Australian Laureate Fellowships - Grant ID: FL170100022
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$3,402,903.00
Summary
Redefining virus ecology and evolution. This project aims to employ novel genomic analyses of viruses from Australian fauna to resolve major questions in RNA virus ecology and evolution, and is expected to reveal the basic processes that shape the virosphere, determine how viruses jump species to emerge and cause disease in new hosts, and how viruses evolve new levels of virulence. The research will provide a new understanding of how viruses evolve and contribute to global ecosystems and develop ....Redefining virus ecology and evolution. This project aims to employ novel genomic analyses of viruses from Australian fauna to resolve major questions in RNA virus ecology and evolution, and is expected to reveal the basic processes that shape the virosphere, determine how viruses jump species to emerge and cause disease in new hosts, and how viruses evolve new levels of virulence. The research will provide a new understanding of how viruses evolve and contribute to global ecosystems and develop new bioinformatics tools to identify and analyse highly divergent genome sequences through studying meta-transcriptomic data from diverse animal phyla, from prokaryotes and basal eukaryotes, from iconic native mammalian species and their major invasive pests. The benefits provided will include determining the viromes of native and invasive species and enhancing the efforts to protect iconic Australian species from infectious disease.Read moreRead less
What do Microorganisms do Season by Season, Year after Year in the Frigid Antarctic Wilderness? Antarctica is arguably the world’s most important continent for influencing the Earth’s climate and global ocean ecosystem. Like most natural aquatic environments on Earth, in Antarctica microorganisms dominate the genetic pool and biomass and play the key roles in maintaining proper ecosystem function. The project aims to determine how microbial communities change throughout a complete annual cycle i ....What do Microorganisms do Season by Season, Year after Year in the Frigid Antarctic Wilderness? Antarctica is arguably the world’s most important continent for influencing the Earth’s climate and global ocean ecosystem. Like most natural aquatic environments on Earth, in Antarctica microorganisms dominate the genetic pool and biomass and play the key roles in maintaining proper ecosystem function. The project aims to determine how microbial communities change throughout a complete annual cycle in three climate sensitive, Antarctic lakes. By establishing what the microorganisms do in different seasons the study will learn which microbial processes change and how environmental perturbation will impact on normal ecological cycles. This will form the basis for evaluating the effects of climate change on sensitive ecosystems in the Antarctic.Read moreRead less