MO: Forces Shaping Microbial Communities In The Phyllosphere of Arabidopsis Thaliana

MO：塑造拟南芥叶际微生物群落的力量

• 批准号: 0603515
• 负责人: Joy Bergelson
• 金额: $ 159.98万
• 依托单位: University of Chicago
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2007
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2007-01-01 至 2014-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0603515&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: MO; Forces; Shaping; Microbial; Communities

The environment in which organisms live is not static but changes as a consequence of human activities, as well as geological and evolutionary processes. One particularly dynamic environment is that of a biological host within which microbes live. In these environments, change can be rapidly induced by the presence of the microbes themselves when they trigger host resistance responses. How does this environmental change shape the ecology and evolution of microorganisms, and how do they survive in such fluctuating environments? The goal of this project is to dissect the ecological and evolutionary responses of bacteria that live in the leaves of a host plant, A. thaliana, to changes that are induced in host plant chemistry. In so doing, this project will attempt to (1) identify the community of bacterial species that reside in this important host plant, (2) explore the community level interactions of these species as a function of biochemical changes in the host, particularly making use of genetic mutants that differ in their capacity for defense responses, (3) examine genome-wide patterns of genetic variation in an attempt to infer the evolutionary history of these species and (4) experimentally test the evolutionary capacity of microbes to adapt to novel host environments. The project is thus integrative, encompassing ecology, evolution, genetics, genomics and biochemistry, in an effort to develop a mechanistic understanding of biological response to a changing environment.Most, if not all, species are faced with changing environments, although the timescale of this change varies. Of particular practical concern is whether we can predict the capacity of species to adapt to novel environments, and whether we can anticipate the extent of community level compositional change. Discoveries about the role of plant defense on the resident microbial community in ecological and evolutionary time should yield general principles that will be applicable across a broad spectrum of microbial communities. This project aims to discern these general principles. The project will also serve important educational missions, including (1) a role for high school and undergraduate students in the research, (2) a component to train K-12 teachers in microbial ecology, (3) efforts to include both a technician and graduate students from an under-represented group, and (4) hands-on presentations on biodiversity to nursery and elementary school students, including display of student made installments at The Field Museum in Chicago.

生物体生存的环境不是静止的，而是随着人类活动以及地质和进化过程而变化的。一个特别动态的环境是微生物生活在其中的生物宿主的环境。在这些环境中，当微生物触发宿主抗性反应时，它们本身的存在可以迅速诱导变化。这种环境变化如何塑造微生物的生态和进化，它们如何在这种波动的环境中生存？这个项目的目标是剖析生活在寄主植物A. thaliana，to changes变化that are induced诱导in host宿主plant植物chemistry化学.在此过程中，本项目将试图（1）确定这种重要宿主植物中的细菌物种群落，（2）探索这些物种作为宿主生物化学变化的函数的群落水平相互作用，特别是利用防御反应能力不同的遗传突变体，（3）检查基因组范围内的遗传变异模式，试图推断这些物种的进化历史，（4）实验测试微生物适应新宿主环境的进化能力。因此，该项目是综合性的，包括生态学，进化，遗传学，基因组学和生物化学，以努力发展对变化的环境的生物反应的机械理解，大多数，如果不是所有的物种都面临着不断变化的环境，虽然这种变化的时间尺度不同。特别实际的问题是，我们是否可以预测物种的能力，以适应新的环境，我们是否可以预测社区水平的组成变化的程度。在生态和进化时期，植物防御对常驻微生物群落的作用的发现应该产生适用于广泛的微生物群落的一般原则。本项目旨在识别这些一般原则。该项目还将服务于重要的教育任务，包括（1）高中和本科生在研究中的作用，（2）在微生物生态学方面培训K-12教师的组成部分，（3）努力包括来自代表性不足的群体的技术人员和研究生，以及（4）向幼儿园和小学生介绍生物多样性，包括在芝加哥的菲尔德博物馆展出学生制作的分期付款。