Our research focuses on the molecular and evolutionary mechanisms that enable bacteria to adapt to complex and contaminated environments, as well as on the strategies employed by microbial communities to degrade emerging pollutants and contribute to bioremediation processes. Our main goal is to understand how global gene regulation, metabolic plasticity, and microbial cooperation shape the ability of environmental microbiomes to respond to the selective pressures imposed by human activities. Ultimately, we aim to translate this knowledge into innovative biotechnological tools that support environmental sustainability and the circular bioeconomy.
Historically, our laboratory has used Pseudomonas putida as a model organism to investigate the global regulation of bacterial metabolism and adaptation to nutrient availability. This work has led to the detailed characterisation of the NtrBC and CbrAB two-component regulatory systems, which coordinate bacterial responses to nitrogen and carbon limitation, respectively. By integrating transcriptomic, proteomic, metabolomic, and functional genetic approaches, we have reconstructed the regulatory networks governed by these systems and uncovered their connections with carbon catabolite repression, small regulatory RNAs, alternative sigma factors, and other global regulatory pathways involved in metabolic adaptation. These studies have established the CbrAB regulatory system as one of the best-characterised global regulatory models within the genus Pseudomonas, providing fundamental insights into the physiology of both environmental and pathogenic pseudomonads.
Our current research is primarily devoted to the biodegradation of emerging pollutants by bacterial consortia, based on the concept that the degradation of complex compounds is rarely accomplished by a single microorganism but rather results from the coordinated metabolic activities of microbial communities. We investigate microbiomes from contaminated environments to identify bacterial populations capable of degrading pharmaceutical compounds, antibiotics, industrial chemicals, and synthetic polymers, including PET, polyurethane, and other recalcitrant plastics. Our objective is to decipher how these microbial consortia evolve, how metabolic pathways are distributed among community members, and how microbial cooperation, competition, and horizontal gene transfer contribute to the acquisition and optimisation of pollutant-degrading capabilities.
To address these questions, we combine classical microbiology with metagenomics, metatranscriptomics, experimental evolution, comparative genomics, and systems biology, allowing us to identify both the microorganisms involved and the metabolic functions that are actively expressed throughout the biodegradation process.
In the long term, our goal is to integrate knowledge on global gene regulation, microbial evolution, and community dynamics to engineer synthetic microbial consortia and develop next-generation biotechnological platforms capable of accelerating environmental decontamination, waste valorisation, and the sustainable production of value-added compounds. Through this multidisciplinary approach, we aim to contribute to innovative solutions for ecological transition, environmental restoration, and the development of a sustainable circular bioeconomy.
