NSF PRFB FY23: Cross-species gene regulation of a plant-fungal symbiosis under environmental stress

这项行动资助了2023财年的NSF生物学博士后研究奖学金，综合研究调查了基因组，环境和表型之间的生命管理相互作用的规则。该研究金支持研究员的研究和培训，以创新的方式为生活规则领域做出贡献。大约75%的陆地植物只与一种真菌“丛枝菌根真菌”合作。这种关系决定了植物如何获得营养以及整个生态系统如何运作。这种关系对植物是否有用取决于环境因素，如养分的可用性。例如，真菌通常在营养缺乏时帮助植物，但当植物可以自己轻松获得营养时，真菌可能会伤害植物。不幸的是，控制这种关系何时伤害或帮助植物的基因并不为人所知。了解哪些基因决定真菌何时有益于植物，对于在农业和生物多样性工作中使用真菌至关重要。该研究员将使用大型基因调查，温室实验和显微镜来探索植物和真菌在不同条件下如何影响彼此的基因。该研究员还建议通过继续指导来自不同背景的学生和为学生组织职业发展研讨会来扩大生物学的参与。这些研讨会将为申请STEM职业提供必要的知识。该研究员将识别跨物种发生的遗传调控（即，植物基因调节真菌基因，反之亦然），以了解植物和真菌如何在不同的环境条件下共同调节它们的关系。该研究员将在三个目标中满足这一目标：1）该研究员将探索环境胁迫如何使用基因共表达网络重组植物和真菌基因的共表达模式，2）该研究员将使用缺失潜在重要调控基因（即，在上述网络中有许多连接的基因）在不同的压力下有/没有丛枝菌根真菌，最后，3）研究员将种植苜蓿与19种不同的特征真菌分离物，以探索真菌伴侣的遗传/功能多样性如何影响植物-菌根协会的上下文依赖性。通过完成该项目并与John Stinchcombe博士和Vasilis Kokkoris博士密切合作，该研究员将：1）完善他在下一代测序和多元统计学方面的培训，2）获得真菌生物学和真菌测定方面的技能，和3）通过教授生物学课程和通过他的专业发展研讨会系列开发课程，发展成为导师。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，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 2023, Integrative Research Investigating the Rules of Life Governing Interactions Between Genomes, Environment, and Phenotypes. The fellowship supports research and training of the fellow that will contribute to the area of Rules of Life in innovative ways. About 75% of all land plants partner with just one type of fungus, "arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi". This relationship shapes how plants get nutrients and how whole ecosystems function. Whether this relationship is useful for plants depends on environmental factors like nutrient availability. For example, fungi often help plants when nutrients are scarce, but can harm plants when plants can easily get nutrients on their own. Unfortunately, the genes that control when this relationship harms or helps plants are not well-known. Knowing which genes determine when fungi benefit plants will be vital to using fungi in agriculture and biodiversity efforts. The fellow will use large gene surveys, greenhouse experiments, and microscopy to explore how plants and fungi impact each other’s genes under different conditions. The fellow also proposes broadening participation in biology by continuing to mentor students from diverse backgrounds and organizing career development seminars for students. These seminars will provide necessary knowledge for applying to careers in STEM.The fellow will identify genetic regulation occurring across species (i.e., plant genes that regulate fungal genes and vice versa) to understand how plants and fungi co-regulate their relationship in different environmental conditions. The fellow will satisfy this objective in three aims: 1) the fellow will explore how environmental stress reorganizes co-expression patterns of plant and fungal genes using gene co-expression networks, 2) the fellow will use plant growth assays of the model legume Medicago trunculata missing potentially important regulatory genes (i.e., genes with many connections in the above networks) with/without arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi under different stresses, and, lastly, 3) the fellow will grow Medicago truncatula with 19 different characterized fungal isolates to explore how genetic/functional diversity of fungal partners impacts context-dependency of plant-mycorrhizal associations. Through the completion of this project and working closely with Drs. John Stinchcombe and Vasilis Kokkoris, the fellow will: 1) refine his training in next-generation sequencing and multivariate statistics, 2) gain skills in fungal biology and fungal assays, and 3) develop as a mentor through teaching biology courses and developing courses through his professional development seminar series.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.