A synthetic community approach to decipher the genetic basis of plant-microbiota interactions in the rhizosphere

该项目旨在通过解决植物与根际微生物之间相互作用的遗传基础来提高可持续作物生产，根际是植物根与土壤之间的界面。根际微生物群具有积极影响植物生长、发育和健康的潜力，代表了农用化学品的可再生替代品。植物基因组是根际微生物群的决定因素，为开发更适合低投入农业的创新作物提供了基础。然而，土壤中发生的相互作用的复杂性使得很难解决根际微生物招募的遗传基础。去卷积这种复杂性的一个有吸引力的途径是在受控条件下将植物暴露于已知分类组成的微生物群，即所谓的合成群落（SynComs）。SynComs的使用使我们能够模拟微生物群的特性，辨别它们对植物生长和发育的影响，并分析多种植物基因型对微生物招募的影响。在这个项目中，学生将使用我们最近为全球作物大麦（大麦）开发的细菌收集来追求三个相互关联的目标。首先，使用培养依赖性和非依赖性测定，学生将利用收集来组装和确定不同分类组成的SynComs的定殖再现性。然后将研究最稳定的SynComs在一组参考大麦基因型上的生长促进潜力。当可用的细菌收集被测序时，学生将尝试识别促进生长所需的细菌基因组的特征。在该项目的第三个目标中，学生将使用最有前途的SynCom来确定野生和驯化大麦基因型中细菌反应性的遗传变异。利用现有的大麦基因组资源，学生将尝试识别SynCom殖民化的宿主决定因素。这些研究将为根际植物-微生物群相互作用的遗传基础提供新的见解，并为可持续提高作物产量的创新方法奠定基础。在完成博士学位后，学生将获得新的技能，包括微生物学，植物遗传学，根际生物学，测序数据分析和多元统计。该学生将在植物科学部工作，并将与新成立的国际大麦中心（IBH，https：//www.barleyhub.org/）互动。学生将受益于与多元化和多学科科学界的互动，包括其他eastBIO博士生，并将使用最先进的设施。

This project aims to enhance sustainable crop production by resolving the genetic basis of the interactions between plants and microbiota inhabiting the rhizosphere, the interface between plant roots and soil. The rhizosphere microbiota has the potential of positively impacting the plant's growth, development, and health representing a renewable alternative to agrochemicals. The plant genome is a determinant of the rhizosphere microbiota, providing a foundation for the development of innovative crops better adapted to low-input agriculture. However, the complexity of interactions occurring in soil makes it difficult to resolve the genetic basis of microbiota recruitment in the rhizosphere. An attractive avenue to deconvolute this complexity is to expose plants to a microbiota of known taxonomic composition under controlled conditions, so called Synthetic Communities (SynComs). The use of SynComs permits us to mimic microbiota properties, discern their impact on plant growth and development, and analyse the effect of multiple plant genotypes on microbial recruitment. In this project the student will use a bacterial collection we recently developed for the global crop Barley (Hordeum vulgare) to pursue three interconnected objectives. First, using both cultivation-dependent and -independent assays the student will capitalise on the collection to assemble and determine the colonisation reproducibility of SynComs of different taxonomic composition. The most stable SynComs will be then investigated for their growth promotion potential on a set of reference barley genotypes. As the available bacterial collection is sequenced, the student will attempt to identify features of the bacterial genomes putatively required for growth promotion. In the third objective of the project, the student will use the most promising SynCom to determine the genetic variation for bacterial responsiveness in wild and domesticated barley genotypes. Using existing barley genomic resources, the student will then attempt at identifying host determinants of SynCom colonisation. These lines of investigation will provide novel insights into the genetic basis of plant-microbiota interactions in the rhizosphere and set the stage for innovative approaches to sustainably enhance crop production. On completion of their PhD, the student will have gained new skills encompassing microbiology, plant genetics, rhizosphere biology, sequencing data analysis and multivariate statistics. The student will be based in the Division of Plant Sciences and will interact with the newly established International Barley Hub (IBH, https://www.barleyhub.org/). The student will profit from the interactions with a diverse and multidisciplinary scientific community, including other eastBIO PhD students, and will use state-of-the-art facilities.