Yeasts may seem just tiny, unimportant fungi, but their importance is far greater than their microscopic dimensions. They are vital in both the bioeconomy and health research, from baking bread to developing life-saving medications, participating in the production of food, energy and commodities, while also serving as pathogens and model organisms for studying genetics and diseases. 

To support research on yeast gene activity, an open access platform, YEASTRACT+, has previously been developed by the European life sciences infrastructure ELIXIR. This platform serves as a widely used FAIRsharing Knowledge-base and repository. However, despite being a leading source of information, it currently lacks quantitative gene expression data and has limited characterisation of many yeast species.

The FAIRY project, coordinated by INESC-ID and funded by OSCARS, a new Horizon Europe Grant, aims to tackle these challenges and enhance this platform. The project will investigate how transcription factors (proteins that regulate the transcription of genes) influence yeast’s gene activity and the resulting traits in various yeast species. This knowledge will help predict how these regulations impact the yeast metabolism, which will allow improving yeast-based production methods towards a circular bioeconomy.

Additionally, the project will identify and store in a central database which genes are vital for the survival of various yeast species. This will improve the tools available for finding potential drug targets and make it easier for scientists to reuse the data, speeding up research in designing better yeast strains for industry and finding new antifungal drug treatments.

Led by Pedro Monteiro, researcher in the area of Automated Reasoning and Software Reliability (ARSR), the project started on November 1st,  has a funding of €115K, and will last 12 months in partnership with Instituto Superior Técnico.

Learn more about the project here.

The FAIRY project is funded by the first edition of the OSCARS, an Horizon Europe Grant (GA number 101129751) led by the five Science Clusters: ENVRI (Environmental Science), ESCAPE (Astronomy and Particle Physics), LS RI (Life Sciences), PaNOSC (Neutron and Light Source Science), SSHOC (Social Sciences and Humanities).