NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology: Crop yield enhancement strategies

该行动为2022财年美国国家科学基金会生物学博士后研究奖学金提供资金，扩大生物学中代表性不足群体的参与。该奖学金支持研究员的研究和培训计划，该计划将增加在生物学中代表性不足的群体的参与。面对气候变化，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，而化肥会威胁环境并削弱作物的抗灾能力。了解和利用生活在作物根系附近（称为根际）土壤中的微生物的各种特性，有可能有助于找到新的、更可持续的农业战略。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取土壤中的磷。研究人员将确定细菌释放的某些化合物（例如，非那嗪）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为减少合成肥料的施用和提高植物磷的生物利用度提供替代策略。该项目将直接扩大生物学中代表性不足的群体的参与，使拉丁裔生物学博士后的研究成为可能，他将通过实验室的指导与其他代表性不足的学者接触。该研究员还将与非营利组织清洁水科学网络的虚拟指导计划合作，以提高加州理工学院和全国博士后学者参与者的网络和指导技能。该研究员将测试微生物分泌的非那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。将在非生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，报告基因融合和基因敲除将用于可视化和验证提出的基因调控和生物地球化学过程。分析技术（LC-MS, ICP-MS）将用于定量非那嗪产量和植物磷含量。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复制方面的专业知识和培训。此外，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。

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.