BIOFECTOR is an integrated project with the aim to reduce input of mineral fertilisers in European agriculture by development of specifically adapted bio-effectors (BEs) to improve the efficiency of alternative fertilisation strategies, such as organic and low-input farming, use of fertilisers based on waste recycling products and fertiliser placement technologies. Bio-effectors addressed comprise fungal strains of Trichoderma, Penicillium and Sebacinales, as well as bacterial strains of Bacillus and Pseudomonades with well-characterized root growth promoting and nutrient-solubilising potential. Natural extraction products of seaweed, compost and plant extracts, as well as their purified active compounds with protective potential against biotic and abiotic stresses are also tested in various combinations. These features offer perspectives for a more efficient use of nutrients by strategic combination with the alternative fertilisation strategies. Maize, wheat and tomato are chosen as representative crops. Laboratory and European-wide field experiments assure product adaptation to the various geo-climatic conditions characteristic for European agriculture. The final goal is the development of viable alternatives to the conventional practice of mineral fertilisation as contribution to a more efficient management of the non-renewable resources of mineral nutrients, energy and water, to preserve soil fertility and to counteract the adverse environmental impact of agricultural production.
OPTIBIOCAT is a 48 months project aimed at developing biocatalysts based on feruloyl esterases (FAEs) and glucuronoyl esterases (GEs) for production of phenolic fatty- and sugar- esters with antioxidant activity for cosmetic industry, expanding the number/type of industrial biotransformations. Selected FAEs and GEs available within the consortium will be improved for their thermo- and solvent- resistance and substrate specificity by site-directed mutagenesis and directed evolution. Novel enzymes will be discovered by mining for new genes from available genomes. An inventory of novel FAEs and GEs will be developed including 50 fungal and 500 bacterial esterases, 25 site-directed and 20 directed evolved mutants. Enzymatic performances will be optimized to enhance the yield (up to the theoretical yield of 100%) and productivity (up to 0.5-1 g/l/h) of reactions giving the main targeted antioxidants: butyl ferulate, p-coumarate, caffeate, sinapate and 5-O-(trans-feruloyl)-arabinofuranose (using FAEs), glucuronate and benzyl glucuronate (using GEs). FAEs and GEs will be also tested for production of other compounds with improved biological activity and properties of hydrophilicity/hydrophobicity for cosmetic applications. Cost-effective methods will be developed for production of the new biocatalysts, in the g/L scale, and for their technical application to produce antioxidants for cosmetic industry, up to 20L. Enzyme immobilization will increase their recyclability up to ten cycles. The ability of the developed catalysts to work in conditions miming the industrial ones with reduced use of solvents and lower temperature than the chemical routes will be demonstrated. The techno-economic viability and environmental friendliness will be assessed considering a full industrial scale scenario. OPTIBIOCAT involves a highly skilled and multidisciplinary partnership of 16 partners from 8 EU countries, and it is a strongly industry driven project through the participation of 8 SMEs and 1 large company.
Subprojects: - Identifying general relationships between semi-natural habitats, on-farm management and biodiversity (WP1) - Linking biodiversity to ecosystem services on farmland (WP2) - Mitigation of biodiversity loss and promotion of ecosystem services (WP3). The next few decades will witness a rapidly increasing demand for agricultural products. This growing demand needs to be met largely through intensification (produce more from the same land surface) because there is little scope for an increase in agricultural area. Ecological intensification has been proposed as a promising solution. Ecological intensification is the optimization of all provisioning, regulating and supporting ecosystem services in the agricultural production process. As such it advocates to maintain or enhance agricultural production through the promotion of biodiversity and associated ecosystem services. The LIBERATION project aims to provide the evidence-base for the potential of ecological intensification to sustainably enhance food security with minimal negative impacts on the environment. This requires a basic insight in how biodiversity contributes to various ecosystem services and subsequently how ecosystem services contribute to yield and farm income. Key questions that will be addressed are: - How landscape structure and land-use interact in the provisioning of ecosystem services; - How farmland biodiversity is related to multiple ecosystem services; - Whether there are trade-offs between different ecosystem services; - How ecosystem services are related to farm income; - How ecosystem services may be influenced by policy measures at the local, national or EU scale. LIBERATION will focus on the ecosystem services pollination, pest control, nutrient cycling and soil fertility, thus examining both above- and below-ground ecosystem services as well as possible trade-offs and synergies. Implications for greenhouse gas emissions will be explored throughout all activities in the project. Ecosystem service delivery will be expressed in terms of (their contribution to) agricultural yield and in terms of farm income.
