Effect of agricultural management and climate conditions on soil and plant microbiomes under contemporary water stress

全球气候变化和农业管理实践都可能对微生物产生重大影响。然而，与气候变化有关的压力因素（例如，干旱）和管理做法对微生物的影响往往是分开研究的，这些因素的结合如何影响土壤和与植物有关的微生物组，以及随后如何影响植物生长，仍有待回答。在拟议的项目中，首先，我将测试土壤微生物暴露于不同农业管理（传统与有机）和气候条件（未来与环境）的历史如何影响小麦基因型的形态和生理特征以及当代水分胁迫下根际的宏基因组基因含量。我将进一步研究种子相关的细菌和真菌如何被不同的小麦基因型选择，以及当代和历史的环境条件如何影响微生物的选择。在最后一步，我将评估植物种子及其微生物组中实验因素引起的变化是否会传递给下一代植物，并影响与植物生长和植物微生物组相关的性状。总之，这些努力将为理解能够改变植物抗旱能力的关键微生物或基因提供关键的一步。从长远来看，这种知识可能有助于制定基于微生物群的战略，以在快速变化的气候下提高农业生产力。

Global climate changes and agricultural management practices can both have major impacts on microbes. However, the effects of climate change-related stressors (e.g., drought) and management practices on microbes have often been studied separately, and it remains to be answered how the combination of such factors impacts soil and plant-associated microbiome and, subsequently, plant growth. In the proposed project, first, I will test how the history of soil microbial exposure to different agricultural managements (conventional vs. organic) and climate conditions (future vs. ambient) influences the morphological and physiological traits of wheat genotypes and the metagenomic gene content of their rhizosphere under contemporary water stress. I will further examine how seed-associated bacteria and fungi can be selected by different wheat genotypes and how contemporary and historical environmental conditions influence microbial selections. In the final step, I will evaluate whether changes due to experimental factors in plant seeds and their microbiome are passed on to the following generation of plants and affect traits related to plant growth as well as plant microbiomes. Together, these efforts will provide a critical step in understanding the key microbes or genes which can modify the plant’s ability to resist drought. In the longer term, such knowledge might facilitate the development of microbiome-based strategies to enhance agricultural productivity under a rapidly changing climate.