Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Microbial Biology for FY 2002

本行动资助2002年度美国国家科学基金会微生物生物学博士后奖学金。该奖学金支持一般不被认为是模式生物的原生动物、微藻、真菌、古细菌、细菌和病毒物种的基本生物学培训和研究。此外，它为最近的博士学位获得者提供了在微生物生物学方面获得额外培训的机会，在知名科学家的赞助下获得研究经验，并在本科和研究生培训期间拓宽他/她的科学视野。这些研究金的进一步目的是帮助新科学家指导他们的研究工作跨越传统的学科界线，并利用独特的研究资源、地点和设施，包括国外的地点。这项研究和培训计划的题目是“植物根系、菌根真菌和根际细菌对土壤碳循环的影响”。本研究的目的是阐明植物、丛枝菌根和根际细菌之间的相互作用如何在局部和生态系统水平上影响碳循环。这需要结合基于dna的微生物群落特征，工程细菌报告基因系统来检测特定的碳化合物，传统的同位素技术和13C PLFA来跟踪碳的流动和命运，以及一个实验设计，包括来自CA和英国的同源本地和引进植物物种的不同根际群落。这项工作的结果将增加我们对根际微生物相互作用及其后果的理解，提高我们预测系统级对全球变化的反应的能力，并增加我们管理生物入侵的能力。

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Microbial Biology for FY2002. The fellowship supports training and research on the basic biology of protozoan, microalgal, fungal, archaeal, bacterial and viral species that are not generally considered to be model organisms. Further, it provides opportunities for a recent doctoral recipients to obtain additional training in microbial biology, to gain research experience under the sponsorship of established scientists, and to broaden his/her scientific horizons beyond the research experiences during the undergraduate and graduate training. These fellowships are further designed to assist new scientists to direct their research efforts across traditional disciplinary lines and to avail themselves of unique research resources, sites, and facilities, including foreign locations. The research and training plan is entitled "Effects of plant roots, mycorrhizal fungi, and rhizosphere bacteria on soil carbon cycling." The aim of this research is to elucidate how interactions among plants, arbuscular mycorrhizae, and rhizosphere bacteria affect carbon cycling both locally and at the ecosystem level. This requires a combination of DNA-based microbial community characterization, engineered bacterial reporter gene systems to detect specific carbon compounds, traditional isotope techniques and 13C PLFA for following the flow and fate of carbon, and an experimental design incorporating different rhizosphere communities from congeneric native and introduced plant species in CA and the UK. The results of this work will add to our understanding of microbial interactions in the rhizosphere and their consequences, improve our ability to predict system-level responses to global change, and add to our capacity to manage biological invasions.