Effect of agricultural management and climate conditions on soil and plant microbiomes under contemporary water stress

全球气候变化和农业管理做法都可能对微生物产生重大影响。然而，与气候变化相关的压力因素(如干旱)和管理措施对微生物的影响往往是单独研究的，这些因素的组合如何影响土壤和植物相关微生物群，进而影响植物生长，仍有待回答。在拟议的项目中，首先，我将测试不同农业管理方式(常规与有机)和气候条件(未来与环境)下土壤微生物暴露的历史如何影响当代水分胁迫下小麦基因型的形态和生理特性及其根际的元基因组基因含量。我将进一步研究与种子相关的细菌和真菌如何被不同的小麦基因型选择，以及当代和历史环境条件如何影响微生物的选择。在最后一步，我将评估植物种子及其微生物群因实验因素而产生的变化是否会传递给下一代植物，并影响与植物生长相关的性状以及植物微生物群。总而言之，这些努力将为理解能够改变植物抗旱能力的关键微生物或基因提供关键的一步。从长远来看，这些知识可能有助于制定以微生物群为基础的战略，以提高在快速变化的气候下的农业生产力。

Global climate changes and agricultural management practices can both have major impacts on microbes. However, the effects of climate change-related stressors (e.g., drought) and management practices on microbes have often been studied separately, and it remains to be answered how the combination of such factors impacts soil and plant-associated microbiome and, subsequently, plant growth. In the proposed project, first, I will test how the history of soil microbial exposure to different agricultural managements (conventional vs. organic) and climate conditions (future vs. ambient) influences the morphological and physiological traits of wheat genotypes and the metagenomic gene content of their rhizosphere under contemporary water stress. I will further examine how seed-associated bacteria and fungi can be selected by different wheat genotypes and how contemporary and historical environmental conditions influence microbial selections. In the final step, I will evaluate whether changes due to experimental factors in plant seeds and their microbiome are passed on to the following generation of plants and affect traits related to plant growth as well as plant microbiomes. Together, these efforts will provide a critical step in understanding the key microbes or genes which can modify the plant’s ability to resist drought. In the longer term, such knowledge might facilitate the development of microbiome-based strategies to enhance agricultural productivity under a rapidly changing climate.