SYNPOL aims to propel the sustainable production of new biopolymers from feedstock. SYNPOL will theretoestablish a platform that integrates biopolymer production through modern processing technologies, withbacterial fermentation of syngas, and the pyrolysis of highly complex biowaste (e.g., municipal, commercial,sludge, agricultural). The R&D activities will focus on the integration of innovative physico-chemical, biochemical,downstream and synthetic technologies to produce a wide range of new biopolymers. The integration will engagenovel and mutually synergistic production methods as well as the assessment of the environmental benefitsand drawbacks. This integrative platform will be revolutionary in its implementation of novel microwave pyrolytictreatments together with systems-biology defined highly efficient and physiologically balanced recombinantbacteria. The latter will produce biopolymer building-blocks and polyhydroxyalkanoates that will serve tosynthesize novel bio-based plastic prototypes by chemical and enzymatic catalysis. Thus, the SYNPOL platformwill empower the treatment and recycling of complex biological and chemical wastes and raw materials in asingle integrated process. The knowledge generated through this innovative biotechnological approach will notonly benefit the environmental management of terrestrial wastes, but also reduce the harmful environmentalimpact of petrochemical plastics. This project offers a timely strategic action that will enable the EU to lead worldwide the syngas fermentation technology for waste revalorisation and sustainable biopolymer production.
Micro B3 will develop innovative bioinformatic approaches and a legal framework to make large-scale data on marine viral, bacteria; archaeal and protists genomes and metagenomes accessible for marine ecosystems biology and to define new targets for biotechnological applications. Micro B3 will build upon a highly interdisciplinary consortium of 32 academic and industrial partners comprising world-leading experts in bioinformatics, computer science, biology, ecology, oceanography, bioprospecting and biotechnology, as well as legal aspects. icro B3 is based on a strong user- and data basis from ongoing European sampling campaigns to long-term ecological research sites. For the first time a strong link between oceanographic and molecular microbial research will be established to integrate global marine data with research on microbial biodiversity and functions. The Micro B3 Information System will provide innovative open source software for data-processing, -integration, -visualisation, and -accessibility. Interoperability will be the key for seamless data transfer of sequence and contextual data to public repositories. Micro B3 will allow taking full advantage of current sequencing technologies to efficiently exploit large-scale sequence data in an environmental context. Micro B3 will create integrated knowledge to inform marine ecosystems biology and modelling. Moreover, it will facilitate detecting candidate genes to be explored by targeted laboratory experiments for biotechnology and for assigning potential functions to unknown genes. Micro B3 will develop clear IP agreements for the protection and sustainable use of pre-competitive microbial genetic resources and their exploitation in high potential commercial applications. To underline the translational character of Micro B3, outreach and training activities for diverse stakeholders are planned as well as an Ocean Sampling Day to transparently make project results accessible and gain valuable user feedback.
Die nachhaltige Produktion wichtiger Chemikalien, Lebensmittel- und Pharmazeutikakomponenten ist von hoher Bedeutung für die Gesellschaft und die Umwelt. Biotechnologische Produktionssysteme stellen eine sinnvolle Alternative zu den bisherigen, meist chemischen, Verfahren da. Die biotechnologische Produktionssysteme basieren jedoch bisher meist auf der Verwertung von Zuckern. Zucker, die aus Pflanzen gewonnen werden, benötigen kultivierbares Land, das mehr und mehr zur Gewinnung von Nahrungsmitteln benötigt wird. Methanol - mit einer weltweiten Produktionskapazität von mehr als 46 Millionen Tonnen pro Jahr - gilt als attraktiver alternativer Rohstoff für die biotechnologische Produktion von Spezial-, Fein- und Basischemikalien oder Kraftstoffen. Dies gilt insbesondere für den EU-Markt, wo die industrielle Biotechnologie noch durch strikte Preis- und Nutzungsregularien sowie Importlimitierungen von Agrargütern wie Mais oder Zucker behindert ist. Die Methanolversorgung kann sowohl auf fossilen, als auch auf erneuerbaren Ressourcen basieren, was es als flexiblen und nachhaltigen Rohstoff auszeichnet. In dem Projekt PROMYSE werden zum ersten Mal synthetisch-biologische Prinzipien für die Entwicklung von Zellfabriken angewendet um Methanol als generellen Rohstoff für die Produktion von Spezial- und Feinchemikalien verfügbar zu machen. Produktseitig liegt der Hauptfokus auf der Substanzklasse der Terpenoide.
