NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2022: Understanding microbiome impact on plant performance in a warming climate.

该行动资助了2022财年的NSF生物学博士后研究奖学金，即调查基因组，环境和表型之间相互作用的生命规则的综合研究。该研究金支持研究员的研究和培训，以创新的方式为生活规则领域做出贡献。高温、干旱和盐等胁迫因素每年会导致作物产量下降和数十亿美元的作物损失。为了养活不断增长的全球人口，必须开发创新的新农业方法，以提高植物的抗逆性和作物产量。一个新兴的方法，以满足这些目标，并提高作物的性能在气候变暖是通过设计和应用气候选择的微生物群落;然而，我们目前对现有的微生物群落（微生物组）如何影响植物的性能在高温下的基本了解很少。通过这项拟议的研究，该研究员将研究微生物群落在高温下如何在植物内部或表面发生变化，以及这些变化对植物健康的影响。与此同时，该研究员将通过校园食品储藏室协作（CPC）努力改善粮食安全。CPC提供了一个与非科学受众分享该项目科学成果的直接渠道，并提供了一个弥合社会和科学努力之间差距的机会，以改善粮食安全。和数学建模方法，以解决“温度-微生物组-植物”三角相互作用中的知识空白，并揭示新兴植物和微生物组功能的基本原理在温暖的条件下。先前的研究表明，微生物组可以在特定的非生物条件下执行特定的功能。单独的研究结果表明，植物生理，发育和表型可以显着影响非生物因素，如温度升高。通过同时研究高温下微生物组成和植物性能的变化，该项目有可能揭示宿主-微生物组-环境相互作用的新原理，这些原理甚至可以应用于植物系统之外。此外，这项研究还将用于改进当前微生物组变化的预测模型，这些模型可以直接在作物物种中进行测试。通过这个项目，研究员将开发一个多学科的研究技能，并将获得科学指导和实验室管理的额外技能。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为是值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估的支持。

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2022, Integrative Research Investigating the Rules of Life Governing Interactions Between Genomes, Environment and Phenotypes. The fellowship supports research and training of the fellow that will contribute to the area of Rules of Life in innovative ways. Stressors such as high temperature, drought, and salt can lead to reduced crop yields and billions of dollars of crop loss each year. To feed a growing global population, innovative new agricultural methods must be developed to improve plant stress tolerance and crop yield. One emerging method to meet these goals and increase crop performance in a warming climate is through design and application of climate-selected microbial communities; however, we currently have little basic understanding of how existing microbial communities (microbiomes) influence plant performance at elevated temperature. Through this proposed research, the fellow will investigate how microbial communities change inside or on the surface of a plant at elevated temperature, and the impact those changes have on plant health. In parallel, the fellow will work to improve food security through the Campus Pantry Collaborative (CPC). The CPC provides a direct outlet to share scientific findings from this project with a non-scientific audience and an opportunity to bridge the gap between social and scientific efforts to improve food security.This project combines molecular, multi-omic, and mathematic modeling approaches to address knowledge gaps in “temperature-microbiome-plant” triangular interactions and reveal underlying principles of emergent plant and microbiome function(s) in warming conditions. Previous research suggests that microbiomes can perform specific functions in defined abiotic conditions. Separate findings show that plant physiology, development, and phenotype can be dramatically influenced by abiotic factors, such as elevated temperature. By simultaneously examining changes in microbial composition and plant performance at elevated temperature this project has the potential to reveal new principles of host-microbiome-environment interactions that could apply even beyond plant systems. Additionally, this research will be used to improve current predictive models for microbiome changes that can be directly tested in crop species. Through this project, the fellow will develop a multidisciplinary research skill set and will gain additional skills in scientific mentoring and lab management. The fellow will also refine these skills through involvement with the CPC.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.