NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2021: From genomes to phenomes: the rules of life that govern bacterial-fungal-plant symbioses

该行动资助了2021财年的NSF生物学博士后研究奖学金，即调查基因组，环境和表型之间相互作用的生命规则的综合研究。该研究金支持研究员的研究和培训，以创新的方式为生活规则领域做出贡献。例如，细菌和某种真菌（称为外生菌根真菌）与植物相关联，并有助于推动将农业，生态系统健康和气候模式联系起来的过程。然而，细菌-真菌相互作用的知识目前缺乏详细的描述，其中细菌-真菌的关系持续在环境中，细菌-真菌的关系一起工作（共生），以促进植物的生长和发育。这项研究将调查这些复杂关系的基本原理，以建立模型，确定植物如何在复杂的环境中发展。此外，该项目将为研究员提供实施大规模，基于微生物的生态系统可持续性目标所需的跨学科培训，并将促进与平面设计师和当地组织的合作，提出一系列虚拟动画，将代表性不足的群体与艺术和科学联系起来。植物）从一个有机体伙伴的同质池中选择-通过确定加州沿海平原上与植物相关的细菌-真菌伙伴的组成。为了更好地理解驱动细菌-真菌-植物关系的机制细节（基因型到表型），自上而下（即，宏基因组测序）和自底向上（即，植物生物测定）方法将结合起来，1）建立普遍的植物相关细菌-真菌相互作用，2）揭示微尺度上细菌-真菌植物相关群落之间的遗传重叠和不相似程度（近端和远端植物根系）和景观（加州海岸线）规模，和3）确定选择细菌-真菌相互作用和功能对于介导微生物群落组合和促进植物发育的重要性。因此，将测试两种生命模型/规则：1）共生关系取决于生物背景和非生物背景; 2）由于占主导地位的互利关系随空间变化，这导致影响地球系统功能的酶活性和群落组合的可预测变化（例如，贫营养细菌中几丁质分解性高于纤维素分解性的变化）。此外，该研究员将获得微生物生态学方面的关键培训（即，微观和宏观尺度），以最终生成预测模型，加强生态系统功能与植物-微生物相互作用。最后，这个项目将产生虚拟展品，将拟人化的植物微生物群落，以展示生活中的各种关系如何加强我们社区的社会结构。这个奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估的支持。

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2021, Integrative Research Investigating the Rules of Life Governing Interactions Between Genomes, Environment and Phenotypes. The fellowship supports research and training of the fellow that will contribute to the area of Rules of Life in innovative ways. For instance, bacteria and a certain kind of fungi (called ectomycorrhizal fungi) associate with plants and help drive the processes that link agriculture, ecosystem health, and climate patterns. However, knowledge of bacterial-fungal interactions currently lacks detailed descriptions of which bacterial-fungal relationships persist in the environment and which bacterial-fungal relationships work together (symbiotically) to contribute to plant growth and development. This research will investigate the fundamentals of these complex relationships to the end of establishing models that determine how plants develop in complex environments. Moreover, this project will provide the fellow with the interdisciplinary training needed to implement large scale, microbial-based ecosystem sustainability goals and will facilitate partnerships with graphic designers and local organizations to put forth a series of virtual animations that link underrepresented groups to the arts and sciences.This research will directly test the Baas Becking Hypothesis—which states that the environment (e.g., plants) selects from a homogenous pool of organismal partners—by determining the composition of plant-associated bacterial-fungal partners across the coastal plain of California. To better understand the mechanistic details (genotypes-to-phenotypes) that drive bacterial-fungal-plant relationships, top-down (i.e., metagenomic sequencing) and bottom-up (i.e., plant bioassays) approaches will be combined to 1) establish prevalent plant-associated bacterial-fungal interactions, 2) uncover the degree of genetic overlap and dissimilarity between bacterial-fungal plant-associated communities across microscale (proximal and distal to plant root systems) and landscape (California coastline) scales, and 3) determine the importance of select bacterial-fungal interactions and functions for mediating microbial community assemblages and fostering plant development. Resultantly, two models/rules of life will be tested: 1) symbioses depend as much on biotic context as on abiotic context; and 2) because dominant mutualisms change over space, this leads to predicable changes in enzymatic activity and community assemblages that impact Earth system functions (e.g., shifts in oligotrophic bacteria that are more chitinolytic than cellulolytic). Further, the fellow will gain critical training in microbial ecology (i.e., micro- and macroscales) to the end of generating predictive models that undergird ecosystem functioning with plant-microbe interactions. Finally, this project will generate virtual exhibits that will anthropomorphize plant-microbe communities to demonstrate how diverse relationships in life strengthen the social fabric of our communities.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.