ERC Consolidator Grant · 2017
DiseasE-FreE social life without Antibiotics resisTance
The application of antimicrobial compounds produced by hosts or defensive symbionts to counter the effects of diseases has been identified in a number of organisms, but despite extensive studies on their presence, we know essentially nothing about why antimicrobials do not trigger rampant resistance evolution in target parasites. In stark contrast to virtually any other organism, fungus-farming termites have evolved a sophisticated agricultural symbiosis that pre-dates human farming by 30 million years without suffering from specialised diseases. I will capitalise on recent pioneering work in my group on proximate evidence for antimicrobial defences in the termites, their fungal crops, and…
From the public funding record at EU CORDIS. Describes the funded project, not the reviews below.