Microbiomes of Charophycean Algae: Revealing the Early Evolution of Land Plant Microbial Associations

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Like humans and other animals, modern plants depend on and interact with their microbiomes - communities of partner microorganisms that provide nutritional benefits to their hosts. Molecular and fossil evidence indicate that symbiotic microbes were critical to the ability of earliest plants to colonize land, thereby forming the basis for complex terrestrial ecosystems that have existed for the past several hundred million years. Yet our understanding of how early plant-microbe partnerships arose is sparse because the microbial associations of closely-related green algae are poorly known. Past study of such relatives has revealed the origin of many molecular, biochemical, physiological, structural, and reproductive features of the modern plants upon which humans depend. This project uses state-of-the-art genomic sequencing and computer data processing methods to infer microbial diversity and function in key algal-microbe and plant-microbe partnerships. These data are expected to reveal fundamental features of modern plant-microbe partnerships.This project will extend knowledge of microbial diversity and function in natural ecosystems and illuminate plant evolutionary history. Many new gene sequences useful to the scientific community and new microbial species of potential utility are expected to be discovered. The project links to diverse educational activities, particularly the development of a new web resource designed for the general public, students, and researchers.