BEE: Testing a phylogenetic trait framework for soil microbiomes

土壤微生物为社会提供了重要的服务，包括土壤肥力的再生、废物的分解和碳的储存。越来越清楚的是，土壤微生物群落（微生物组）的组成影响土壤功能，从而影响这些服务的提供。然而，土壤微生物群的多样性和空间变化是如此令人难以置信，以至于我们对它们的组成与功能之间的关系的理解仍然难以捉摸。为了解决这一知识差距，该研究将对一种模式生物进行实地和实验室实验，以测试一种预测框架，该框架将微生物特征（特征）与其在土壤中的分布和功能联系起来，从而提高预测土壤微生物组如何应对未来环境变化的能力。这项工作的另一个影响是陆地细菌模式生物的发展，以及基因组和培养资源的产生，这些资源将广泛共享并可用于未来的研究。该项目还将向为拉美裔和亚裔美国人、美洲原住民和太平洋岛民服务机构的众多学员提供支持。最后，为了向公众宣传微生物研究的重要性，科学教育实习生将开发和实施一门关于微生物在生态系统中的作用的中学课程。该项目将通过跨越连续体的两个端点——一方面是细菌性状的宏观进化，另一方面是细菌在碳循环中的生态作用——来整合进化和生态学。具体而言，研究将探讨性状的宏观进化分布是否可以预测微生物群落的分布和功能。本研究将(1)确定丰富的表层土壤细菌Curtobacterium性状的系统发育结构；(2)量化Curtobacterium性状的系统发育结构与其生物地理的关系；(3)检验Curtobacterium性状分布是否与田间功能相关。这项工作将结合培养分离物的生理分析、系统遗传学和种群基因组分析、生物地理调查、移植和普通花园实验，以及元基因组学支持的活动测量。本项目由美国国家科学基金会环境生物学部人口与群落生态学组和系统分类学与生物多样性科学组共同资助。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。

Soil microorganisms provide essential services to society including the regeneration of soil fertility, decomposition of waste, and carbon storage. It has become increasingly clear that the composition of soil microbial communities (microbiomes) influence soil functioning and so, the provisioning of these services. However, soil microbiomes are so incredibly diverse and spatially variable that our understanding of how their composition relates to their functioning remains elusive. To address this knowledge gap, the research will conduct field and lab experiments on a model organism to test a predictive framework that links microbial characteristics (traits) to its distribution and functioning in soil and thus, will advance the ability to predict how soil microbiomes will respond to future environmental changes. An additional impact of this work is the development of a model organism for terrestrial bacteria and the production of genomic and culture resources that will be widely shared and available for future studies. The project will also provide support for numerous trainees at a Hispanic-serving and Asian American, Native American, and Pacific Islander serving institution. Finally, to disseminate the importance of microbial research to a public audience, science-education interns will develop and implement a middle school curriculum on the role of microorganisms in ecosystems.The project will integrate evolution and ecology by spanning two endpoints along a continuum – on the one hand, the macroevolution of bacterial traits and on the other hand, the ecological role of a bacterium in the carbon cycle. Specifically, the research will investigate whether the macroevolutionary distribution of traits can predict the distribution and functioning of microbial communities. The research will (1) identify the phylogenetic structure of traits in an abundant surface soil bacterium, Curtobacterium; (2) quantify the relationship between the phylogenetic structure of Curtobacterium traits and its biogeography; and (3) test whether Curtobacterium trait distributions are linked to functioning in the field. The work will employ a combination of physiological assays on cultured isolates, phylogenetics and population genomic analyses, biogeographic surveys, transplant and common garden experiments, and metagenomically-enabled activity measurements.This project is being jointly funded by the Population and Community Ecology Cluster and the Systematics and Biodiversity Science Cluster in the Division of Environmental Biology at NSF.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.