FRom Inhibition to aDAptation: Exploring the interplay between nitrification inhibitors and the soil microbiome towards a sustainable agriculture
HFRI project #07840
Nitrification inhibitors (NIs) delay the microbial conversion of ammonium-N to nitrate-N (nitrification), reducing the risk of N loss through leaching or denitrification, and thereby increasing the N use efficiency of fertilizersand restricting groundwater and atmospheric pollution. Dicyandiamide (DCD) and 3,4-dimethylpyrazole phosphate (DMPP) are routinely incorporated into fertilizers to stabilize the supply of N available in soil.
This practice could lead to a systematic exposure of agricultural soils to NIs with potential undesirable effects on the environment and public health:
1. through their transportation from soil to natural water resources and to the food chain
2. by imposing selective pressure towards soil microbes with increasing catabolic potential against NIs.
3. through toxicity effects on the soil microbial community
In this context, FRIDA aims to
1. shed light into the complex interactions of NIs with the soil microbial community
2. assess the outcome of this interaction regarding the whole soil microbial community (off-target) and its separate functionally relevant modules (on target),
3. obtain a comprehensive view of the underlying mechanisms driving these interactions.
More specifically, FRIDA seeks to:
1) clarify the yet unknown biochemical mode of action of the currently used in agriculture NIs;
2) explore, at in vitro and at in soil level, the potential of target soil microorganisms (ammonia-oxidizers, AOs) to gradually adapt to NIs (and tolerate or degrade them) when systematic exposed to them;
3) get a multi-aspect view of the impact of NIs on the function, diversity and/or dynamics of (i) AOs, (ii) interrelated microbial groups modulating downstream microbial processes in N cycling (ΝΟΒ and denitrifiers) and (iii) the overall soil microbial community;
4) isolate and characterize NI-degrading soil bacteria and explore the relevant genetic mechanisms and transformation pathways.
Chiara Perruchon (role in the project: Principal Investigator) She has a first degree in Biotechnology and a Master degree in Industrial Biotechnology both obtained at the University of Pavia, Italy. She was awarded of her PhD in 2014 by the University of Thessaly (UTH). Since then she has worked on EU-funded (MSCA-IAPP-FP7) working abroad (ENOVEO Ltd, France, UFZ-Leipzig) and national projects (BIOREMEDIATOMICS, ARISTEIA II, ELIDEK). She has expertise on interactions of pesticides with soil microorganisms, microbial ecology, traditional microbiology and synthetic biology
Evangelia Papadopoulou (project role: Advisory Board member and host institute reserve PI) is an Assistant Prof. in Environmental Microbiology in the Department of Environmental Sciences, UTH. She is an expert on the environmental fate and behavior of agrochemicals, and their interactions with soil microorganisms, and especially those driving N cycling
Dimitrios G. Karpouzas (project role: Advisory Board member) is Professor in Environmental Microbiology and Biotechnology in the Department of Biochemistry and Biotechnology, UTH. He has expertise on the interactions of pesticides with soil microorganisms (biodegradation and ecotoxicity)
Sotirios Vasileiadis (project role: Advisory Board member) is Assistant Prof. in Molecular Microbial Ecology in the Department of Biochemistry and Biotechnology, UTH. He has expertise in bioinformatics and soil microbial ecolog
Graeme Nicol (project role: Advisory Board member) is a Professor and the Director of Research in the French National Center for Scientific Research and member of the Environmental Microbial Genomics group of Ecole Centrale de Lyon. He is a leading expert in studying the diversity, growth and activity of microbes involved in transforming reactive N
Lorenz Adrian (project role: Advisory Board member) is the head of the Department of Environmental Biotechnology in the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), Leipzig, Germany, and Prof. of Geobiotechnology at Technische Universität, Berlin, Germany. He is an expert in biogeochemistry studying mainly the molecular basics underlying the biogeochemical processes
Urania Menkissoglu-Spiroudi (project role: Advisory Board member) is the director of the Pesticide Science Lab and head of a state-of-the-art analytical facility of AUTH. She has expertise on the analytical determination and identification of pesticide transformation products
Paraskevi Amanatidou (role in the project: Research Associate) has a Bachelor degree in Biochemistry & Biotechnology and a Master degree in Biotechnology - Quality Assessment in Nutrition and the Environment both obtained in the Department of Biochemistry and Biotechnology, UTH. She has experience in instrumental analysis of environmental samples for organic contaminants and knowledge of molecular biological techniques, which she has acquired in the context of dissertation projects.
Keep in touch through our site for Dissemination & Outreach updates!
- Kick-off meeting. 01/12/2022 Wednesday 10:00-11:30 Greek local time (09:00-10:30 CET)
The kick-off meeting is set!!! Keep in touch for updates
-16.11.2023: FRIDA Intermediate meeting (9:00-10:30 CET).
It's time to meet again with our Advisory Board to share our first results.. save the date!
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