performance using cross-validation and experimentation. Together, these tasks will provide new insight into one of the central enigmas in ecology, namely, why species diversity and its interaction architecture change across space and time. We will also be able predict how species interactions will change from present to the future, which is essential for the conservation of biodiversity and ecosystem services.
Max ERC Funding
2 499 930 €
Duration
Start date: 2018-10-01, End date: 2023-09-30
Project acronym EPIC
Project Enabling Precision Immuno-oncology in Colorectal cancer
Researcher (PI) Zlatko TRAJANOSKI
Host Institution (HI) MEDIZINISCHE UNIVERSITAT INNSBRUCK
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), LS7, ERC-2017-ADG
Summary Immunotherapy with checkpoints blockers is transforming the treatment of advanced cancers. Colorectal cancer (CRC), a cancer with 1.4 million new cases diagnosed annually worldwide, is refractory to immunotherapy (with the exception of a minority of tumors with microsatellite instability). This is somehow paradoxical as CRC is a cancer for which we have shown that it is under immunological control and that tumor infiltrating lymphocytes represent a strong independent predictor of survival. Thus, there is an urgent need to broaden the clinical benefits of immune checkpoint blockers to CRC by combining agents with synergistic mechanisms of action. An attractive approach to sensitize tumors to immunotherapy is to harness immunogenic effects induced by approved conventional or targeted agents.
Here I propose a new paradigm to identify molecular determinants of resistance to immunotherapy and develop personalized in silico and in vitro models for predicting response to combination therapy in CRC. The EPIC concept is based on three pillars: 1) emphasis on antitumor T cell activity; 2) systematic interrogation of tumor-immune cell interactions using data-driven modeling and knowledge-based mechanistic modeling, and 3) generation of key quantitative data to train and validate algorithms using perturbation experiments with patient-derived tumor organoids and cutting-edge technologies for multidimensional profiling. We will investigate three immunomodulatory processes: 1) immunostimulatory effects of chemotherapeutics, 2) rewiring of signaling networks induced by targeted drugs and their interference with immunity, and 3) metabolic reprogramming of T cells to enhance antitumor immunity.
The anticipated outcome of EPIC is a precision immuno-oncology platform that integrates tumor organoids with high-throughput and high-content data for testing drug combinations, and machine learning for making therapeutic recommendations for individual patients.
Summary
Immunotherapy with checkpoints blockers is transforming the treatment of advanced cancers. Colorectal cancer (CRC), a cancer with 1.4 million new cases diagnosed annually worldwide, is refractory to immunotherapy (with the exception of a minority of tumors with microsatellite instability). This is somehow paradoxical as CRC is a cancer for which we have shown that it is under immunological control and that tumor infiltrating lymphocytes represent a strong independent predictor of survival. Thus, there is an urgent need to broaden the clinical benefits of immune checkpoint blockers to CRC by combining agents with synergistic mechanisms of action. An attractive approach to sensitize tumors to immunotherapy is to harness immunogenic effects induced by approved conventional or targeted agents.
Here I propose a new paradigm to identify molecular determinants of resistance to immunotherapy and develop personalized in silico and in vitro models for predicting response to combination therapy in CRC. The EPIC concept is based on three pillars: 1) emphasis on antitumor T cell activity; 2) systematic interrogation of tumor-immune cell interactions using data-driven modeling and knowledge-based mechanistic modeling, and 3) generation of key quantitative data to train and validate algorithms using perturbation experiments with patient-derived tumor organoids and cutting-edge technologies for multidimensional profiling. We will investigate three immunomodulatory processes: 1) immunostimulatory effects of chemotherapeutics, 2) rewiring of signaling networks induced by targeted drugs and their interference with immunity, and 3) metabolic reprogramming of T cells to enhance antitumor immunity.
The anticipated outcome of EPIC is a precision immuno-oncology platform that integrates tumor organoids with high-throughput and high-content data for testing drug combinations, and machine learning for making therapeutic recommendations for individual patients.
