Defining the Microbial-scale Processes Governing Ocean Health . This project aims to resolve the foundations of healthy ocean function by employing innovative approaches to uncover the links between marine chemistry and microbiology. While the importance of microbes in governing ocean health is unquestionable, they are often studied over inappropriately large-scales, leading to inaccurate interpretation of the oceanic processes that ultimately influence fishery production and climate control. W ....Defining the Microbial-scale Processes Governing Ocean Health . This project aims to resolve the foundations of healthy ocean function by employing innovative approaches to uncover the links between marine chemistry and microbiology. While the importance of microbes in governing ocean health is unquestionable, they are often studied over inappropriately large-scales, leading to inaccurate interpretation of the oceanic processes that ultimately influence fishery production and climate control. We will develop new oceanographic tools and analytical techniques to provide a unique "microbes-eye-view" of the sea. The project's outcomes are anticipated to deliver transformative new knowledge on the controls of ocean productivity and sustainability, helping to safeguard Australia’s valuable marine estate.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE230101346
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$418,893.00
Summary
Cave microbial metabolism as a missing biogeochemical sink. The aim of this project is to unveil the microbial biodiversity, novel metabolic capabilities and chemosynthetic primary production of subsurface ecosystems, such as those found in caves. Leveraging a powerful blend of geospatial, molecular and biogeochemical approaches this project expects to identify the microbial basis of subsurface biogeochemical processes driving the earth’s major elementary cycles. Expected outcomes include a pred ....Cave microbial metabolism as a missing biogeochemical sink. The aim of this project is to unveil the microbial biodiversity, novel metabolic capabilities and chemosynthetic primary production of subsurface ecosystems, such as those found in caves. Leveraging a powerful blend of geospatial, molecular and biogeochemical approaches this project expects to identify the microbial basis of subsurface biogeochemical processes driving the earth’s major elementary cycles. Expected outcomes include a predictive framework to assess and upscale the impact of these microbial communities on the environment. Benefits include predicting and responding to climate risks, such as the desertification of agricultural soils, by uncovering how microorganisms respond to nutrient and carbon depletion.Read moreRead less
The mobilome of the anaerobic methanotrophic archaea Methanoperedenaceae. Microorganisms play a critical role in regulating Earth’s climate, but how they are affected by our rapidly changing environment is not well understood. This Discovery project will study a group of microorganisms found in freshwater sediment that can consume the potent greenhouse gas methane before it is released into the atmosphere. We have developed new methods to investigate how genetic material is exchanged between mic ....The mobilome of the anaerobic methanotrophic archaea Methanoperedenaceae. Microorganisms play a critical role in regulating Earth’s climate, but how they are affected by our rapidly changing environment is not well understood. This Discovery project will study a group of microorganisms found in freshwater sediment that can consume the potent greenhouse gas methane before it is released into the atmosphere. We have developed new methods to investigate how genetic material is exchanged between microorganisms, and how this helps them adapt to environmental changes. Together, this will ultimately help us develop better climate change prediction models and contribute to our understanding of microbial communities that are crucial for environmental health.Read moreRead less
Deciphering the coral minimal microbiome. This project aims to decipher the functions of coral-associated bacteria by taking advantage of low-diversity microbiomes that are naturally found in some coral species. A further aim is to unveil the importance of bacterial genome evolution in coral adaptation to climate change. Climate warming is the biggest threat to coral reefs with half of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef (GBR) corals dead due to recent summer heat waves. Expected outcomes are an incr ....Deciphering the coral minimal microbiome. This project aims to decipher the functions of coral-associated bacteria by taking advantage of low-diversity microbiomes that are naturally found in some coral species. A further aim is to unveil the importance of bacterial genome evolution in coral adaptation to climate change. Climate warming is the biggest threat to coral reefs with half of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef (GBR) corals dead due to recent summer heat waves. Expected outcomes are an increased understanding of how bacteria contribute to coral heat tolerance, and new knowledge to assist in the development of bacterial probiotics for enhancing coral thermal tolerance. This should provide significant benefits to the protection of the GBR and Australia’s economy.Read moreRead less
An evolutionary landscape to better predict our future climate. Soil microbial communities are the most complicated and difficult to study on Earth, but their effects on our climate are profound. This project will examine the evolution of microorganisms and their viruses in soil using novel methods. It will uncover how the evolution of one microbial species influences the evolution of other community members. It will also apply a new model of evolution to the viruses that infect these microorgan ....An evolutionary landscape to better predict our future climate. Soil microbial communities are the most complicated and difficult to study on Earth, but their effects on our climate are profound. This project will examine the evolution of microorganisms and their viruses in soil using novel methods. It will uncover how the evolution of one microbial species influences the evolution of other community members. It will also apply a new model of evolution to the viruses that infect these microorganisms, constructing a viral ‘tree of life’. This improved fundamental understanding of soil communities will be used to study climate feedback from permafrost wetlands, a key and poorly constrained input of global climate models, improving predictions of our future climate.Read moreRead less