In FarmPath wird davon ausgegangen, dass die Nachhaltigkeit der Landwirtschaft eher erreicht werden kann, wenn unterschiedliche Landwirtschaftsmodelle flexibel kombiniert werden können. Die unterschiedlichen Modelle reflektieren die Möglichkeiten der regionalen Kultur, Produktionsmöglichkeiten, Multifunktionalitätspotenzial, Ökologie und historische Besitzverhältnisse und Strukturen. Das Projekt soll Wege aufzeigen, wie die regionale Nachhaltigkeit erhöht werden kann. Der Ansatz ist Transdisziplinär, d.h. wir arbeiten eng mit PraxispartnerInnen zusammen. FarmPath baut auf die theoretischen Ansätze von 'Transition studies' auf, sowie auf den Ansätze von Anpassungsfähigkeit und Resilienz von landwirtschaftlichen Systemen.
The BEE DOC comprises a network of eleven partners from honeybee pathology, chemistry, genetics and apicultural extension aiming to improve colony helath of honeybees. The BEE DOC will empirically and experimentally fill knowledge gaps in honey bee pest and diseases, including the 'colony collapse disorder' and quantify the impact of ineractions between parasites, pathogens and pesticides on honey bee mortality. Specifically BEE DOC will show for two model parasites (Nosema and Varroa mites), three model viruses (Deformed Wing Virus, Black Queen Cell Virus, Israel Acute Paralysis Virus) and two model pestcides (fipronil, A-fluvalinate) how interactions affect individual bees and colonies in different European areas. The BEE DOC will use transcriptome anayses to explore host-pathogen-pesticide interaction and identify novel genes for disease resistance. The BEE DOC will specifically address sublethal and chronic exposure to pesticides and screen how apicultural practices affect colony health. The BEE DOC will develop novel diagnostic screening methods and develop sustainable concepts for disease prevention using novel treatments and selection tools for resitant stock. The BEE DOC will be linked to various national and international ongoing European, North-, and Latin-American colony health monitoring and research programs, which will not only ensure a pan European but also a global visibility and the transfer of results to a world wide community of beekeepers.
EnviGuard is a response to the growing need for accurate real time monitoring of the seas/ocean and the aquaculture industries need for a reliable and cost-effective risk management tool. The implementation of the EnviGuard system will allow for early detection of harmful algae blooms (HAB), chemical contaminants, viruses and toxins thus preventing economic losses. The modular EnviGuard system will be made up of three different sensor modules (microalgae / pathogens, i.e. viruses & bacteria / toxins & chemicals), that are connected to the common interface 'EnviGuard Port' which collects and sends the information to a server. The data will be accessible through a website in real-time. The modularity of the system enables an individual setup for each purpose thus offering a tailor-made solution for each future client.
Global apiculture is facing an unprecedented crisis of increasing parasite pressure and a loss of hon-eybee biodiversity. SMARTBEES unites a team of experts with the necessary skills to build a bright and sustainable future. The SMARTBEES concept is low risk and high impact, using established protocols and state-of-the-art methods. Including world leading researchers from outwith the traditional honeybee sphere (e.g. acarology, genetic breeding and insect immunology). We will identify crucial facets of honeybee resistance to colony losses, Varroa and viruses. We will provide a step-change in the current mechanistic understanding of these traits, and will characterise the genetic background of the resistance mechanisms in honeybees. We will develop breeding strategies to increase the frequencies of these valuable traits in local honeybee populations, considering the variable need of both common and endangered subspecies and local beekeeping practises. Breeding efforts concentrating on very few races may endanger genetic diversity, to avoid this SMARTBEES will promote multiple local breeding efforts, to conserve local resilient populations and will develop molecular tools for describing and safeguarding future populations. SMARTBEES recognizes responsibility to protect our natural honeybee heritage. SMARTBEES will commission extension science, and work in cooperation with stakeholders to attain conservation by utilisation. SMARTBEES will establish a network of apiaries for performance testing, to encourage local uptake of resistant traits. These will be run mainly by beekeepers, thereby improving the local acceptability and dissemination, and support the long-term sustainability of the apicultural sector. SMARTBEES recognises the need to horizon scan for new threats, and the consortium includes the current EU reference laboratory to that end. SMARTBEES is an opportunity to make a lasting difference to the health, resilience and genetic diversity of our honeybees.
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