Human Frontier Science Program – Successful Research Grant Application – 27 March 2025
After a rigorous, multi-stage review process by internationally highly acclaimed scientists and an independent international Review Committee, the Board of Trustees of HFSPO has approved the award of $ 400 000 per year for the collaborative team over a period of three years.
The research project “1+1=1: Bioengineering synthetic symbiosis to illuminate how a microalga becomes an endosymbiont” by
Dr. Johan Decelle ( CNRS-CEA Grenoble, France),
Dr. Daniel Ducat (Michigan State University, USA) and
Dr. Dietrich Kohlheyer (Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH) (www.fz-juelich.de/ibg/ibg-1/microscale),
was among the 25 highest scoring awards selected from 65 full proposals received for Research Grants - Program (from an initial total of 669 letters of intent submitted in 2024). HFSP Research Grants are awarded for frontier collaborative projects that actively involve all team members. The projects are specially selected on their promise to cross the established science frontiers and to tackle bold scientific challenges. https://www.hfsp.org/
Project Abstract
Life evolved by multiple symbiotic interactions between merging single-celled organisms that led to acquisition of genes, organelles, and new functionalities. For instance, a symbiosis between a host and intracellular photosynthetic cells (microalgae), called photosymbiosis, occurred several times in the evolution and led to the origin of all the photosynthetic organisms on earth, such as plants, trees and algae. In this process, engulfed photosynthetic cells were gradually transformed into an organelle, called the chloroplast, which produces oxygen and energy with light and feeds earth food webs. Photosymbiosis is still a widespread life strategy in aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, such as lichens, corals and in the ocean plankton, and plays fundamental ecological roles with economic values. Despite the importance of photosymbiosis in the evolution of life and in ecosystems, we know very little on how the two organisms (host and photosynthetic partners) interact with each other, mainly because they are difficult to maintain and study in the laboratory and there is a lack of high-resolution imaging and genetic tools. How 2 cells become 1 cell (1+1=1) is one of the most intriguing mysteries in life we want to tackle in this project. We propose to create a new photosymbiosis with bioengineered cyanobacteria and a host cell with an interdisciplinary team covering expertise in biology, microfabrication of culture systems, microscopy, and physiology. This will allow us to investigate the fundamental steps of the integration of photosynthetic cells inside a host, and their metabolic responses to the engulfment. At relevant temporal and spatial scales, we will co-culture and scrutinize the two partners in different conditions using genetically-modified cyanobacteria that can perform different functions (excretion of sugars). This ambitious project will address fundamental questions in biology and will provide new knowledge on one of the most important events in the evolution of life.