Impact of symbiosis on life history decisions at the base of the metazoan evolution: lessons from placozoans and Hydra (C01)

• Subject Area: Ecology and Biodiversity of Animals and Ecosystems, Organismic Interactions ; Evolutionary Cell and Developmental Biology (Zoology) ; Microbial Ecology and Applied Microbiology
• Term: since 2016
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 261376515

Project C1 aims to explore the impact of microbes on senescence and life history switches in two stem bilaterians: Hydra and placozoans. Using a comparative approach, C1 assesses the role of the microbiome in the maintenance of non-senescence in Hydra polyps during a switch from asexual to sexual reproduction and the role of intracellular bacteria in life history switches in placozoans and Hydra.

• DFG Programme: Collaborative Research Centres
• Subproject of: SFB 1182: Origin and Function of Metaorganisms
• Applicant Institution: Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel
• Project Heads: Professor Dr. Thomas C. G. Bosch; Professor Dr. Harald Gruber-Vodicka; Dr. Nils Hülter, from 5/2019 until 12/2023