AccliPhot – Environmental Acclimation of Photosynthesis

AccliPhot is an interdisciplinary, intersectorial research and training network devoted to study short-term photosynthetic acclimation processes in plants and algae. Within 14 research projects scientist from all over Europe are using cutting-edge experimental technologies, modern modelling approaches and industrial applications to obtain a systems-wide understanding of these acclimation processes and their consequences at the organism and population levels. In detail projects investigate signalling pathways that respond to environmental changes, electron transport chain activity, photosynthetic metabolism and growth of plants and algal populations for industrial usage. Fundamental research uncovering novel mechanisms is performed in the plant Arabidopsis thaliana and the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. New knowledge is also applied to the diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum, which is subject to industrial research for the biotechnological production of biofuels and high-value commodities.
Thus, our research activities will have a long-term impact supporting the optimisation of crop productivity and the development of cost-effective strategies for large-scale algal cultivation and biotechnology applications.

Left: Chlamydomonas reinhardtii     Right: Cultivation experiments of algae

The AccliPhot network comprises 11 full network partners: 9 academic institutions and 2 private companies. Together the project forms a unique combination of expertise in the area of photosynthetic acclimation. A distinctive feature of AccliPhot is the strong emphasis on interdisciplinarity between experimental and theoretical scientists, combining basic with industrial research. AccliPhot supports 13 Early Stage Researchers (PhD students) and one Experienced Researcher (PostDoc) on their ways to a future scientific career. The aim is to generate bright, ambitious and well-trained young researchers with multidisciplinary skills in this scientific field. Therefore the research programme is supplemented by a strong, multidisciplinary training programme in research skills and complementary transferrable skills.

Reference: Ebenhöh O, Fucile G, Finazzi G, Rochaix JD, Goldschmidt-Clermont M. (2014) Short-term acclimation of the photosynthetic electron transfer chain to changing light: a mathematical model, Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B 2014 369, 20130223

More details regarding the network and the various scientific projects can be found on our website: www.accliphot.eu

The outcome of AccliPhot will be presented at its final conference, ENCAPP 2016 (European Networks Conference on Algal and Plant Photosynthesis), taking place in April 2016: www.encapp2016.eu

Coordinator
Jun.-Prof. Oliver Ebenhöh
Herinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Germany
Institute for Quantitative and Theoretical Biology
oliver.ebenhoeh@hhu.de

Partners

• Prof. Sacha Baginsky (Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg)
• Prof. Michel Goldschmidt-Clermont (University of Geneva)
• Prof. Roberto Bassi (University of Verona)
• Dr. Giovanni Finazzi (CNRS)
• Dr. Mark Poolman (Oxford Brookes University)
• Dr. Guillaume Cogne (University of Nantes)
• Dr. Angela Falciatore (Pierre and Marie Curie University)
• Prof. Sam Zeeman (ETH Zürich)
• Dr. Julie Maguire (Daithi O'Murchu Marine Research Station)
• Adeline Le-Monnier (Fermentalg)

Project duration
01/10/2012 – 30/09/2016

Funding budget
The Marie Curie Initial Training Network AccliPhot is funded by the European Union under the 7th Framework Programme with a total budget of € 4,028,607. The grant agreement number is PITN-GA-2012-316427.