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

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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.