Name:
University of Torino – Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology
Address:
via Accademia Albertina,13 – 10100 – Torino, Italy
Phone number:
+39 0116705984
e-Mail address:
ricerca.scienzenatura@unito.it
Website:
https://dbiosen.campusnet.unito.it/do/home.pl
Brief description of the organization’s activities:
The Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology (DBIOS) of the university of Torino carries out teaching and research in biology, environmental sciences, biotechnology and health, with special focus on areas such as biodiversity, ecology, evolution, conservation, microbiology, cell biology, human and plant physiology, and genomics. There are several fropus working inthe blue biotecnologies and within the Mycotheca Universitatis Taurinensis thousends of marine fungi are preserved.
The department offer different services related to the blue economy throught the EMBRC-IT national Node including servises relatid to bioacustic in marine environment and services related to the identification, preservation, caractherization and valorizarion of marine fungi in marine biorefinery and in bioprospection.
Sector(s) of involvement:
Waste valorization; Food and feed; Agriculture; Bio-inspired materials; Bioremediation, ecosystem restoration, climate change mitigation and other environmental biotechnology; Biorefinery; Circular economyYes
Role of the organization in the development and/or application of Blue Biotechnologies:
The Mycotheca Universitatis Taurinensis (MUT) is the fungal collection of the Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology of the University of Torino and one of the most important banks of fungal biodiversity in Italy. MUT scopes include are acquisition, identification, characterization, preservation and distribution of both macromycetes and micromycetes. The collection operates according to the ISO 9001 standard, achieved in 2006; since 2008 MUT is affiliated to the World Federation Culture Collections (WFCC), and is a member of the European Culture Collections’ Organisation (ECCO).
MUT holds more than 2000 marine fungi, isolated from a range of biotic and abiotic substrates (mainly from the Mediterranean Sea) such as algae (Asparagopsia taxiformis, Flabelia petiolata and Padina pavonica), seagrasses (e.g. Posidonia oceanica), invertebrates, sediments, plastics etc.. Many fungi have been characterized for the production of extremozymes (e.g. laccases, tannases, xylanses) active in presence of high salt concentrations, others have been screened for the presence of polyketide synthases genes (PKS), whose presence is predictive of the ability to secondary metabolites with antibacterial, antifungal and antialgal potential.
Several projects and collaborations in the field of marine mycology and biotechnological are currently ongoing.
We partecipate in the activities of the EMBRC EU Research Infrastructures, providing services related to bioacustic and marine fungi.
Skills and services provided:
MUT will offer the following services:
Access to fungal strains: fungi will be provided in active growth or lyophilised in compliance with national and international regulation (i.e. Nagoya protocol);
Fungal isolation: isolation of fungi from different marine substrates. Up to 100 strains will be isolated in axenic culture;
Fungal identification: identification of fungi in pure culture with a polyphasic approach that combines molecular and morphological analyses.
Metabarcoding analysis: a broad description of microbial communities (Bacteria and fungi) in an environment is essential to monitor its health prior to conservation. As an output, it offers Illumina amplicon sequencing for the taxonomic characterization of bacteria and fungi. The users will also obtain biodiversity measures, overview taxonomy plots and an inference of putative trophic interactions in the community;
Metagenomic analysis: metagenomic allows capturing the widest array of organisms in a sample, bypassing primer couples specificity. As an output, it offers Illumina amplicon sequencing for the taxonomic characterization of bacteria and fungi. The users will also obtain biodiversity measures, overview taxonomy plots and an inference of putative trophic interactions in the community;
Fungal WGS and annotation: genomics sequencing allows us to dig into the genetic features that support the ecology and physiology of a microorganism. The input is a fungal strain of interest, whose biomass will be produced for high molecular weight DNA extraction. The sequencing will be performed with long reads (Oxford Nanopore), and the output will include gene models, characterization of gene functions, analysis of transposable elements, secreted proteins and secondary metabolites.
Biochemical characterization: fungi may produce bioactive molecules. The input is a strain of interest, which will be grown in optimal fermentative conditions. The biological activity of the extract will be evaluated against specific targets.
Needs in terms of research, innovation, development, and/or application of blue biotechnologies:
we are seeking new collaborative project to increase our knoewlwge in the ecologcal roles of microbes in marine ecosystems and new ways to valorize your skills in different blues biotechnologies.