Collaborative Research: Linking microbial social interactions within soil aggregate communities to ecosystem C, N, and P cycling

合作研究：将土壤团聚群落内的微生物社会相互作用与生态系统 C、N 和 P 循环联系起来

• 批准号: 2346372
• 负责人: Elizabeth Bach
• 金额: $ 4.76万
• 依托单位: Nature Conservancy
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2024
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2024-04-01 至 2027-03-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2346372&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Linking; microbial; social; Collaborative; Research; Linking; microbial; social

Most people would never imagine that single-celled bacteria could recognize their neighbors, communicate with one another, and make decisions about whether to cooperate. Curiously, evidence suggests that bacteria can be credited with social behavior and decision-making abilities. Despite the increasing acceptance of the idea of social behavior and communication in bacteria, it is not yet known how these small scale behaviors influence microbial community interactions in nature. This study will provide the first test of whether microbial social interactions lead to impacts in function at the ecosystem level using microbial communities from both natural grassland and agricultural soil. Communication in the form of chemical signals that can be detected by bacteria will influence whether cells will make various extracellular enzymes that degrade plant matter. The social organization of these bacterial communities could allow for a division of labor, with some species contributing one set of enzymes and other species contributing different ones, thereby increasing the efficiency of organic matter decomposition. In this way, social interactions among bacteria could influence how well the entire ecosystem works. The research will also provide training opportunities for graduate and undergraduate students at a Hispanic-Serving Institution. Students will gain experience in field, lab, and computational techniques, including bioinformatics and mathematical modeling approaches that link game theory to ecological processes, and will participate in outreach to high school science students and their teacher. In soil, bacteria are most likely to interact with other bacteria within clumps of soil particles known as aggregates. Aggregates give soil a structure, which helps water and oxygen flow, protects carbon in soil, and supports diverse communities of microorganisms. These microbes decompose dead plants and animals, recycle nutrients, and help new plants to thrive. Soil that is mechanically disturbed, for example by plowing, loses many of its aggregates and overall structure. This team of researchers hypothesize that soil aggregates, like those found in prairie soils that have not been farmed for many years, will provide the necessary stability and spatial organization to develop bacterial communities that rely more on communication and cooperation among different species when compared to more recently disturbed soils. Experiments will combine molecular and bioinformatic approaches to study bacteria at fine scales using a low-disturbance method for isolating soil aggregates and a coupled game theory-ecosystem model to connect microbial behavior in soil aggregates to changes in biogeochemical cycling. The researchers will use a well-characterized restoration gradient in a prairie ecosystem, including cultivated sites, restored sites of varying age, and relic prairie with no cultivation history. The overarching goal of this study is to investigate microbial social interactions within soil aggregate communities and their impacts on carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus cycling at the ecosystem level. Specifically, the study will address two questions: (1) Do stable, biologically active microaggregates foster microbial communities with a higher potential for signaling and communication, with increased metabolic interdependence and division of labor? (2) How does the division of labor within an aggregate community affect ecosystem-level carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus cycling? Metagenomic and transcriptomic data will be used to parameterize a coupled microbial dynamics-ecosystem model for investigating the roles of microbial social interactions in community assembly and carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus cycling in soils. The researchers will also train 3 graduate students and 12 undergraduates. This project will also strengthen a research collaboration between their university and The Nature Conservancy, where a graduate student will be trained in field sampling and aggregate sieving techniques through an immersive experience in conservation work. An artist will work with the researchers to develop a virtual reality program to disseminate results of this project to high school students and public visitors to the field site.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.

大多数人永远不会想象单细胞细菌可以识别其邻居，相互交流，并就是否合作做出决定。奇怪的是，有证据表明，细菌可以以社会行为和决策能力为单位。尽管对细菌中社会行为和沟通的观念越来越多，但尚不知道这些小规模行为如何影响自然界中的微生物社区互动。这项研究将提供第一个测试，即微生物社会相互作用是否使用来自天然草地和农业土壤的微生物群落在生态系统水平上产生影响。细菌可以检测到的化学信号形式的通信将影响细胞是否会使降解植物物质的各种细胞外酶。这些细菌群落的社会组织可以允许劳动分裂，有些物种贡献了一组酶和其他物种造成不同的酶，从而提高了有机物分解的效率。这样，细菌之间的社交互动可以影响整个生态系统的运作效果。这项研究还将为西班牙裔服务机构的研究生和本科生提供培训机会。学生将获得领域，实验室和计算技术的经验，包括生物信息学和数学建模方法，将游戏理论与生态过程联系起来，并将与高中科学专业的学生及其老师参与宣传。在土壤中，细菌最有可能在被称为聚集体的土壤颗粒团内与其他细菌相互作用。聚集体为土壤提供了一种结构，可帮助水和氧气流动，保护土壤中的碳，并支持各种微生物群落。这些微生物分解了死动物和动物，回收养分，并帮助新植物繁衍生息。在机械上受到机械干扰的土壤（例如耕作）失去了许多骨料和整体结构。这支研究人员团队假设土壤聚集体，就像多年来从未耕种的草原土壤中发现的那样，将提供必要的稳定性和空间组织来发展细菌群落，这些细菌群落与最近受干扰的土壤相比，这些细菌群落更依赖于不同物种之间的交流和合作。实验将结合分子和生物信息学方法，使用低消化法隔离土壤聚集体和耦合的游戏理论生态系统模型，以将土壤聚集物中的微生物行为与生物地质化学循环的变化联系起来。研究人员将在草原生态系统中使用良好的恢复梯度，包括耕地，年龄变化的恢复地点以及没有耕种历史的遗物大草原。这项研究的总体目的是研究土壤骨料社区内的微生物社会相互作用及其对生态系统水平上碳，氮和磷循环的影响。具体而言，该研究将解决两个问题：（1）稳定的，生物活性的微聚集物促进了信号传导和通信潜力较高的微生物群落，并增加了代谢相互依赖和劳动分裂？ （2）总体社区内的劳动分裂如何影响生态系统级的碳，氮和磷循环？宏基因组和转录组数据将用于参数化耦合的微生物动力学生态系统模型，以研究微生物社交相互作用在社区组装和碳，氮，氮和磷循环中的作用。研究人员还将培训3名研究生和12名本科生。该项目还将加强他们的大学与自然保护协会之间的研究合作，在那里，研究生将通过沉浸式的保护工作经验对现场抽样进行培训，并汇总了筛分技术。一位艺术家将与研究人员合作制定虚拟现实计划，以将该项目的结果传播给高中生和公共访客到现场地点。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并被认为是值得通过基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛的影响来通过评估来支持的。