Dimensions US-China: Collaborative Research: Impacts of heritable plant-fungus symbiosis on phylogenetic, genetic and functional diversity

维度 中美：合作研究：可遗传植物-真菌共生对系统发育、遗传和功能多样性的影响

• 批准号: 2030225
• 负责人: Christopher Schardl
• 金额: $ 100.8万
• 依托单位: University of Kentucky Research Foundation
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-01-01 至 2025-12-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2030225&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Dimensions; US; China; Collaborative; Research

As primary producers of life, the hundreds of thousands of species of flowering plants are an essential component of Earth’s biodiversity. Interestingly, seeds of flowering plants often bear additional biological diversity in the form of partnering fungi and bacteria. Diverse impacts of seed-borne fungi include enhanced protection of host plants from parasites, pathogens and drought, as well as effects on diversity of their ecosystems. Recently, one fungus was even shown to donate a disease resistance gene to a wild relative of wheat. This study employs cutting-edge methods in ecology, genomics and other biological sciences to research the diversity of plants and their seed-borne fungal partners in the U.S. and in China, a global hotspot for plant diversity. Results will guide efforts to preserve biological diversity and promote healthy, resilient and productive natural ecosystems, rangelands and pastures. Outputs to the public and the scientific community will enhance knowledge of plant-microbe symbiosis as a key dimension of diversity. The research and educational exchange activities will strengthen and diversify scientific collaboration between scientists and students in China and the U.S., provide training to graduate students and postdocs in a broad range of biological and bioinformatic sciences, and integrate field, classroom, and lab activities for K-12 and undergraduate students to discover microscopic and macroscopic layers of biological complexity.This project will first entail a survey for seed-borne fungal endophytes across the taxonomic range of flowering plants, with emphasis on the plant diversity in China. The GBOWS (Germplasm Bank of Wild Species) seed collection in Kunming, China encompasses 37% of Chinese flowering plant species, and this and other collections will be surveyed to examine occurrence and possible roles of fungal seed-endophytes in the diversity of flowering plants. Then, endophyte-symbiotic plant species will be surveyed over wide geographic ranges to elucidate interactions of different “dimensions” of diversity of the target plants and their symbionts. Such dimensions will include genetics, gene expression, morphological characteristics, and ecological effects. These studies will also extend to neighboring plants that grow in association with the target species and the seed-endophytes that they, too, might possess. To complement these broad-scale surveys, the third objective will involve field experiments, conducted jointly with K-12 schools, to test how seed-borne fungal endophytes of grasses and legumes may drive diversity of their hosts and the broader plant community.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.

作为生命的主要生产者，成千上万种开花植物是地球生物多样性的重要组成部分。有趣的是，开花植物的种子通常以伴侣真菌和细菌的形式具有额外的生物学多样性。种子 - 传播真菌的各种影响包括增强对寄生虫，病原体和干旱的保护，以及对生态系统多样性的影响。最近，甚至显示了一种真菌将抗病性基因捐赠给小麦的野生亲戚。这项研究员工在生态学，基因组学和其他生物科学方面的尖端方法研究了美国和中国的植物及其种子 - 传播真菌伴侣的多样性，这是植物多样性的全球热点。结果将指导努力保护生物学多样性，并促进健康，弹性和产品自然生态系统，牧场和牧场。向公众和科学界的产出将增强对植物 - 微生物共生的知识，这是多样性的关键方面。研究和教育交流活动将加强和多样化中国和美国的科学家与学生之间的科学合作，为研究生和博士学位提供广泛的生物学和生物信息学科学的培训，以及综合领域，课堂，K-11的综合教室和实验室活动，并针对K-12的实验室和本科生，以发现材料和型号的生物群体。分类植物的内生植物，重点是中国的植物多样性。中国昆明（Kunming）中的gbows（野生物种种质库）种子收集占中国开花植物物种的37％，将调查这种和其他收集物，以检查发生真菌种子 - 植物在开花植物多样性中的可能作用。然后，将在广泛的地理范围内调查内生生物植物种类，以阐明目标植物多样性及其符号的不同“维度”的相互作用。这样的维度将包括遗传学，基因表达，形态学特征和生态影响。这些研究还将扩展到与目标物种以及它们可能拥有的种子粘膜相关的邻近植物。为了完成这些大规模调查，第三个目标将涉及与K-12学校共同进行的现场实验，以测试种子传播的草和腿的真菌内生菌如何推动其宿主的多样性和更广泛的植物社区的多样性。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并通过评估了基金会的评估，并通过评估了基金会和广泛的支持。