Storing grains and foodstuffs in local, healthy, resilient, low-carbon conditions, and without using fossil fuels, is a major challenge not only for food security and sovereignty, but also for the famous "One Health" concept. Yet very few scientific and technical references are available on this topic. In the south of France, organic cereal producers, archaeologists who are experts in underground medieval silos, cereal pathologists, geneticists and agronomists of cultivated diversity, biochemists, millers and bakers, an underprivileged local authority, cereal craftsmen and an artist have decided to work together on this project and to IMAGINE (co-design innovative storage ideas as alternatives to current techniques), EXPERIMENT (co-build underground silos to store harvests at farmers' and craftsmen's sites, evaluate the effect of storage conditions on the sanitary and technological quality of grains and flours) and SWARM from Occitanie to other territories. Relying on ancestral techniques to respond to the urgent needs of the present and the challenges of the future is at the heart of this project, which aims to bring on board a collective of players with very diverse outlooks, skills and disciplines, and to deploy animation and communication methods to facilitate the emergence of a collective intelligence with operational societal spin-offs in the short term.

Fusaria are among the most important group of phytopathogenic fungi infecting various economically important host plants worldwide. Besides enormous crop losses caused by these fungal attacks, fusaria are able to produce a diverse spectrum of natural compounds, referred to as secondary metabolites. These compounds include mycotoxins that frequently contaminate food and feed, thereby posing a serious health threat to animals and humans when consumed. A crucial step towards the development of efficient and durable strategies against fungal infections and contaminations with mycotoxins is to understand the regulatory network that orchestrates pathogenesis and secondary metabolite biosynthesis. Gene expression in eukaryotes functions within the context of chromatin. This includes histone posttranslational modifications that do not alter the DNA sequence, but affect the read out thereof, i.e. inducing or silencing expression of the underlying genes. These histone marks emerge more and more as key factors in regulating fungal virulence and secondary metabolism. Our working hypothesis is that during fungal development and during infection of the plant, the chromatin structure is dynamic and driven by changes in the histone marks deposited on the genome. These changes allow the expression of virulence- and secondary metabolite-related genes hitherto silent as optionally embedded in repressive chromatin. Among known eukaryotic histone marks, although regularly found as decorating transcriptionally active genes, the role of the variant H2A.Z remains to date a riddle, with conflictual roles often described for the same organisms. The function of H2A.Z in fungi has, to date, received very little attention. HISTOVAR proposes to focus on the chromatin dynamics in the two prominent Fusarium spp., Fusarium fujikuroi and Fusarium graminearum, infecting rice and wheat, respectively, and to study the role of so far overlooked – but likely essential – mechanisms involving H2A.Z during secondary metabolism and pathogenesis. HISTOVAR is a collaborative project between an Austrian and a French research group who both aim at, ultimately, finding the Fusarium’s “Achilles’ heel” that could serve as preferential target(s) for efficient, durable, and environment-friendly fighting strategies against fungal infections and mycotoxin contamination. By a combination of reverse genetics and whole genome approaches (transcriptome, metabolome and epigenome analyses), HISTOVAR will provide groundbreaking knowledge regarding the function of H2A.Z in fungal development, pathogenicity, and secondary metabolism.

The goal of the TEAMTOX proposal is to decipher the regulation of the biosynthesis of mycotoxins produced by a “Meta-Fusarium sp.”. A Meta-Fusarium sp., gathering the major Fusarium species involved in Fusarium Head Blight (FHB), will be considered in ecophysiology analyses as an individual fungus that operates as a whole. Indeed, while there is compelling evidence that interactions between Fusarium species drive the outcome of FHB in terms of symptoms and crop contamination with mycotoxins, mostly reductionist approaches have been implemented to address this important safety issue. It is also clear that Fusarium multispecies interactions goes beyond a merely ‘one plus one is two’ theorem. This statement implies a paradigm shift: single Fusarium species-centered approach must be surpassed. This challenge guides the TEAMTOX project which is structured around four operational work packages with the aim to: (1) characterize the kinetics of Fusarium species distribution and mycotoxin profiles by Meta-Fusarium sp. and the perturbations induced by temperature and oxidative stress parameters, (2) identify the molecular events that drive the production of mycotoxins by Meta-Fusarium sp., (3) evaluate the role of the intra-species diversity on the meta-Fusarium sp. dynamic and (4) assess the efficiency of biocontrol candidates which bioactivity has been previously demonstrated using single species-centered approaches and evidencing the added value of a meta-Fusarium sp. approach. We assume that the TEAMTOX’s strategy and outputs will pave the avenues for improved control strategies of FHB and mycotoxins.

