丛枝菌根真菌对玉米干旱胁迫的响应机制研究

玉米是我国重要的粮食作物，而水分是玉米生产的重要限制因子，干旱造成玉米减产、甚至绝产。因此，开展玉米抗旱机理研究，寻找应对策略，提高玉米产量具有重要理论和实际意义。丛枝菌根(AM)真菌与植物形成互惠共生体，可帮助植物吸收土壤中的矿物质营养和水分，促进植物生长及提高抗干旱等不良环境因子胁迫的能力。然而，AM真菌对玉米干旱胁迫的响应及其调节作用尚不清楚。因此，本项目拟结合室内和田间的水分控制实验，通过对土壤中AM真菌的孢子密度和菌丝长度以及根系侵染结构分析，揭示AM真菌的生物量和侵染率对干旱胁迫的响应机制；利用宏转录组高通量测序技术检测土壤和根系内AM真菌的多样性，阐明活性AM真菌的群落结构对干旱胁迫的响应与适应机制；通过mRNA转录谱分析，探讨AM真菌调节玉米抗干旱胁迫的潜在功能。本项目从AM真菌的角度揭示玉米对干旱胁迫的调节机理，为提高玉米产量以及维持农田生态系统的可持续发展提供科学依据。

Maize is one of the most important crops in China. Water availability, as a crucial factor in maize product, is significantly affected by drought stress. Therefore, understanding the mechanism of maize drought resistance is pivotal to improve maize production significantly. Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi form symbiotic associations with plant roots. AM fungi play a key role in enhancing plant mineral nutrition and water acquisition, improving plant growth and resistant capacity to environmental stresses. However, little is known about the response and function of AM fungi to the drought stress of maize. Therefore, this project will investigate the response and potential function of AM fungi to maize drought stress conducted in glasshouse and crop field. This study will understand the changes of AM fungal biomass in soil and AM structure in roots under drought stress in field based on morphology analysis. Furthermore, the response of active AM fungal diversity and community composition in soil and roots to drought stress will be investigated using meta-transcriptomics. In addition, the potential function of AM fungi in improving drought assistance of maize will be analyzed by mRNA profile. The study will understand the mechanism of AM fungi in improving drought resistance of maize, and promote crop production and agroecosystem sustainability significantly.