Summary
Marine invertebrates host complex microbial communities, establishing associations and offering numerous cues of investigation, especially in the bioprospecting era. A network of complex interactions rules symbiotic dynamics, and really often involves the production of compounds with properties of biotechnological interest. Despite the overwhelming interest of such research area, bacteria-invertebrate associations in polar areas have been rarely explored. The improvement of knowledge in the cold-symbiosis opens interesting perspectives if one thinks that polar organisms are physiologically and metabolically specialized, and could reveal still unexplored scenarios. The use of biological matrices for the isolation of bacterial symbionts and investigation on their biomolecule production (e.g. biosurfactants) was mainly attempted for temperate environments. Conversely, the knowledge about bacterial associated with Arctic marine organisms is still limited to few contributes.

Objectives
The Sym(b)²iosis proposal aims at exploring the prokaryotic communities associated with several marine invertebrate species in selected Arctic area(s), including Svalbard Islands and Northern Norway, thus filling the gap of knowledge in such field, both from an ecological and biotechnological point of view.
Main objectives are:
• 1) Isolation and characterization of cultivable bacteria from Arctic marine invertebrates;
• 2) Evaluation of the chemical contamination level in Arctic marine invertebrates and abiotic matrices;
• 3) Taxonomical elucidation of the whole associated prokaryotic community;
• 4) Focus on biosurfactant-producing bacterial isolates from Arctic marine invertebrates.

Project Partners
• Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, Messina, Italy
• Institute of Oceanology of the Polish Academy of Sciences (IOPAN)

Other informations
• ASSEMBLE Plus: Final call for funded access to marine infrastructures