Research Starter Grant: Genomic Analysis of Microbial Communities: Revealing the Ecological Function of Non-Cultivated Planctomycetes in Soil

康奈尔大学的Daniel H.Buckley博士获得了一项研究启动资金，以确定非栽培Planctomyces在土壤微生物群落中的功能意义。元基因组文库和全基因组扩增将被用来从Planctomyces中获得基因组DNA片段，以深入了解这些微生物在土壤群落中的生理潜力。这些基于基因组的见解将通过使用分子技术来研究植物真菌的多样性和分布，与农业管理实践和土壤氮硫循环有关，从而扩展到生态背景。土壤是地球的薄皮，所有陆地生命都依赖于它。我们的土壤是大量微生物的家园，这些微生物的活动影响土壤肥力、大气成分、污染物的分解以及向地下水和水生生态系统的排放。虽然土壤微生物的重要性已经被认识到一段时间，但识别、表征和研究这些微生物的生态所需的技术直到最近才得到发展。植物真菌是最近发现的一类细菌，在世界各地的土壤中都有发现，占耕地土壤微生物群落的21%。尽管它们在土壤中大量存在，但对这些微生物在陆地生态系统中所起的作用仍然难以理解。这项研究计划将提供有关Planctomycens的生态学和进化史的史无前例的信息，具体目标是确定这些微生物在土壤微生物群落中介导的环境过程。

A research starter grant has been awarded to Dr. Daniel H. Buckley of Cornell University to determine the functional significance of non-cultivated Planctomycetes in soil microbial communities. Metagenomic libraries and whole genome amplification will be used to obtain genomic DNA fragments from Planctomycetes to provide insight into the physiological potential of these microorganisms in soil communities. These genome-enabled insights will be extended into an ecological context by using molecular techniques to examine the diversity and distribution of Planctomycetes in relation to agricultural management practices and in relation to soil nitrogen and sulfur cycling. Soil is the thin skin of the Earth on which all terrestrial forms of life depend. Our soils are home to a staggering array of microorganisms whose activities impact soil fertility, atmospheric composition, the breakdown of pollutants, and discharges to groundwater and aquatic ecosystems. While the importance of soil microorganisms has been recognized for some time, the techniques needed to identify, characterize and study the ecology of these organisms have only been recently developed. Planctomycetes are a recently discovered group of bacteria which have been observed in soils all over the world and may constitute as much as 21% of the microbial community in arable soils. Despite their abundance and ubiquity in soils, an understanding of the role these microbes play in terrestrial ecosystems remains elusive. This research program will provide unprecedented information about the ecology and evolutionary history of Planctomycetes, with the specific objective of determining the environmental processes mediated by these microorganisms in soil microbial communities.