Global integration of microbial community and climate data. Microbial communities in the environment control the cycling of carbon and nutrients on Earth, but climate models do not directly incorporate microbial inputs. This interdisciplinary project will link planetary-scale climate modelling data with novel large-scale microbial community analysis, using climate information to provide insight into the fantastic diversity of microbial processes on our planet. The interdisciplinary approach will ....Global integration of microbial community and climate data. Microbial communities in the environment control the cycling of carbon and nutrients on Earth, but climate models do not directly incorporate microbial inputs. This interdisciplinary project will link planetary-scale climate modelling data with novel large-scale microbial community analysis, using climate information to provide insight into the fantastic diversity of microbial processes on our planet. The interdisciplinary approach will inform the next generation of climate models and better predict our future climate’s feedbacks. Conversely, it will make progress on the grand challenge of understanding microbial community function by enabling microbial ecology to be treated as a data-intensive machine learning problem.Read moreRead less
Atmospheric carbon fixation: a novel microbial process in Antarctic soils. This project aims to challenge our global understanding of carbon fixation. In most ecosystems, phototrophy supports higher-trophic life, yet no genetic evidence for photosynthesis exists in Antarctic desert soils. The project will determine the significance of atmospheric chemotrophy, a microbial driven process based on the consumption of atmospheric gases that it is proposed supports energy maintenance and biomass assim ....Atmospheric carbon fixation: a novel microbial process in Antarctic soils. This project aims to challenge our global understanding of carbon fixation. In most ecosystems, phototrophy supports higher-trophic life, yet no genetic evidence for photosynthesis exists in Antarctic desert soils. The project will determine the significance of atmospheric chemotrophy, a microbial driven process based on the consumption of atmospheric gases that it is proposed supports energy maintenance and biomass assimilation in nutrient-starved Antarctic desert soils. Additionally, the project will establish if these processes are structuring soil microbial communities, particularly in response to climate change. The expected project outcome is knowledge of primary production at the nutritional limits of life. This should provide significant benefit, such as a shift in our knowledge of the biological sciences as a new minimalistic mode of primary production.Read moreRead less
Unlocking bacterial shapeshifting and its role in antimicrobial resistance. This project aims to combine advanced imaging with innovative microfluidics to identify how microbial shapeshifting can be exploited as a target for new antimicrobials. Infections that are hard to treat due to increasing antimicrobial resistance not only have an enormous, global impact on mammalian health, including livestock and humans, but also carry a growing economic burden. Advanced understanding of microbial life c ....Unlocking bacterial shapeshifting and its role in antimicrobial resistance. This project aims to combine advanced imaging with innovative microfluidics to identify how microbial shapeshifting can be exploited as a target for new antimicrobials. Infections that are hard to treat due to increasing antimicrobial resistance not only have an enormous, global impact on mammalian health, including livestock and humans, but also carry a growing economic burden. Advanced understanding of microbial life can propel urgently needed progress this area. Specifically, the project outcomes are expected to aid the development of next generation antibiotics. The new fundamental knowledge should also benefit translational prevention, identification and management efforts of a rising national and global health threat.Read moreRead less
Microbe-produced repellents and their roles in marine pathogen behaviours. Economic losses caused by disease outbreaks in marine fisheries and aquaculture exceed US$6 billion per year globally. Decades of research in human and plant pathogens have revealed that the ability of pathogens to infect their host is governed by behaviours; however our understanding of the chemical cues affecting the behaviour of marine pathogens is very poor. This research program aims to combine new approaches in micr ....Microbe-produced repellents and their roles in marine pathogen behaviours. Economic losses caused by disease outbreaks in marine fisheries and aquaculture exceed US$6 billion per year globally. Decades of research in human and plant pathogens have revealed that the ability of pathogens to infect their host is governed by behaviours; however our understanding of the chemical cues affecting the behaviour of marine pathogens is very poor. This research program aims to combine new approaches in microfluidics and chemical imaging to identify the cues that govern the behaviour of marine pathogens. Expected outcomes include an improved capacity to predict, monitor and manage marine diseases, as well as novel strategies to prevent disease outbreaks, helping to protect Australia’s valuable marine estate.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE200100111
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$373,097.00
Summary
Replication and transfer of novel plasmid classes in Acinetobacter. The project aims to reveal basic biology of plasmids found in Acinetobacter baumannii. A. baumannii is a bacterial pathogen that can rapidly acquire resistance to antibiotics, including last-resort antibiotics. In modern strains, acquisition is often mediated by plasmids. On the basis of DNA sequencing data, A. baumannii plasmids are likely to function differently to well-studied plasmids. However, surprisingly little experiment ....Replication and transfer of novel plasmid classes in Acinetobacter. The project aims to reveal basic biology of plasmids found in Acinetobacter baumannii. A. baumannii is a bacterial pathogen that can rapidly acquire resistance to antibiotics, including last-resort antibiotics. In modern strains, acquisition is often mediated by plasmids. On the basis of DNA sequencing data, A. baumannii plasmids are likely to function differently to well-studied plasmids. However, surprisingly little experimental work has been done to evidence this. By combining microbiological and bioinformatics approaches the project expects to generate new knowledge on the mechanisms of replication and transfer of A. baumannii plasmids. This may lead to new targets for strategies to slow and track the spread of antibiotic resistance.Read moreRead less