DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Assessing the Importance of Trophic Lability for Fungal Endophytism Using the Moss Dicranum scoparium and its Associated Fungi

论文研究：利用苔藓及其相关真菌评估营养不稳定性对真菌内生的重要性

基本信息

批准号：
1701836
负责人：
Francois Lutzoni
金额：
$ 1.95万
依托单位：
Duke University
依托单位国家：
美国
项目类别：
Standard Grant
财政年份：
2017
资助国家：
美国
起止时间：
2017-06-15 至 2018-11-30
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1701836&HistoricalAwards=false
关键词：
DISSERTATION RESEARCH Assessing Importance Trophic

项目摘要

Plants are essential because they are the main source of carbon for terrestrial ecosystems. Similar to humans, and animals in general, plants harbor diverse microbial communities, including fungi. Mosses are a major component of boreal, arctic and alpine vegetation, which are most drastically impacted by environmental variation. They are known to host diverse fungal communities, living inside plant tissues (endophytic), such as leaves, without causing any visible symptoms. Endophytic fungi can actually help living plants in various ways, including the improvement of nutrient uptake and protection from pathogens. However, fungi are also known to be proficient decomposers of dead plant material. Switches between these functional states by fungi might be dynamic and potentially regulated by abiotic and biotic factors. Understanding the circumstances and mechanisms by which these functional transitions occur will greatly improve knowledge of plant-fungus interactions and their roles as symbiotic entities to maintain nutrient cycling and ecosystem functions. The researchers will participate in various outreach activities, including the annual Darwin Day exhibition event at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. This grant will greatly improve the co-PI's Ph.D. dissertation, and contribute to the development of an independent research program for a successful academic career. Previously, the researchers have examined endophytic fungal species and their function across a senescence gradient within moss plants using an innovative metatranscriptomic approach. Although active fungal species were found to be structured according to the senescence gradient of the moss, several fungi inhabit both the living (top) and decomposing (bottom) portions of the plant, providing multiple candidate fungal species to study trophic transitions between symbiotrophism and saprotrophism. The researchers will isolate some of these fungi in pure cultures and use them in an experiment designed to quantify the effects of focal fungal strains on living and dead moss tissues. Using co-culture experiments of these fungi with moss plants, this project will characterize the phenotypic, and transcriptomic, responses of mosses to their associated fungi. This research will use also the same moss-fungus system to monitor differential gene expression associated with a switch between symbiotrophism and saprotrophism by three very different fungal species.

植物是必不可少的，因为它们是陆地生态系统的碳的主要来源。与人类和一般的动物类似，植物具有多种微生物群落，包括真菌。苔藓是北极，北极和高山植被的主要组成部分，它们受到环境变化的影响最大。众所周知，它们可以容纳多种真菌群落，居住在植物组织内（叶子），例如叶子，而不会引起任何明显的症状。内生真菌实际上可以以各种方式帮助生存植物，包括改善养分摄取和防止病原体的保护。但是，众所周知，真菌是熟练的死植物材料的分解剂。通过真菌之间这些功能状态之间的切换可能是动态的，并且可能受到非生物和生物因素的调节。了解这些功能过渡发生的环境和机制将极大地改善对植物 - 联邦相互作用的知识及其作为共生实体的作用，以维持营养循环和生态系统功能。研究人员将参加各种外展活动，包括在北卡罗来纳州自然科学博物馆举行的年度达尔文日展览会。该赠款将大大提高Co-Pi的博士学位。论文，并为成功的学术生涯的独立研究计划做出贡献。以前，研究人员使用创新的元文字方法检查了苔藓植物中衰老梯度的内生真菌物种及其功能。尽管发现活跃的真菌物种是根据苔藓的衰老梯度结构的，但几种真菌均居住在植物的生物（顶部）和分解（底部）部分，从而提供多种候选真菌物种来研究共生动物和saprotophrophismismism的营养过渡。研究人员将在纯培养物中分离其中一些真菌，并在旨在量化局灶性真菌菌株对生物和死苔藓组织的影响的实验中使用它们。使用这些真菌与苔藓植物的共培养实验，该项目将表征苔藓对其相关真菌的表型和转录组的反应。这项研究还将使用相同的苔藓膜系统来监测与三种截然不同的真菌物种之间与共生动物和腐生性之间切换相关的差异基因表达。