Plant Host Control and Feedback Responses to Phyllosphere Microbes: Change in Metagenomes and Plant Traits in Response to Environmental Stress

PI: Ann E. Stapleton (University of North Carolina - Wilmington); CoPIs: Barbara methews （J. Craig Venter研究所），Bradley W. Goodner （Hiram学院）和Stuart G. Gordon （Presbyterian学院）。植物生长和水分关系可以受到叶表面（层层）微生物的影响，通过增加角质层渗透性产生负面影响，或者通过提高水分利用效率产生积极影响。因此，植物叶片特征与微生物特征和非生物环境相互作用，形成地上群落的适应性景观。有限的水分供应降低了全球玉米（Zea mays L.）产量。对气候变化对作物影响的预测表明，水分供应量将下降，而需水量将增加。玉米叶片微生物群落特征与抗旱基因座相关。该项目将利用宏基因组学鉴定相关功能基因，研究层层微生物与玉米干旱反应的关系。更好地了解植物与微生物居民的地上相互作用有可能从根本上改变耐旱育种方法。高中学生和大学生学习的生物学与研究生物学的距离越来越远。因此，许多最优秀的高中生在选择大学专业时放弃了理科。弥合这些差距对于让有才华的学生相信生物学与他们的生活息息相关，他们可以理解并成为科学研究事业的一部分是很重要的。十年前，基因组学和生物信息学开始提供集成的、“同时”的教学/学习/研究机会。宏基因组学不仅在新的研究技术和发现方面是下一步，而且在让不同教育水平的学生将遗传学与生态学和生理学联系起来，并更好地理解在地球上自然和人类改变的栖息地中大量微生物的作用方面也是下一步。该项目将以过去将基因组学研究与教育相结合的成功为基础，包括大型宏基因组学数据集。从以前的工作中有充分的证据表明，学生可以做出重大的研究贡献。该项目将发展拟议的实验工作与课程之间的联系，并开发与本科实验室兼容的尖端功能测试，用于在层圈中发现的基因集中出现的生化活动。所有序列数据可以在NCBI序列读取档案（SRA）和/或欧洲生物信息学研究所的欧洲核苷酸档案（ENA）访问。与序列读取相关的元数据和其他类型的数据，如程序集、注释和元数据，也将通过GenBank与序列读取一起存储。

PI: Ann E. Stapleton (University of North Carolina - Wilmington)CoPIs: Barbara Methé (J. Craig Venter Institute), Bradley W. Goodner (Hiram College), and Stuart G. Gordon (Presbyterian College)Plant growth and water relations can be affected by microbes on the leaf surface (the phyllosphere), either negatively through increased cuticle permeability or positively by increased water use efficiency. Plant leaf features thus interact with microbial characteristics and the abiotic environment to shape the adaptive landscape of the above-ground community. Limited water availability reduces maize (Zea mays L.) yield world-wide. Projections of crop effects under climate change indicate that water availability will decline, and water demand will increase. Maize leaf microbial community features are correlated with drought tolerance loci. The project will examine the association of phyllosphere microbes with maize drought responses using metagenomics to identify relevant functional genes. Better understanding of plant above-ground interactions with microbial inhabitants has the potential to fundamentally change breeding approaches for drought tolerance.The biology taught to high school students and undergraduates is increasingly distant from research biology. As a result, many of the best high-school students leave science behind as they choose college majors. Bridging these gaps is important to convince talented students that biology is relevant in their lives and that they can understand and be part of the scientific research enterprise. A decade ago genomics and bioinformatics started to provide integrated, "same-time" teaching/learning/research opportunities. Metagenomics is the next step up not just in terms of new research techniques and findings, but also in terms of getting students at multiple educational levels to connect genetics to ecology and physiology, and to better appreciate the roles of the vast diversity of microbes in natural and human altered habitats all over the planet. The project will build on past success in merging genomics research with education to include large metagenomics datasets. There is ample evidence from previous work that students can make significant research contributions. The project will develop the connections from the proposed experimental work to courses and develop cutting-edge functional tests compatible with undergraduate labs for biochemical activities emerging from the gene set found in the phyllosphere. All sequence data can be accessed at the NCBI Sequence Read Archive (SRA) and/or the European Bioinformatics Institute's European Nucleotide Archive (ENA). Metadata associated with the sequence reads and other types of data such as assemblies, annotation and metadata will also be deposited with the sequence reads as allowable through GenBank.