NSF-BSF: Synthetic mycorrhizal community and parasitism management in rhizosphere ecosystems guided by systems biology of mycoparasitism

真菌是存在于几乎所有可以想象到的生态位中的有机体，在自然碳和氮的周转中发挥着重要作用。在大多数自然环境中，真菌居住、发挥作用并与其他有机体相互作用。它们可以是有益的共生体，也可以在动植物宿主中表现出致病行为。植物-真菌高度相互作用的一个领域是根际，在根际生态系统中，根分泌物影响与植物相关的微生物群落的组成和活动。这种微生物群落可以包括各种真菌，从那些与植物具有互惠共生关系的真菌(菌根)到可能对植物有害的真菌物种(病原体)和能够相互作用的真菌。一组这样的真菌可以攻击其他真菌，被称为真菌寄生虫。一些木霉属真菌已被用来防治植物真菌病原菌。然而，管理这些遗传和环境相互作用的生物调控网络还没有被很好地理解。这个项目解决了一些基本问题，以更好地了解根际真菌群落成员之间的真菌寄生和相互作用。研究人员将研究调节真菌寄生的网络的性质和动态变化，这对于了解生态多样性和相关的真菌相互作用是如何进化的至关重要。该项目的更广泛影响包括对大学生和博士后的专业培训。这项研究还将为当地高中生和教师提供关于真菌在农林中的重要性的培训。这项研究将主要集中在实验室将菌根真菌Pisolius和Laccaria与真菌寄生木霉真菌共培养所揭示的菌根之间的相互作用，并以一种非根际真菌(Neuropora)为对照，旨在破译调节真菌寄生相互作用的遗传网络。一旦确定了调控网络的关键组成部分，研究人员将使参与真菌寄生的基因失活，以确定它们参与该过程的性质(例如，该过程在什么阶段受到影响，以及这些影响在多大程度上对真菌的其他形态或营养特征产生影响)。最后，研究人员将对相互作用中的菌根成分进行改造，以沉默真菌寄生虫中的相关基因，目的是当菌根和真菌寄生虫在物理上接近时，赋予对根际有益真菌成分更高程度的耐受性。这种沉默将通过构建分泌RNA分子的菌株来实现，这种RNA分子可以通过分子过程使真菌寄生虫的相关相应特征失活。该项目将提高对物种间识别和寄生的遗传基础的理解，并将增强在林业、工业和农业中利用真菌的应用研究，以维护健康和可持续的环境，并用于植物病害控制。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。

Fungi are organisms that are present in almost every conceivable ecological niche and play significant roles in natural carbon and nitrogen turnover. In most natural environments, fungi reside, function and interact with other organisms. They can be beneficial symbionts or exhibit pathogenic behavior in plant and animal hosts. One area of high plant-fungal interactions is the rhizosphere, the root ecosystem in which root secretions affect the composition and activity of a plant-associated microbial community. This microbial community can include a variety of fungi, ranging from those that have a mutually-beneficial symbiotic relationship with the plant (mycorrhizae) to fungal species that can be detrimental to the plant (pathogens) and fungi that can interact among themselves. One such group of fungi can attack other fungi and are referred to as mycoparasites. Some mycoparasites belonging to the genus Trichoderma have been used to control fungal plant pathogens. However, the organismal regulatory networks that govern these genetic and environmental interactions are not well understood. This project addresses fundamental questions to better understand mycoparasitism and interactions among members of the rhizosphere fungal community. The researchers will study the nature and dynamic changes of networks that regulate mycoparasitism, which are crucial to understanding how ecological diversity and associated interactions evolved in fungi. The broader impacts of this project include professional training for college students and postdocs. This research will also provide training to local high school students and teachers about the importance of fungi in agriculture and forestry. The research will primarily focus on the interactions between mycorrhizae revealed by laboratory co-cultivation of mycorrhizal fungi Pisolithus and Laccaria with mycoparasitic Trichoderma fungi, along with a non-rhizosphere fungus (Neurospora) as a control, with the intention of deciphering the genetic networks that regulate mycoparasitic interactions. Once key components of the regulatory network are identified, the researchers will inactivate genes that are involved in mycoparasitism to determine the nature of their involvement in the process (e.g., at what stage the process is affected, and to what extent these effects have consequences on other morphological or nutritional traits of the fungus). Lastly, the researchers will engineer the mycorrhizal components of the interaction to silence relevant genes in the mycoparasite, with the intention of conferring a higher degree of tolerance to the beneficial fungal component of the rhizosphere when mycorrhizae and mycoparasites are in close physical proximity. This silencing will be performed by constructing strains that secrete RNA molecules that can, through molecular processes, inactivate the relevant corresponding traits of the mycoparasite. The project will improve understanding of genetic basis of interspecies recognition and parasitism and will empower applied research on utilization of fungi in forestry, industry, and agriculture toward the maintenance of a healthy and sustainable environment and for plant disease control.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.