Max ERC Funding
2 460 500 €
Duration
Start date: 2018-10-01, End date: 2023-09-30
Project acronym EPICLINES
Project Elucidating the causes and consequences of the global pattern of epigenetic variation in Arabidopsis thaliana
Researcher (PI) Lars Magnus Henrik NORDBORG
Host Institution (HI) GREGOR MENDEL INSTITUT FUR MOLEKULARE PFLANZENBIOLOGIE GMBH
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), LS8, ERC-2017-ADG
Summary Epigenetics continues to fascinate, especially the notion that it blurs the line between “nature and nurture” and could make Lamarckian adaptation via the inheritance of acquired characteristics possible. That this is in principle possible is clear: in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana (Thale cress), experimentally induced DNA methylation variation can be inherited and affect important traits. The question is whether this is important in nature. Recent studies of A. thaliana have revealed a pattern of correlation between levels of methylation and climate variables that strongly suggests that methylation is important in adaptation. However, somewhat paradoxically, the experiments also showed that much of the variation for this epigenetic trait appears to have a genetic rather than an epigenetic basis. This suggest that epigenetics may indeed be important for adaptation, but as part of a genetic mechanism that is currently not understood. The goal of this project is to determine whether the global pattern of methylation has a genetic or an epigenetic basis, and to use this information to elucidate the ultimate basis for the global pattern of variation: natural selection.
Summary
Epigenetics continues to fascinate, especially the notion that it blurs the line between “nature and nurture” and could make Lamarckian adaptation via the inheritance of acquired characteristics possible. That this is in principle possible is clear: in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana (Thale cress), experimentally induced DNA methylation variation can be inherited and affect important traits. The question is whether this is important in nature. Recent studies of A. thaliana have revealed a pattern of correlation between levels of methylation and climate variables that strongly suggests that methylation is important in adaptation. However, somewhat paradoxically, the experiments also showed that much of the variation for this epigenetic trait appears to have a genetic rather than an epigenetic basis. This suggest that epigenetics may indeed be important for adaptation, but as part of a genetic mechanism that is currently not understood. The goal of this project is to determine whether the global pattern of methylation has a genetic or an epigenetic basis, and to use this information to elucidate the ultimate basis for the global pattern of variation: natural selection.
Max ERC Funding
2 498 468 €
Duration
Start date: 2018-06-01, End date: 2023-05-31
Project acronym EPIDEMICSonCHIP
Project EPIDEMICS in ant societies ON a CHIP
Researcher (PI) Sylvia Maria Cremer-Sixt
Host Institution (HI) INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGYAUSTRIA
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), LS8, ERC-2017-COG
Summary Living in societies amplifies the risk of getting sick, as pathogens can easily spread along the dense social interaction networks of the hosts. Sanitary care and the organisational structure of societies are expected to limit the risk of epidemics. Yet, how the defences of the individual group members scale-up, combine and synergise towards society-level protection, is poorly understood, as the majority of societies can only be studied via correlational and modeling approaches. Insect societies provide a powerful system for experimental studies, as whole societies are accessible for surveillance and manipulative approaches. We can monitor every behavioural interaction between all members, determine their effects on colony-wide disease spread and replicate experiments arbitrarily. The fitness effects of collective disease defences can be quantified, as they result in a single fitness measure of colony productivity. This is because all members of a social insect colony form a reproductive entity composed of the reproductive queens and males and their sterile workers. I will use an ant host–fungal pathogen system to find out how initial infection develops into an epidemic, and, in turn, how colony-level defence emerges from the interactions between its members. To infer effect from cause, I will not only observe the colony after initial infection of a subset of colony members, but also manipulate the sanitary behaviours and spatiotemporal interaction of host individuals. To this end, I will engineer an automatised platform, following the principles of lab-on-a-chip techniques, to individually target and manipulate colony members, and to quantify their behaviours. Fitness effects will be read out by the quantity and quality of reproductive offspring in the next generation. Such a long-term whole-colony approach is required for understanding the evolution of social immunity, that is, how disease shapes society and how society shapes disease.
