CAREER: How do rhizosphere associated microorganisms and plant host interact to regulate soil microbial processes?

植物、土壤和生态系统的功能与根际微生物的组成有关。然而，很少有研究涉及植物寄主-根瘤体相互作用如何影响生态系统的可持续性和对环境变化的抵抗力。了解这些关系对于预测生态系统对环境变化的反应至关重要。该倡议的目标是将植物寄主遗传多样性与根际微生物组成及其功能基因表达联系起来，并确定根瘤菌如何差异地影响植物寄主功能和抗旱性。PI将使用实地调查、温室和操纵实验，再加上新的测序技术，并使用一个10年的多地点相互作用的大蓝茎花园。PI将与学生和公民科学家合作，确定植物寄主生态型和根瘤体之间在影响适合性和抗旱性方面的机械相互作用。该项目的成果将包括在植物寄主和相关微生物群之间的相互作用的生物因素以及由此产生的微生物介导的土壤过程的知识方面取得重大进展。该项目将推进知识库，帮助在全球气候变化的压力下管理生态系统，并为学生和管理人员提供基本概念和背景。该项目将把教育和研究结合起来，并将这项研究的影响扩大到当前和未来的公民和决策者。PI将侧重于植物寄主基因如何影响相关的根瘤菌，进而对土壤过程和生态系统产生功能影响。PI将与学生和公民科学家合作，1)量化植物生态型、相关的根瘤菌和微生物介导的土壤过程之间的关系；2)确定植物寄主生态型和根瘤菌之间影响适合性和抗旱性的机制相互作用；3)确定大平原地区天然草原植物种群中观察到的植物遗传多样性是否反馈影响根瘤菌的组成和土壤过程。了解基础植物物种内的生态型变异对根瘤菌的组成和功能的作用是至关重要的，因为优势植物物种对群落和生态系统过程产生强烈的影响。PI将使用大蓝茎作为模式系统，并将多种宿主和微生物组学方法与一个10年历史的互惠花园相结合，以了解调节生态系统过程的生物相互作用和基于生态的机制。PI还将利用广泛的实地调查和温室实验来深入了解植物寄主-根瘤菌的相互作用。在这个项目中，PI将整合生态基因组学、微生物组功能、生态系统过程和结构模拟，以加深对植物寄主生态对微生物过程的影响，以及根瘤菌在植物对干旱胁迫的适应性中的调控。因此，这一职业奖项最终将提供对植物-微生物区系相互作用的更深层次的机械性理解；更大规模的空间和时间知识获得；以及向广大受众传播知识。该奖项反映了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。

Plant, soil, and ecosystem function are linked to the composition of the rhizosphere microorganisms. Nonetheless, few studies address how the plant host-rhizobiome interaction influences ecosystem sustainability and resistance to environmental change. Understanding these relationships is pivotal for anticipating ecosystem responses to environmental change. The PI’s goal for this proposal is to link plant host genetic diversity to rhizosphere microbial composition and its functional gene expression, and determine how the rhizobiome differentially affects plant host function and resistance to drought stress. The PI will use field surveys, greenhouse and manipulative experiments, coupled with new sequencing technology, and use a 10-year multi-site reciprocal Big Bluestem Garden. The PI will work with students and citizen scientists to determine the mechanistic interaction between plant host ecotype and rhizobiome in affecting fitness and drought resistance. Outcomes from this project will include significant advancement in knowledge of the interactive biotic factors between plant host and associated microbiota, and the resultant microbial mediated soil processes. This project will advance the knowledge base to help manage ecosystems substantially under the pressure of global climate change, and to provide students and managers with the fundamental concepts and context to do so. The project will Integrate education with research and extend the impact of this research to the current and future citizens and decision-makers. The PI will focus on how plant host genotype affects the associated rhizobiome, which in turn has functional consequences on soil process and the ecosystem. The PI will work with students and citizen scientists to 1) quantify the relationship between the plant ecotype, associated rhizobiome, and microbially-mediated soil processes; 2) determine the mechanistic interaction between plant host ecotype and rhizobiome in affecting fitness and drought resistance; and 3) determine if the observed plant genetic diversity in plant populations in natural prairies across the Great Plains feeds back to affect rhizobiome composition and soil processes. Understanding the role of ecotypic variation within a foundation plant species on the composition and function of the rhizobiome is critical because dominant plant species exert a strong influence on communities and ecosystem processes. The PI will use Big Bluestem as a model system, and coupled multiple host and microbial omics approaches with a 10-year old reciprocal garden to understand the biotic interactions and ecotypic-based mechanisms that regulate ecosystem processes. The PI will also employ broad field surveys and greenhouse experiments to gain insights into the plant host-rhizobiome interaction. In this project, the PI will integrate ecological genomics, microbiome function, ecosystem processes, and structural modeling, to deepen the understanding of plant host ecotypic influences on microbial processes, and the modulation of rhizobiome in plant host resilience to drought stress. Therefore, this CAREER award will ultimately provide a deeper mechanistic understanding of plant-microbiota interaction; larger-scale spatial, temporal knowledge gain; and dissemination of knowledge to a broad audience.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.