Dimensions US-China: Collaborative Research: Impacts of heritable plant-fungus symbiosis on phylogenetic, genetic and functional diversity

作为生命的主要生产者，数十万种开花植物是地球生物多样性的重要组成部分。有趣的是，开花植物的种子通常带有额外的生物多样性，以结伴真菌和细菌的形式存在。种子传播真菌的各种影响包括加强对寄主植物的保护，使其免受寄生虫、病原体和干旱的影响，以及对其生态系统多样性的影响。最近，一种真菌甚至被证明将抗病基因捐赠给了小麦的一个野生近亲。本研究运用生态学、基因组学和其他生物科学的前沿方法，研究了美国和全球植物多样性研究热点中国的植物及其种子真菌伙伴的多样性。成果将指导保护生物多样性和促进健康、有弹性和多产的自然生态系统、牧场和牧场的努力。向公众和科学界提供的成果将加强植物-微生物共生作为多样性的一个关键方面的知识。研究和教育交流活动将加强和丰富中国和美国科学家和学生之间的科学合作，在广泛的生物和生物信息科学领域为研究生和博士后提供培训，并为K-12和本科生整合野外、课堂和实验室活动，以发现微观和宏观层面的生物复杂性。该项目将首先对开花植物分类范围内的种子内生真菌进行调查，重点是中国的植物多样性。中国位于昆明的野生种质库种子库涵盖了中国37%的开花植物物种，将对该种库和其他种库进行调查，以研究真菌种子内生菌的存在及其在开花植物多样性中的可能作用。然后，将在广泛的地理范围内调查内生植物-共生植物物种，以阐明目标植物及其共生体多样性的不同“维度”之间的相互作用。这些维度将包括遗传、基因表达、形态特征和生态效应。这些研究还将扩展到与目标物种相关生长的邻近植物以及它们也可能拥有的种子内生植物。为了补充这些广泛的调查，第三个目标将涉及与K-12学校联合进行的实地实验，以测试种子携带的禾本科和豆类内生真菌如何推动寄主和更广泛的植物界的多样性。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

As primary producers of life, the hundreds of thousands of species of flowering plants are an essential component of Earth’s biodiversity. Interestingly, seeds of flowering plants often bear additional biological diversity in the form of partnering fungi and bacteria. Diverse impacts of seed-borne fungi include enhanced protection of host plants from parasites, pathogens and drought, as well as effects on diversity of their ecosystems. Recently, one fungus was even shown to donate a disease resistance gene to a wild relative of wheat. This study employs cutting-edge methods in ecology, genomics and other biological sciences to research the diversity of plants and their seed-borne fungal partners in the U.S. and in China, a global hotspot for plant diversity. Results will guide efforts to preserve biological diversity and promote healthy, resilient and productive natural ecosystems, rangelands and pastures. Outputs to the public and the scientific community will enhance knowledge of plant-microbe symbiosis as a key dimension of diversity. The research and educational exchange activities will strengthen and diversify scientific collaboration between scientists and students in China and the U.S., provide training to graduate students and postdocs in a broad range of biological and bioinformatic sciences, and integrate field, classroom, and lab activities for K-12 and undergraduate students to discover microscopic and macroscopic layers of biological complexity.This project will first entail a survey for seed-borne fungal endophytes across the taxonomic range of flowering plants, with emphasis on the plant diversity in China. The GBOWS (Germplasm Bank of Wild Species) seed collection in Kunming, China encompasses 37% of Chinese flowering plant species, and this and other collections will be surveyed to examine occurrence and possible roles of fungal seed-endophytes in the diversity of flowering plants. Then, endophyte-symbiotic plant species will be surveyed over wide geographic ranges to elucidate interactions of different “dimensions” of diversity of the target plants and their symbionts. Such dimensions will include genetics, gene expression, morphological characteristics, and ecological effects. These studies will also extend to neighboring plants that grow in association with the target species and the seed-endophytes that they, too, might possess. To complement these broad-scale surveys, the third objective will involve field experiments, conducted jointly with K-12 schools, to test how seed-borne fungal endophytes of grasses and legumes may drive diversity of their hosts and the broader plant community.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.