NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology: Crop yield enhancement strategies

NSF 生物学博士后奖学金：作物增产策略

• 批准号: 2209379
• 负责人: Reinaldo Alcalde
• 金额: $ 13.8万
• 依托单位: Alcalde, Reinaldo Enrique
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Fellowship Award
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2022-06-01 至 2024-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2209379&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: NSF; Postdoctoral; Fellowship; Biology; Crop

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2022, Broadening Participation of Groups Underrepresented in Biology. The Fellowship supports a research and training plan for the Fellow that will increase the participation of groups underrepresented in biology. Transforming global agriculture practices is critical to meet current and future food demands in the face of climate change, and necessary to minimize environmental impacts that damage terrestrial and aquatic environments, and ultimately affect human health and well-being. Current practices used to increase crop yields rely heavily on fertilizers that threaten the environment and weaken crop resilience. Understanding and harnessing the diverse properties of microorganisms that live in the soil near the roots of crops (called the rhizosphere) has the potential to help find new, more sustainable farming strategies. This research project seeks to understand a specific microbial process that has the potential to help plants better access phosphorus in soil. The investigator will determine if certain compounds released by bacteria (for example, phenazines) that liberate mineral-bound phosphorus can make a difference to plant nutrition. The results of this work have the potential to provide alternative strategies enabling the reduction of synthetic fertilizer application and increased phosphorus bioavailability for plants. This project will directly broaden participation of groups underrepresented in biology by enabling the research of a Latinx postdoctoral fellow in Biology who will engage other underrepresented scholars through mentoring in the lab. The fellow will also work with the non-profit Clean Water Science Network’s virtual mentorship program to increase the network and mentorship skills of postdoctoral scholar participants at Caltech and around the country.The fellow will test the hypothesis that microbially secreted phenazines can solubilize iron-mineral-adsorbed phosphate by reductive dissolution, subsequently enhancing plant bioavailability and uptake. Single-species and microbial community studies in a gnotobiotic plant model will be implemented. Fluorescent microscopy techniques, reporter gene fusions, and gene knockouts will be used to visualize and validate the proposed gene regulation and biogeochemical process. Analytical techniques (LC-MS, ICP-MS) will be used to quantify phenazine production and plant phosphorus content. The fellow will gain expertise and training in microbial physiology and genetics, plant-microbe co-culturing, microbial community design, and state-of-the-art microcopy. Additionally, the fellow will gain mentoring experience through research and by contributing to a virtual mentoring program.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.

这项行动资助了2022财年的NSF生物学博士后研究奖学金，扩大了生物学中代表性不足的群体的参与。该研究金支持研究员的一项研究和培训计划，该计划将增加在生物学领域代表性不足的群体的参与。 在气候变化的情况下，改变全球农业做法对于满足当前和未来的粮食需求至关重要，对于尽量减少破坏陆地和水生环境并最终影响人类健康和福祉的环境影响也是必要的。目前用于提高作物产量的做法严重依赖化肥，这威胁到环境，削弱了作物的复原力。了解和利用生活在作物根部附近土壤（称为根际）中的微生物的多种特性有可能帮助找到新的、更可持续的农业策略。该研究项目旨在了解一种特定的微生物过程，该过程有可能帮助植物更好地获得土壤中的磷。研究人员将确定细菌释放的某些化合物（例如，吩嗪）释放矿物质结合的磷是否会对植物营养产生影响。这项工作的结果有可能提供替代战略，使合成肥料的应用减少和增加磷的生物利用度的植物。 该项目将直接扩大在生物学中代表性不足的群体的参与，使生物学的拉丁博士后研究员的研究能够通过在实验室指导来吸引其他代表性不足的学者。该研究员还将与非营利性的清洁水科学网络的虚拟导师计划合作，以增加加州理工学院和全国各地博士后学者参与者的网络和导师技能。该研究员将测试微生物分泌的吩嗪可以通过还原溶解溶解铁矿物吸附的磷酸盐，从而提高植物的生物利用度和吸收的假设。 将在一个无菌植物模型中进行单物种和微生物群落研究。荧光显微镜技术，报告基因融合，基因敲除将用于可视化和验证拟议的基因调控和生物地球化学过程。分析技术（LC-MS，ICP-MS）将用于定量吩嗪生产和植物磷含量。该研究员将获得微生物生理学和遗传学，植物微生物共培养，微生物群落设计和最先进的显微镜的专业知识和培训。此外，该研究员将通过研究和为虚拟指导计划做出贡献来获得指导经验。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并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，被认为值得支持。