NSF PRFB FY 2023: Does long-term selection for growth on recalcitrant vs labile carbon impact Streptomyces nutrient use or inhibitory phenotypes?

这项行动资助了2023财年的NSF生物学博士后研究奖学金，综合研究调查了基因组，环境和表型之间的生命管理相互作用的规则。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。该项目将探索土壤碳复杂性对微生物生长的影响以及争夺有限碳资源的微生物之间的相互作用。土壤碳可以大致分为容易被微生物消耗（不稳定碳）或难以被微生物种群代谢（难代谢碳）。为了利用柠檬酸碳，微生物必须首先将这些复杂的化合物分解成它们的构建单元，同时还要保护这些构建单元不被邻近的微生物窃取。为此，专门代谢柠檬酸碳的微生物利用抗菌化合物来防止它们的邻居窃取这些资源。这些抗微生物化合物也被认为在抑制土壤栖息的植物病原性生物体中发挥重要作用。随着全球气温的上升，预计将增加土壤中抗微生物碳的相对比例，预计土壤中的微生物将改变其抗微生物化合物的产生和耐药性，以进一步提高其竞争这些复杂资源的能力。通过这项研究，PI将进一步了解微生物对日益突出的碳的适应将如何影响土壤微生物之间的相互作用。这项研究的结果将对促进土壤健康至关重要，并将确保保护粮食作物免受土壤病原体的侵害。此外，该奖学金将进一步培训研究员，研究人员，研究生和本科生在明尼苏达大学，以及促进参与和培训的代表性不足的群体在科学。在这项研究中，分离链霉菌，一个突出的属，土壤传播，产寄生虫的细菌，将经历长期选择，以在含有不同碳源的培养皿中生长。将分离株点在平板上并生长，直至其显示孢子形成。然后将孢子转移到随后的平板上，在不稳定碳或不稳定碳上进行总共50代的选择。预期与不稳定碳相反，在柠檬酸碳源上生长将赋予选择以利用更广泛的碳源，并将增加组成型抗生素生产的频率和强度。经过50代的生长，该研究员将表征分离营养素使用和抑制表型的变化，以及与碳代谢和次级代谢产物产生相关的基因组和转录变化。该项目的结果将提供深入了解基因组和转录修饰所产生的选择生长的碳源上的不同的生物多样性。该项目将促进该研究员在微生物生态学和基因组分析方面的培训以及指导和科学交流。该研究员还将招募本科研究人员来培养下一代科学家。此外，该研究员将开发和开展外展活动，以扩大K-12参与科学。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已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 2023, 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. This project will explore the impact of soil carbon complexity on microbial growth and interactions between microbes competing for limited carbon resources. Soil carbon can be broadly categorized as either readily available for microbial consumption (labile carbon) or difficult for microbial populations to metabolize (recalcitrant carbon). In order to utilize recalcitrant carbon, microbes must first break these complex compounds into their building blocks while also defending these building blocks from theft by neighboring microbes. To this end, microbes which specialize in the metabolism of recalcitrant carbon utilize antimicrobial compounds to prevent their neighbors from stealing these resources. These antimicrobial compounds are also believed to play a significant role in the suppression of soil-inhabiting, plant-pathogenic, organisms. As rising global temperatures are anticipated to increase the relative proportion of recalcitrant carbon within the soil, soil-inhabiting microbes are anticipated to alter their production of and resistance to antimicrobial compounds to further their ability to compete for these complex resources. Through this fellowship, the PI will further our understanding of how the adaptation of microbes to increasingly prominent recalcitrant carbon will influence interactions between soil-inhabiting microbes. The results of this research will be vital in promoting soil health and will ensure the protection of food crops from soil-inhabiting pathogens. Furthermore, this fellowship will further the training of the fellow, research personnel, graduate, and undergraduate students at the University of Minnesota as well as promote the participation and training of underrepresented groups in science.In this research, isolates of Streptomyces, a genus of prominent, soil-borne, antibiotic-producing bacteria, will undergo long-term selection for growth in petridishes containing a sole carbon source of varying recalcitrance. Isolates will be dotted on plates and grown until they exhibit sporulation. Spores will then be transferred to subsequent plates for a total of fifty generations of selection on either recalcitrant or labile carbon. It is anticipated that growth on recalcitrant carbon sources, in contrast to labile carbon, will impart selection for the utilization of a wider range of carbon sources and will increase the frequency and intensity of constitutive antibiotic production. Following fifty generations of growth, the fellow will characterize changes in isolate nutrient use and inhibitory phenotypes as well as genomic and transcriptional changes associated with carbon metabolism and secondary metabolite production. The results of this project will provide insight into the genomic and transcriptional modifications resulting from selection for growth on carbon sources of varying recalcitrancy. This project will further the fellow’s training in microbial ecology and genomic analysis as well as mentorship and scientific communication. The fellow will also recruit undergraduate researchers to train the next generation of scientists. In addition, the fellow will develop and conduct outreach events to broaden K-12 participation in science.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.