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Projekt Druckansicht

Epitheliale Abwehr in Hydra

Fachliche Zuordnung Evolutionäre Zell- und Entwicklungsbiologie der Tiere
Förderung Förderung von 2010 bis 2017
Projektkennung Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Projektnummer 162531313
 
Erstellungsjahr 2018

Zusammenfassung der Projektergebnisse

Using a a wide range of state-of-the-art microscopic and functional methods, our efforts provided novel and important information about the role of Hydra´s glycalix as habitat for a complex and stably associated microbial community. We also showed that mucosal surfaces appeared for the first time about 560 million years ago in Cnidaria suggesting a common origin for both systems. In addition, and initially not planned, we uncovered a number of functional aspects involved in controlling the bacterial colonizers living within the glycocalyx including novel antimicrobial peptides produced in nerve cells. The last mentioned result led us to propose that the nervous system with its rich repertoire of neuropeptides is involved in controlling resident beneficial microbes and that it emerged to orchestrate multiple functions including host-microbiome interactions. All relevant observations were publilshed in international journals. The uncovered interactions between Hydra and its microbial colonizers will be central in our future research activities and indicate that the ultimately simple “holobiont” Hydra provides both a new perspective on the relationship between bacteria and animal cells and also a new prism for viewing the emergence and evolution of epithelial-based innate immunity.

Projektbezogene Publikationen (Auswahl)

 
 

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