Probing Molecular Interactions in the Nitrogen Fixing Cyanobacteria-Feather Moss Symbiosis

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In 2002, it was reported that microbes capable of harvesting light for energy and biomass, as well as generating nitrogen from the atmosphere, colonize feather mosses that form a huge amount of the ecosystem in high latitude, or boreal, forests. Subsequently, it has been found that these microbes provide a large amount of the nitrogen that sustains boreal forests and that the feather mosses secrete chemicals that attract the microbes. These microbes (cyanobacteria) and mosses enter a symbiosis, with the cyanobacteria providing nitrogen to the moss and the moss providing carbon to the cyanobacteria. The work will examine in finer detail how the moss and cyanobacteria establish this ecologically important partnership by determining essential elements and exchanged compounds. Understanding the intricacies of epiphytic symbioses increases the potential for a domesticated crop-plant-cyanobacteria symbioses. Both graduate and undergraduate students will be trained as part of the research activities. Additionally, a unique collaboration will be formed with the ArtCenter College of Design to develop a funded studio design course aimed at senior level art students, such a subject matter focused on symbiosis. A student from this design course will also be selected for a DesignMatters Fellowship onsite at the J. Craig Venter Institute. By engaging and integrating science and design students, novel forms of education and information exchange will be developed. In boreal forests, nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria form symbiotic associations with feather mosses and provide the largest input of fixed-N into these systems. While the feather moss-cyanobacteria association has been well-studied at the ecological level, it is sparingly studied at the molecular level. The work provides additional characterization of the association at three unique levels: cellular differentiation, molecular localization, and gene to interaction relationships. There are three main aims: Build and phenotype a collection of gene-knockout cyanobacteria. Examine the elemental molecular exchange between moss and cyanobacteria. Develop methods to quantitatively determine heterocyst frequency and transcription of candidate symbiosis-related genes by different cyanobacterial cell types during symbiosis. The synergy between these approaches will discover new molecular interactions, establish material exchange, and provide molecular tools for better characterization of cellular differentiation during symbiosis. Given the widespread natural success of the cyanobacteria-feather moss association, it will be critical to understand the molecular exchanges taking place between the partners to model the impact of this high latitude resource in a warming world. The research will provide a window on the evolution of symbiosis mechanisms to determine whether they could be engineered in a crop species. Both graduate and undergraduate students will be trained as part of the research activities. Additionally, a unique collaboration will be formed with the ArtCenter College of Design to develop a funded studio design course aimed at senior level art students, such a subject matter focused on symbiosis. A student from this design course will also be selected for a DesignMatters Fellowship onsite at the J. Craig Venter Institute.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.