Dimensions US-South Africa: Unravelling the influence of endosymbiotic bacteria on the biodiversity of Mucoromycota fungi

这项合作工作的目标是研究生活在真菌细胞内的细菌如何对毛霉属真菌的生态和进化动力学做出贡献。Mucoromycota是最不为人所知的真菌之一，但在生态和经济上都很重要。它们包括只能与植物共生的真菌，以及存在于植物根系中的分解者和真菌。小球菌属真菌是目前研究的真菌类群之一，在可持续农业中具有替代矿质肥料的潜力。毛霉菌是作物收获后变质的主要病原体。Mortiellomycotina作为多不饱和脂肪酸的生产者具有商业用途。该项目将揭示毛霉群落如何聚集和进化，更好地为这些真菌的实际应用提供信息。学员将学习研究进化、真菌生物学、微生物学和群落生态学的方法，并熟悉各种现代实验室方法和计算分析工具。此外，由于该项目的国际性质，美国参与者将与南非的研究人员进行互动。与其他真菌不同，毛霉通常含有古老的高度共同进化的内共生细菌（EB）。对包括EB在内的影响Mucoromycota全球多样性的因素的理解是有限的。为了填补这一知识空白，将从美国和南非的两个生物群落（地中海森林、林地和灌木丛以及沙漠和干旱灌木地）中取样毛霉菌。将采用一种不依赖于培养的分类群鉴定方法，结合群落生态学的分析方法，来检验有关EB和地质历史以及扩散、环境和生物过滤的综合作用的假设，以确定在更广泛的真菌土壤分解者和根内生菌/共生菌群落背景下毛霉菌的生物多样性。培养依赖方法将用于鉴定与Mucoromycota相关的新型EB，研究这些共生关系中出现的进化创新，并发现它们对Mucoromycota群落结构和分类多样化的影响。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The goal of this collaborative work is to investigate how bacteria living inside of fungal cells contribute to ecological and evolutionary dynamics of Mucoromycota fungi. Mucoromycota are one of the least understood, yet ecologically and economically important groups of fungi. They include fungi that can only live in conjunction with plant associates, as well as decomposers and fungi that exist within plant root systems. Glomeromycotina, one of the fungal groups to be studied, offers a promising alternative to mineral fertilizers in sustainable agriculture. Mucoromycotina are chief agents of crop post-harvest spoilage. Mortiellomycotina have commercial utility as producers of polyunsaturated fatty acids. The project will unravel how Mucoromycota communities assemble and evolve, better informing practical applications for these fungi. Student participants will be trained in methods to study evolution, fungal biology, microbiology, and community ecology as well as acquainted with tools of diverse modern lab methods and computation analyses. In addition, because of the international nature of the project, the US participants will interact with researchers in South Africa.Unlike other fungi, Mucoromycota commonly harbor ancient and highly coevolved endosymbiotic bacteria (EB). The understanding of factors, including EB, that shape global diversity of Mucoromycota is limited. To fill this knowledge gap, Mucoromycota will be sampled from two biomes (Mediterranean Forests, Woodlands & Scrub and Deserts & Xeric Shrublands) across the U.S. and South Africa. A culture-independent approach to taxon identification, combined with analytical methods of community ecology, will be used to test hypotheses concerning the combined roles of EB and geological history as well as dispersal, environmental and biotic filtering in determining the biodiversity of Mucoromycota within the context of broader communities of fungal soil decomposers and root endophytes/mutualists. Culture-dependent methods will be employed to identify novel EB associated with Mucoromycota, examine evolutionary innovations emerging from these symbioses, and discover their impact on Mucoromycota community structuring and taxonomic diversification.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.