MicroCokit Project - Microbial Community-based sequencing analysis linked to anthropogenic pressures to address the water quality

Microbial communities are the base of the food web pyramid, representing about 50% of the total biomass on Earth. They are responsible for the geochemical cycles and bio-removal of organic compounds, including xenobiotics, playing a key-role in ecosystem functioning and providing several ecosystem services. They are able to adapt promptly to environmental changes and the presence of a natural microbial community is a necessary prerequisite for an effective response to the various chemicals that can contaminate an ecosystem. However, the recovery from contamination is only possible if toxicity does not hamper microbial activity. The knowledge of natural remediation capacity of a microbial community allows to assess the contaminant availability to higher levels (including man) in the ecosystem food web. The MicroCokit Project a close collaboration of academic groups with pan-European governmental laboratories, leading private enterprise and coordinated by CNR-IRSA, has been conceived to: 1. investigate and identify aquatic complex stressor indicators based on microbial communities; 2. foster the transfer of knowledge among the partners with the final goal to bring to market faster, more sensitive and robust tools as bioindicators of water quality.