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

轮藻类微生物组：揭示陆地植物微生物群落的早期进化

• 批准号: 1119944
• 负责人: Linda Graham
• 金额: $ 37.5万
• 依托单位: University of Wisconsin-Madison
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2011
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2011-07-01 至 2014-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1119944&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Microbiomes; Charophycean; Algae; Revealing; Early

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.

像人类和其他动物一样，现代植物依赖于它们的微生物群落并与之相互作用-微生物群落为宿主提供营养益处。分子和化石证据表明，共生微生物对最早的植物在陆地上定居的能力至关重要，从而形成了过去数亿年来复杂的陆地生态系统的基础。然而，我们对早期植物-微生物伙伴关系是如何产生的了解很少，因为密切相关的绿色藻类的微生物协会知之甚少。过去对这些近缘植物的研究揭示了人类所依赖的现代植物的许多分子、生化、生理、结构和生殖特征的起源。该项目使用最先进的基因组测序和计算机数据处理方法来推断关键藻类-微生物和植物-微生物伙伴关系中的微生物多样性和功能。这些数据有望揭示现代植物-微生物伙伴关系的基本特征。该项目将扩大对自然生态系统中微生物多样性和功能的认识，并阐明植物进化史。预计将发现许多对科学界有用的新基因序列和具有潜在用途的新微生物物种。该项目与各种教育活动相联系，特别是为公众、学生和研究人员开发新的网络资源。