Research project
MicroSOS
The MicroSOS project is designed to bring together academic and industrial partners with different expertises to address challenges that agriculture is facing due to climate change and invests in the development of microbiome-based solutions towards more sustainable agricultural practices.
- Duration
- 2024 - 2028
- Contact
- Salma Balazadeh
- Funding
- Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions Staff Exchanges grant
- Partners
- Universidad de Málaga (Spain)
- Asian Institute of Technology (Thailand)
- Geoponiko Panepistimion Athinon El (Greece)
- Universita Degli Studi Della Tuscia (Italy)
- KNAW (Netherlands)
- The Weather Makers B.V. (Netherlands)
- Akinao (France)
- De Sangosse SAS (France)
The MicroSOS project will address the following relevant and timely research questions:
i. How do plants and the microbial communities in their rhizosphere and endosphere respond to abiotic and biotic stresses, such as drought, flooding, salinity, and pathogens?
ii. Which microbial functions are enriched in the microbiomes of stressed plants (i.e., cry for help)? Can they perform beneficial functions, such as stress tolerance, GHG mitigation, and pathogen resistance, and how can these features be identified and exploited for agriculture?
iii. Can we generate a modular microbial consortium with broad spectrum activity to protect plants against multiple (a)biotic stresses? Which are the most effective strategies to manipulate plant microbiomes to improve agricultural practices?