RESEARCH-PGRP - Adapting to a Harsh Environment: Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi, Drought Stress and Plasticity of Plant Architecture for a Beneficial Outcome

为了满足不断增长的人口对粮食和营养的需求，尽管可耕地减少，氮和磷等关键植物营养素有限，土壤盐碱化增加，预计干旱频率增加，但粮食生产必须增加。满足未来的粮食需求是当今世界面临的最大挑战之一，可以通过作物改良和土壤管理来解决。人们对植物如何整合与土壤微生物和环境限制（即，水分不足）来调节它们的生长。该项目正在开发研究植物和微生物之间相互作用的新技术，重点是水稻和番茄在不同灌溉条件下如何与有益真菌相互作用。这些结果将使改善植物-微生物相互作用成为可能，从而使植物能够在压力条件下更好地维持生命功能。这些技术将广泛适用于植物与环境相互作用的其他方面以及其他多细胞生物。此外，该项目正在向当地学校的学生介绍植物遗传学的主题，强调有益生物的重要性。该项目旨在确定关键的基因调控，信号传导和响应网络，这些网络是植物根发育和芽分生组织活动的有益可塑性的基础，这些活动由与丛枝菌根真菌（AMF）的共生介导，特别是在水分亏缺条件下。该项目评估AMF如何影响根构型和分生组织的发展在低水分可用性。具体目标是（1）开发诱导型i-INTACT和i-TRAP，以捕获对不同AMF诱导子或发育丛枝反应的细胞亚群中的表观基因组到翻译组动力学;（2）在温室中启动从器官到细胞水平的AMF和缺水相互作用的高分辨率调查;以及（3）开展教育和更广泛的影响活动。这包括（i）迅速传播遗传物质，基因组数据，协议，软件和研讨会材料;（ii）在课程，研讨会和本科教学实验室的方法的年度指令;和（iii）在植物基因组学研究的本科生和高中生的实践培训。辅导是针对每个机构的社区，针对代表性不足的群体。该项目还开发教材，通过在微观层面上对植物部分进行指导，增强三年级下一代科学标准课程，使青少年能够欣赏植物和植物研究对人类的重要性。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

To meet the food and nutritional demands of an ever-growing population, food production must increase despite declines in arable land and limitations in key plant nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorous (Pi), increased soil salinity, and predicted increases in the frequency of droughts. Meeting future food needs is one of the greatest challenges facing the world today, and can be addressed through crop improvement and soil management. Little is known of how plants integrate beneficial interactions with soil microbes and environmental limitations (i.e., insufficient water) to modulate their growth. This project is developing new technologies for studying the interaction between plants and microbes, focusing on how rice and tomato interact with beneficial fungi under varied irrigation conditions. The results will make it possible to improve plant-microbe interactions so that plants can better sustain vital functions under stressful conditions. The technologies will be broadly applicable to other aspects of plant-environmental interactions and to other multicellular organisms. In addition, the project is introducing students in local schools to topics in plant genetics that highlight the importance of beneficial organisms. This project seeks to identify key gene regulatory, signaling, and response networks that underlie beneficial plasticity in plant root development and shoot meristem activity mediated by the symbiosis with Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi (AMF), particularly under water deficit conditions. The project assesses how AMF influences root architecture and meristematic development under low water availability. The specific aims are to (1) Develop inducible i-INTACT and i-TRAP to capture epigenome to translatome dynamics in the subset of cells responding to distinct AMF elicitors or developing arbuscules; (2) Initiate a high-resolution survey of AMF and water deficit interactions from the organ to the cellular level in the greenhouse; and (3) Pursue education and broader impact activities. This includes (i) prompt dissemination of genetic material, genomic data, protocols, software, and workshop materials; (ii) annual instruction of methods in courses, workshops and undergraduate teaching labs; and (iii) hands-on training of undergraduate and high school students in plant genomics research. Mentoring is tailored to each institution's community, targeting underrepresented groups. The project also develops teaching materials to enhance the 3rd grade Next Generation Science Standard curricula through instruction on plant parts at the microscopic level, empowering youths with an appreciation of plants and the importance of plant research to humankind.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.