BEE: Testing a phylogenetic trait framework for soil microbiomes

土壤微生物为社会提供必要的服务，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(微生物群)的组成影响土壤功能，从而影响这些服务的提供。然而，土壤微生物群是如此令人难以置信地多样化和空间可变，以至于我们对它们的组成如何与它们的功能相关的理解仍然难以捉摸。为了解决这一知识差距，这项研究将对一种模式生物进行实地和实验室实验，以测试将微生物特征(特征)与其在土壤中的分布和功能联系起来的预测框架，从而提高预测土壤微生物群将如何响应未来环境变化的能力。这项工作的另一个影响是开发了陆地细菌的模式生物，并产生了基因组和培养资源，这些资源将被广泛分享，并可用于未来的研究。该项目还将为服务于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实习生提供支持。最后，为了向公众传播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。该项目将通过沿着一个连续体跨越两个端点来整合进化论和生态学-一方面是细菌特征的宏观进化，另一方面是细菌在碳循环中的生态作用。具体地说，这项研究将调查特征的宏观进化分布是否可以预测微生物群落的分布和功能。这项研究将(1)确定一种丰富的表层土壤细菌--弯杆菌的性状的系统发育结构；(2)量化弯杆菌性状的系统发育结构与其生物地理之间的关系；以及(3)检验弯杆菌性状的分布是否与田间功能有关。这项工作将结合对培养菌株的生理分析、系统发育和种群基因组分析、生物地理调查、移植和普通花园实验，以及元基因组学活动测量。该项目由国家科学基金会环境生物学分部的人口和社区生态集群和系统学和生物多样性科学集群联合资助。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势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.