Summary
Living in societies amplifies the risk of getting sick, as pathogens can easily spread along the dense social interaction networks of the hosts. Sanitary care and the organisational structure of societies are expected to limit the risk of epidemics. Yet, how the defences of the individual group members scale-up, combine and synergise towards society-level protection, is poorly understood, as the majority of societies can only be studied via correlational and modeling approaches. Insect societies provide a powerful system for experimental studies, as whole societies are accessible for surveillance and manipulative approaches. We can monitor every behavioural interaction between all members, determine their effects on colony-wide disease spread and replicate experiments arbitrarily. The fitness effects of collective disease defences can be quantified, as they result in a single fitness measure of colony productivity. This is because all members of a social insect colony form a reproductive entity composed of the reproductive queens and males and their sterile workers. I will use an ant host–fungal pathogen system to find out how initial infection develops into an epidemic, and, in turn, how colony-level defence emerges from the interactions between its members. To infer effect from cause, I will not only observe the colony after initial infection of a subset of colony members, but also manipulate the sanitary behaviours and spatiotemporal interaction of host individuals. To this end, I will engineer an automatised platform, following the principles of lab-on-a-chip techniques, to individually target and manipulate colony members, and to quantify their behaviours. Fitness effects will be read out by the quantity and quality of reproductive offspring in the next generation. Such a long-term whole-colony approach is required for understanding the evolution of social immunity, that is, how disease shapes society and how society shapes disease.
Max ERC Funding
1 991 564 €
Duration
Start date: 2018-04-01, End date: 2023-03-31
Project acronym EVOCHLAMY
Project The Evolution of the Chlamydiae - an Experimental Approach
Researcher (PI) Matthias Horn
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITAT WIEN
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), LS8, ERC-2011-StG_20101109
Summary Chlamydiae are a unique group of obligate intracellular bacteria that comprises symbionts of protozoa as well as important pathogens of humans and a wide range of animals. The intracellular life style and the obligate association with a eukaryotic host was established early in chlamydial evolution and possibly also contributed to the origin of the primary phototrophic eukaryote. While much has been learned during the past decade with respect to chlamydial diversity, their evolutionary history, pathogenesis and mechanisms for host cell interaction, very little is known about genome dynamics, genome evolution, and adaptation in this important group of microorganisms. This project aims to fill this gap by three complementary work packages using experimental evolution approaches and state-of-the-art genome sequencing techniques.
Chlamydiae that naturally infect free-living amoebae, namely Protochlamydia amoebophila and Simkania negevensis, will be established as model systems for studying genome evolution of obligate intracellular bacteria (living in protozoa). Due to their larger, less reduced genomes compared to chlamydial pathogens, amoeba-associated Chlamydiae are ideally suited for these investigations. Experimental evolution approaches – among the prokaryotes so far almost exclusively used for studying free-living bacteria – will be applied to understand the genomic and molecular basis of the intracellular life style of Chlamydiae with respect to host adaptation, host interaction, and the character of the symbioses (mutualism versus parasitism). In addition, the role of amoebae for horizontal gene transfer among intracellular bacteria will be investigated experimentally. Taken together, this project will break new ground with respect to evolution experiments with intracellular bacteria, and it will provide unprecedented insights into the evolution and adaptive processes of intracellular bacteria in general, and the Chlamydiae in particular.
Summary
Chlamydiae are a unique group of obligate intracellular bacteria that comprises symbionts of protozoa as well as important pathogens of humans and a wide range of animals. The intracellular life style and the obligate association with a eukaryotic host was established early in chlamydial evolution and possibly also contributed to the origin of the primary phototrophic eukaryote. While much has been learned during the past decade with respect to chlamydial diversity, their evolutionary history, pathogenesis and mechanisms for host cell interaction, very little is known about genome dynamics, genome evolution, and adaptation in this important group of microorganisms. This project aims to fill this gap by three complementary work packages using experimental evolution approaches and state-of-the-art genome sequencing techniques.
