HOME - Glycans protect eukaryotes against bacteria and shape the microbi-ome (A06)

• Subject Area: Microbial Ecology and Applied Microbiology ; Bioinformatics and Theoretical Biology
• Term: since 2025
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 542264307

We hypothesize that algal glycan structures provide a protective zone against antagonistic bacterial colonizers, while simultaneously providing a home to, and feeding, selected phycosphere bacteria. We will use innovative experimental approaches that sufficiently capture the complexity of the microalgal phycosphere, in combination with novel tools for eukaryotic genome reconstruction and expression profiling. A6 HOME tackles the eukaryotic side of phytoplankton-bacterial interactions and will elucidate the genomic basis of phytoplankton glycan production that shape phycosphere microbiomes.

• DFG Programme: CRC/Transregios
• Subproject of: TRR 420: Carbon sequestration at Å resolution - CONCENTRATE
• Applicant Institution: Universität Greifswald
• Project Heads: Mia Bengtsson, Ph.D.; Privatdozentin Dr. Katharina Hoff