The overall objective of CHEMBIOFUN is to explore the fundamental and biotechnological potentials of fungal metabolites in order to understand their environmental impact and provide original bio-based products for pharmaceutical, agronomy and cosmeceutical industry. Fungi are widespread in nature and have conquered nearly every ecological niche. Because they compete with other microbes or animals, fungi have developed numerous survival mechanisms, including the production of chemical mediators which exhibit a wide range of biological activities with potential for various applications in industry, health and agronomy. Although fungi constitute an incredibly and still untapped source of original bioactive compounds, they remain an underexplored group of organisms for such compounds. The study of fungal secondary metabolites is experiencing a revival of interest thanks to numerous scientific advances in biology, chemistry and omics technologies. Therefore, transdisciplinary and integrative approaches to develop new concepts and tools with the aim of deciphering the biosynthesis of fungal compounds, their ecological roles and their environmental impacts are strongly needed. New methods for large-scale production of such promising compounds, using fermentation-based, fossil energy-free and environmentally compatible industrial processes, are also needed. Addressing these major societal challenges requires long-term investment, and thus there is an urgent need to train students that will be capable of implementing multidisciplinary strategies in the future. CHEMBIOFUN goal is thus to be an international PhD programme for highly motivated young scientists, offering to 10 early-stage researchers (ESRs) the opportunity to improve their research and entrepreneurial skills and enhance their career prospects. Support from MRSEI will allow the CHEMBIOFUN consortium to efficiently prepare a grant proposal for the call “HORIZON-MSCA-2022-DN-01”

Grain storage in underground silos was probably practiced from the early Neolithic until very recently in some communities around the world. For thousands of years, the underground silo should have been an essential development for the life and survival of populations, with an undeniable economic stake. The underground silo and the practices associated with its construction and use are now a threatened or disappeared tangible and intangible heritage. Historical, archaeological and ethnographic data do not clearly shed light on the practices of underground silage through the ages. The latest archaeological excavations of the large silage areas make it possible to count the pits, to characterize their shape and volume, to reflect on the chronology and organization of a grouped silage area, but not to know the peasant’s know-how and the quality of food preservation in the underground silos. The peasant communities have had durably solved the various problems linked to this type of grain storage: attacks by pests, humidity, heating of the grains, whereas modern agriculture uses ventilated, cooled and chemically protected silos that consume energy. In the multidisciplinary project SilAchaeoBio, we develop an experimental archaeology approach by recreating 13 pits in two sites and practicing short- and long-term grain storage in these airtight pits equipped with recorders of the internal climatic conditions. Different technical options are tested and grain quality is assessed by acquiring biological data using modern analysis methods. The data collected provides information on the lifespan of a silo and the duration of underground storage guaranteeing germination properties, the food quality and food safety of stored grains. The lessons from experimental archaeology lead to a new emphasis on archaeological, historical, agronomical documentary analyses to produce new interpretations for the economic history of peasant communities in North Mediterranean in the Middle Ages. The knowledge produced in this study can be used in other geographical situations and for other periods. Such preservation of grains without recourse to an energy source for cooling and ventilation and without the use of pesticides, echoes the expectations of 21th century people for changes in systems of agricultural production towards localization, environmental protection and the preservation of human health. It can inspire development of present-day technologies. In summary, SilAchoBio establishes a dialogue between scientific methods and professional practices related to cereal farming, using both old data and current knowledge. It is anchored in a local context (Roussillon) to re-find peasant knowledge and to understand the role of these silos in the economic and cultural organization of ancestral societies in the Mediterranean basin and beyond. This multidisciplinary project will make it possible to progress in archaeological and historical knowledge and could also give rise to technical solutions applicable to sustainable agriculture in the 21st century.