Chlamydiae that naturally infect free-living amoebae, namely Protochlamydia amoebophila and Simkania negevensis, will be established as model systems for studying genome evolution of obligate intracellular bacteria (living in protozoa). Due to their larger, less reduced genomes compared to chlamydial pathogens, amoeba-associated Chlamydiae are ideally suited for these investigations. Experimental evolution approaches – among the prokaryotes so far almost exclusively used for studying free-living bacteria – will be applied to understand the genomic and molecular basis of the intracellular life style of Chlamydiae with respect to host adaptation, host interaction, and the character of the symbioses (mutualism versus parasitism). In addition, the role of amoebae for horizontal gene transfer among intracellular bacteria will be investigated experimentally. Taken together, this project will break new ground with respect to evolution experiments with intracellular bacteria, and it will provide unprecedented insights into the evolution and adaptive processes of intracellular bacteria in general, and the Chlamydiae in particular.
Max ERC Funding
1 499 621 €
Duration
Start date: 2012-01-01, End date: 2016-12-31
Project acronym FLORSIGNALS
Project Evolution and consequences of floral signaling in plants
Researcher (PI) Florian Paul Schiestl
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITAT ZURICH
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), LS8, ERC-2011-StG_20101109
Summary Most angiosperms plants use animals as vector for their gametes, and the interaction of plants with their pollinators represents a key mutualism for ecosystem functioning as well as for human nutrition. For maintaining interactions with pollinators, plants have evolved floral signals, such as color and fragrance. In the proposed research, functions and evolution of floral signals will be investigated in model systems representing key components of ecosystems and agriculture. In the first part, functions of floral signals will be investigated in the context of a plant’s dilemma arising through the need of attracting pollinators, but at the same time deterring herbivores. Fitness effects of herbivore-induced floral volatiles in different biotic environments, synergistic effect with visual cues, and the molecular bases will be analyzed. In the second topic, the maintenance of mutualistic associations will be studied in a so-called open nursery pollination system, where plant-pollinator associations can vary between mutualisms and antagonism. Cost/benefit ratios of this association and thus selection for/against nursery pollinators will be quantified in different populations, and corresponding floral adaptations, such as signals attracting/deterring pollinators/parasitoids as well as oviposition cues for pollinators will be analyzed. The third part will focus on pollinator/herbivore-induced selection on floral traits, adaptations to specific pollinators, and plant speciation. In an experimental approach, the evolution of floral traits under selection will be directly quantified, by imposing plants over several generations to mutualist/antagonist-driven selection. Diversification through adaptation to different pollinators will be investigated in a second experiment. In a highly specialized pollination system, floral signals mediating specific pollinator attraction and thus delivering reproductive isolation and their genetic basis will be studied.
Summary
Most angiosperms plants use animals as vector for their gametes, and the interaction of plants with their pollinators represents a key mutualism for ecosystem functioning as well as for human nutrition. For maintaining interactions with pollinators, plants have evolved floral signals, such as color and fragrance. In the proposed research, functions and evolution of floral signals will be investigated in model systems representing key components of ecosystems and agriculture. In the first part, functions of floral signals will be investigated in the context of a plant’s dilemma arising through the need of attracting pollinators, but at the same time deterring herbivores. Fitness effects of herbivore-induced floral volatiles in different biotic environments, synergistic effect with visual cues, and the molecular bases will be analyzed. In the second topic, the maintenance of mutualistic associations will be studied in a so-called open nursery pollination system, where plant-pollinator associations can vary between mutualisms and antagonism. Cost/benefit ratios of this association and thus selection for/against nursery pollinators will be quantified in different populations, and corresponding floral adaptations, such as signals attracting/deterring pollinators/parasitoids as well as oviposition cues for pollinators will be analyzed. The third part will focus on pollinator/herbivore-induced selection on floral traits, adaptations to specific pollinators, and plant speciation. In an experimental approach, the evolution of floral traits under selection will be directly quantified, by imposing plants over several generations to mutualist/antagonist-driven selection. Diversification through adaptation to different pollinators will be investigated in a second experiment. In a highly specialized pollination system, floral signals mediating specific pollinator attraction and thus delivering reproductive isolation and their genetic basis will be studied.
Max ERC Funding
1 395 640 €
Duration
Start date: 2012-01-01, End date: 2016-12-31
