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

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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.