78 Million Euros for Research on Resilient Crops and Ecosystems

Jun 25, 2024

A laser coupled to a mass spectrometer helps Dr. Lars Wörmer (left) and Prof. Kai-Uwe Hinrichs decipher the lipid biomarkers in sediment cores. Photo: MARUM – Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, University of Bremen; V. Diekamp

A new research project will use environmental DNA to investigate how to reshape cropping systems and develop resilient crops in the face of climate change. The project is being led by Prof. Eske Willerslev (University of Copenhagen) and will receive approximately 78 million euros over seven years from the Novo Nordisk Foundation and the Wellcome Trust. Researchers from MARUM – Center for Marine Environmental Sciences at the University of Bremen will be contributing significantly to the project.

The combined effects of climate change and the biodiversity crisis pose a threat to global food security. This is exactly what the new research AEGIS (Ancient Environmental Genomics Initiative for Sustainability) project led by Prof. Eske Willerslev is looking into. He is a professor at the University of Copenhagen and the University of Cambridge, as well as an Excellence Chair at the University of Bremen. Willerslev will lead the project, in which Prof. Kai-Uwe Hinrichs, Dr. Lars Wörmer, Dr. Ursula Röhl, and Dr. Enno Schefuß from MARUM and the Faculty of Geosciences will be involved.

“I am proud that MARUM will be part of this bold and forward-looking initiative. MARUM will receive more than 2.5 million euros for contributing biomarker analyses, sediment core scanning techniques, and core archiving in order to investigate the environmental conditions and stress responses experienced by plants and agricultural crops during major climatic transitions in the past,” says Kai-Uwe Hinrichs.

AEGIS researchers address these pressing issues by exploring the past: How have ecosystems and species adapted to climatic changes, and how can this knowledge be applied to contemporary agricultural challenges?

The program utilizes environmental DNA (eDNA) to forge a new path in sustainable agriculture. The initiative aims to decode and understand how ecosystems and crops responded and adapted to past environmental perturbations and is driven by the aspiration to create a more sustainable future by enhancing crop resilience and agroecosystem sustainability, explains Eske Willerslev. “By employing ecosystem modelling, we can pinpoint which combinations of species lead to the most durable ecosystems. This knowledge could serve as a blueprint for creating climate resilient food systems, enhancing both the crops we grow and the sustainability of the environments they grow in," he states.

Goal Is to Provide Global Knowledge Base and Tools

Central to AEGIS is a data engine dedicated to extracting and analyzing ancient eDNA from sediment cores, offering a window into the Earth’s agrarian history and the response of ecosystems to changes over hundreds to millions of years.

This groundbreaking work will harness the collective expertise in bioinformatics, microbial ecology, plant breeding, and environmental genomics. The ultimate goal is to provide a robust knowledge base and tools for the global community to advance agriculture in the face of climatic adversity.

AEGIS is committed to the principles of the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit Sharing, which focus on fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the utilization of genetic resources, thereby contributing to the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity.

The project will be funded over a period of seven years with around 67 million euros (500 million Danish kroner) from the Novo Nordisk Foundation (Denmark) and 11 million euros (85 million Danish kroner) from the Wellcome Trust (UK). Both foundations have set themselves the task of supporting research, promoting knowledge and solutions to support a green transformation of society, and addressing social challenges with science.

“By participating in AEGIS, the University of Bremen lives up to its vision to connect excellent research with overcoming socially relevant problems and to contribute to a sustainable future for us all. I congratulate the project team led by our Excellence Chair Eske Willerslev and thank all colleagues from MARUM involved in the proposal. The team’s thinking outside the box and creativity in conceiving a project that will decipher the traces of past ecosystems hidden in sedimentary archives is truly exceptional. The University of Bremen is proud to be in the AEGIS project,” says Prof. Michal Kucera, Vice President for Research and Transfer on the University of Bremen’s Executive Board.

The foundation for MARUM participation in this project was established through the collaboration of MARUM researchers with Excellence Chair Prof. Eske Willerslev in the framework of the Cluster of Excellence “The Ocean Floor – Earth’s Uncharted Interface.”

More Information:

Scientists describe sediment cores in the laboratory. Photo: MARUM – Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, University of Bremen; V. Diekamp

Contact:

Prof. Dr. Kai-Uwe Hinrichs
Organic Geochemistry
MARUM – Center for Marine Environmental Sciences and Faculty of Geosciences

University of Bremen
Phone: +49 (0)421 218-65700
Email: [Bitte aktivieren Sie Javascript]

Dr. Lars Wörmer
Organic Geochemistry
MARUM – Center for Marine Environmental Sciences and Faculty of Geosciences

University of Bremen
Phone: +49 (0)421 218-65710
Email: [Bitte aktivieren Sie Javascript]

Participating institutions:

University of Copenhagen, Globe Institute (Denmark)
University of Cambridge, Department of Genetics (Great Britain)
UC Berkeley, Integrative Biology (USA)
University of Bremen, MARUM – Center for Marine Environmental Sciences (Germany)
The Carlsberg Research Laboratory (Denmark)
NIAB, Cambridge (Great Britain)
University of Zurich, Dep. Plant and Microbiology (Switzerland)
The Wellcome Sanger Institute (Great Britain)
EMBL- EBI, Cambridge (Great Britain)
Institute Pasteur (France)
Wageningen University, Department of Plant Sciences (Netherlands)
University of Colorado Boulder (USA)
Seoul National University, Department of Biology (South Korea)
Nanjing Normal University (China)
Zhejiang Institute of Archaeology (China)

MARUM produces fundamental scientific knowledge about the role of the ocean and the seafloor in the total Earth system. The dynamics of the oceans and the seabed significantly impact the entire Earth system through the interaction of geological, physical, biological and chemical processes. These influence both the climate and the global carbon cycle, resulting in the creation of unique biological systems. MARUM is committed to fundamental and unbiased research in the interests of society, the marine environment, and in accordance with the sustainability goals of the United Nations. It publishes its quality-assured scientific data to make it publicly available. MARUM informs the public about new discoveries in the marine environment and provides practical knowledge through its dialogue with society. MARUM cooperation with companies and industrial partners is carried out in accordance with its goal of protecting the marine environment.