King Abdullah University of Science and Technology

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Daniele Daffonchio 

Professor, Marine Science
Chair, Marine Science Program

Biological and Environmental Science and Engineering Division


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Affiliations

Education Profile

  • ​​​​Post Doctoral Scientist, LabMet, University of Gent, Gent, Belgium, 1994
  • Ph.D., University of Milan, Milan, Italy, 1993
  • M.Sc, University of Milan, Milan, Italy, 1988

Research Interests

Professor Daffonchio's research interests are in the microbial ecology of complex ecosystems in conventional and extreme aquatic and terrestrial habitats. His research is spanning from basic aspects of microbial ecology through the application of synthetic ecology approaches to applied aspects for the environmental protection and sustainability of agriculture.

Professor Daffonchio has developed research on the exploration and characterization of extreme marine and terrestrial environments, both pristine and polluted. He is actually dealing with the study and exploitation of extremophile microorganisms along the water stress continuity from the Arabian desert to the depth of the brine pools in the Red Sea. A particular focus is on the bacteria-host symbiosis with plants and animals in relation to the water and salinity stresses.

Selected Publications

  • ​Daffonchio D., Borin S., Brusa T., Brusetti L., Van der Wielen P.W.J.J., Bolhuis H., Yakimov M.M., D'Auria G., Giuliano L., Marty D., Tamburini C., McGenity T.J., Hallsworth J.E, Sass A.M., Timmis K.N., Tselepides A., de Lange G.J., Huebner A., Thomson J., Varnavas S.P., Gasparoni F., Gerber H. W., Malinverno E., Corselli C., BioDeep Scientific Party. 2006. Stratified prokaryote network in the oxic-anoxic transition of a deep sea halocline. Nature, 440:203-207.
  • Favia G., Ricci I., Damiani C., Raddadi N., Crotti E., Marzorati M., Rizzi A., Urso R., Brusetti L., Borin S., Mora D., Scuppa P., Pasqualini L., Clementi E., Genchi M., Corona S., Negri I., Grandi G., Alma A., Kramer L., Esposito F., Bandi C., Sacchi L., Daffonchio D. 2007. Bacteria of the genus Asaia stably associate with Anopheles stephensi, an Asian malarial mosquito vector. Proceedings of National Academy of Science of USA, 104:9047-9051.
  • Wittebolle L., Marzorati M., Clement L., Balloi A., Daffonchio D., Heylen K., De Vos P., Verstraete W., Boon N. 2009. Initial community evenness favours functionality under selective stress. Nature 458:623-626.
  • Marasco R., Rolli E., Ettoumi B., Vigani G., Mapelli F., Borin S., El-Behiri U., Sorlini C., Cherif A., Zocchi G., Daffonchio D. 2012. A drought resistance-promoting microbiome is selected by root system under desert farming. PLoS One 7:e48479.1-e48479.14.
  • De Roy K., Marzorati M., Negroni A., Thas O., Balloi A., Fava F., Verstraete W., Daffonchio D., Boon N. 2013. Environmental conditions and community evenness determine the outcome of biological invasion. Nature Communications 4:1383.