DISSERTATION RESEARCH: The role of resource mutualisms in plant adaptation to abiotic environments

论文研究：资源互利共生在植物适应非生物环境中的作用

• 批准号: 1401582
• 负责人: Jennifer Lau
• 金额: $ 2万
• 依托单位: Michigan State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2014-06-01 至 2017-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1401582&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: DISSERTATION; RESEARCH; role; resource; mutualisms

Plants can overcome environmental stress by dispersing to less stressful habitats, adapting to the stress, or associating with other organisms, such as microbes, that help reduce the stress. Although the third strategy of coping with stress has received very little attention, there is increasing evidence that it is both common and effective. Soil bacteria called rhizobia act like natural fertilizer by converting nitrogen in the atmosphere into a form that at least some plants can use. In return, those plants provide energy to the rhizobia. The goal of this study is to determine whether rhizobia help plants survive under extreme water stress. This research is important because increasing drought stress is predicted for much of the world under global climate change and rhizobia are one of the most likely ways that plants may overcome that stress. This has practical implications. For example, understanding the plant-rhizobium partnership may help reduce application of synthetic fertilizers or unnecessary use of water in agriculture systems. Results will be shared broadly through presentations at national and regional meetings as well as in high school classrooms and in newsletters for naturalists and land managers. The researchers will also create and publish inquiry-based activities for high school students that are aligned with the Advanced Placement (AP) biology Curriculum. Specifically, this research will investigate how resource mutualists influence plant adaptation to soil moisture in the field. Using the legume-rhizobia mutualism as a model system, investigators aim to expand understanding of the mechanisms contributing to local adaptation, how species interactions influence local adaptation, and the traits underlying adaptation. Three specific questions will be addressed: (1) Are plants locally adapted to soil moisture conditions? (2) Do resource mutualists contribute to plant adaptation to soil moisture? And, (3) what plant traits drive adaptation to wet vs. dry environments? These questions will be tackled with an integrated set of reciprocal transplant experiments across multiple sites differing in soil moisture, with manipulative greenhouse experiments, and with molecular analyses.

植物可以通过分散到压力较小的栖息地来克服环境压力，适应压力，或与其他生物体（如微生物）联系，以帮助减轻压力。虽然第三种应对压力的策略很少受到关注，但越来越多的证据表明它既常见又有效。被称为根瘤菌的土壤细菌就像天然肥料一样，将大气中的氮转化为至少某些植物可以使用的形式。作为回报，这些植物为根瘤菌提供能量。本研究的目的是确定根瘤菌是否有助于植物在极端水分胁迫下生存。这项研究很重要，因为在全球气候变化的情况下，预计世界大部分地区的干旱压力都会增加，而根瘤菌是植物克服这种压力的最可能方式之一。这具有实际意义。 例如，了解植物-根瘤菌的伙伴关系可能有助于减少农业系统中合成肥料的应用或不必要的用水。将通过在国家和区域会议上以及在高中课堂上的介绍和在博物学家和土地管理人员的通讯中广泛分享成果。研究人员还将为高中生创建和发布基于探究的活动，这些活动与高级安置（AP）生物课程保持一致。具体来说，本研究将探讨如何资源互惠影响植物适应土壤水分在外地。以豆科植物-根瘤菌共生系统为模型，研究者们的目标是扩大对当地适应机制的理解，物种间的相互作用如何影响当地适应，以及适应的特征。三个具体的问题将被解决：（1）当地的植物适应土壤水分条件？(2)资源互惠者有助于植物适应土壤水分吗？以及，（3）什么植物性状驱动适应潮湿和干燥的环境？这些问题将通过一套完整的相互移植实验来解决，这些实验将在土壤水分不同的多个地点进行，并进行分子分析。