Integrated approach to the study of diversity and plasticity of yeasts from Antarctic marine and terrestrial environments

• Grant number: 24/17641-3
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Start date: June 01, 2025
• End date: May 31, 2029
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Microbiology - Applied Microbiology
• Principal Investigator: Lara Durães Sette
• Grantee: Gabriele Santana de Farias
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IB). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Rio Claro. Rio Claro , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 21/12590-3 - Microbial biobanks: promoting innovations for scientific research and technological development (MicroBioBank), AP.TEM

Abstract

The Antarctic continent is an environment of extremes, making the presence of life scarce. It is known that to survive in the harsh conditions of Antarctica, the microorganisms present there have had to develop a series of physiological and metabolic adaptations. Antarctic yeasts inhabit terrestrial and marine environments, demonstrating these microorganisms' ability to produce biomolecules with high specificity. This project aims to: i) contribute to the prospecting of innovative biomolecules produced by Antarctic yeasts; ii) improve the taxonomic identifications; and iii) investigate whether there are adaptive responses (plasticity) of Antarctic yeasts that inhabit marine and terrestrial environments through metabolomic and genomic studies. To this end, the chemical library of up to 100 yeasts of Antarctic origin will be mapped and, after selecting two species present in both marine and terrestrial environments, the plasticity study will be carried out, linking genomic and metabolomic information to investigate possible adaptation mechanisms. This project is related to Thematic FAPESP 2021/12590-3 "Microbial Biobanks: Promoting Innovations for Scientific Research and Technological Development (MicroBioBank)". The results are expected to contribute to the taxonomy of extremophiles, advance knowledge about the adaptation of Antarctic yeasts to marine and terrestrial environments, and possibly discover new biomolecules of biotechnological interest.