Study of fungi with endophytic and mycoparasitic lifestyles for their multiple effects on host traits

随着全球变暖，植物面临干旱和疾病的压力越来越大。了解植物真菌共生体（myks ='真菌'，subiosis ='互利共生'）如何提高植物抗性对于维持植物多样性和可持续作物生产至关重要。植物的每个进化群体通过窝藏真菌共生体来适应，真菌共生体是居住在植物组织内的有益内生菌和真菌寄生虫的联合体。它们形成了植物的“第二基因组”，是种子恢复力和发芽的主要积极贡献者之一，这是植物生命周期和适应性的重要阶段。我的计划已经确立了自己在这一研究领域的领导者，证明了领先的发现真菌活力（vitalitas ='生命力'），它定义了植物的表现在一个连续体与mycotrophy（trophe ='营养'）。真菌活力（内生菌-种子关联）诱导胚芽鞘驱动的种子层积和植物激素生物合成基因的特异性表达，以实现小麦（小麦科）中提高的发芽/出苗和胁迫耐受性。这一概念引起了全球粮食安全行业的极大兴趣;然而，一些科学问题仍有待回答，包括：（a）在植物-真菌共同进化过程中，植物如何选择独特的、基因组特异性的种子内共生体？以及（B）内生接种物如何操纵植物微生物组，从而控制植物行为适应和进化途径？将植物微生物组作为一个系统进行研究需要元组学和比较研究，以解开植物-内生菌共生的灰色地带。在本项目中，MiSeq下一代测序（NGS）技术将被应用于研究内共生体的宏基因组学。然后，NGS将与qPCR/微阵列，共聚焦显微镜，FTIR光谱和LC/MSMS分析方法相结合，以阐明植物的微生物组和代谢组对非生物和生物胁迫的响应。定量分析山羊草-小麦属植物种子组织中的代谢变化对于了解植物内生菌对种子萌发的影响至关重要。绘制关键功能基因在植物表型中的表达将有助于阐明内共生体改善宿主性状的机制，以及对胁迫耐受性的进化影响。此外，多倍化事件，定义了谷物的进化分歧，将是解释共同进化的关键。利用组学技术比较谷物和拟南芥的功能种子组织，将确定与内共生有关的植物个体发育中的特定表型变化。总体目标是产生关于内共生的基础知识，以便更好地了解植物进化特征，从而为提高作物抗逆性和生产力创造一种工具。

With global warming, plants face increasing stress from drought and disease. Understanding how plant mycosymbionts (myks='fungus', sumbiosis='mutualism') improve plant resistance is critical for maintaining plant diversity, and sustainable crop production. Each evolutionary group of plants adapts by harboring mycosymbionts, a consortia of beneficial endophytes and mycoparasites residing within plant tissue. Forming the plant's 'second genome', they are among the main positive contributors to seed resilience and germination, a vital phase to a plant's lifecycle and adaptability. My program has established itself as a leader in this research area, as evidenced by leading the discovery of mycovitality (vitalitas='vital force'), which defines plant performance in a continuum with mycotrophy (trophe='nutrition'). Mycovitality (endophyte-seed association) induces coleorhiza-driven seed stratification and specific expression of phytohormone biosynthesis genes to achieve both improved germination/seedling emergence and stress tolerance in wheat (Triticaceae). The concept has peaked the interest of the global food security industry; however, a number of scientific questions still remain to be answered including, (a) over the course of the plant-fungus co-evolution, how have plants selected distinct, genome-specific profiles of seed endosymbionts? and (b) how does the endophytic inoculant manipulate the plant microbiome, so as to control plant behavioral adaptations and evolutionary pathways? Investigating the plant microbiome as a system demands meta-omics and comparative studies to unravel gray areas of plant-endophyte symbiosis. In this project, a combination of MiSeq next generation sequencing (NGS) technology will be applied to study the metagenomics of endosymbionts. The NGS will then be coupled with qPCR/microarray, confocal microscopy, FTIR spectroscopy and LC/MSMS analytical methods to elucidate plant's microbiome and metabolome responses to abiotic and biotic stresses. Quantifying metabolic shift in the seed tissues of Aegilops-Triticum host genotypes is essential for understanding endophytism's effect on seed germination. Mapping the expression of key functional genes across plant phenotypes will aid in elucidating the mechanisms by which endosymbionts improve host traits, with evolutionary effects on stress tolerance. Moreover, polyploidization events, which define the evolutionary divergence of cereals, will be key in explaining co-evolution. Comparing functional seed tissues of cereals' with those of Arabidopsis' using -omics techniques would identify specific phenotypical changes in the plant's ontogeny related to endosymbiosis. The overall goal is to generate fundamental knowledge on endosymbiosis so as to better understand plant evolutionary traits, thus creating a tool for improved crop stress resilience and productivity.