Life on leaves: modeling the ecology and evolution of plant-microbe interactions

叶子上的生命：模拟植物-微生物相互作用的生态和进化

• 批准号: RGPIN-2019-07079
• 负责人: Kembel, Steven
• 金额: $ 2.4万
• 依托单位: Université du Québec à Montréal
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2022-01-01 至 2023-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=765210
• 关键词: Life; leaves; modeling; ecology; evolution

Plant-microbe interactions may have important effects on the ecology and evolution of plants, but our understanding of patterns of plant-microbe associations and the processes responsible for these patterns are still in their infancy due to the recent development of molecular methods to study the biodiversity of microbes in-depth. The long-term objective of my research program is to understand the ecology and evolution of plant-microbe interactions - what microbes live on leaves, what functions do they carry out, and what is their importance for their plant hosts. The short-term goal of my research program is to use the plant phyllosphere (microbes on leaf surfaces) as a model system to understand how associations between plants and microbes have evolved across the plant tree of life, to identify the sources of microbial communities on leaves and the ecological processes that govern their diversity, and to determine how different communities of microbes may mix together to determine the function of their plant hosts. My lab will take a multi-scale approach that will combine broad-scale surveys and analyses of plant-associated microbial communities to understand the ecological and evolutionary processes responsible for the interaction of plants and their associated microbial communities, along with manipulative experiments in the field to understand the mechanisms of plant-microbial interactions and their importance for the plant host. We will quantify microbial diversity by sequencing microbial DNA directly from leaves using cutting-edge molecular biology and bioinformatics methods. The proposed research will greatly expand our understanding of the mechanisms of plant-microbe interactions and their importance for plant and ecosystem function along broad spatial and environmental gradients. In addition to testing fundamental hypotheses about the ecology and evolution of plant-microbe associations, this research program will quantify the importance of plant-associated microbial communities for the plant host, and will allow improved management and engineering of the plant microbiome to improve plant health and ecosystem function.

植物 - 微生物相互作用可能对植物的生态和进化具有重要影响，但是我们对植物 - 微生物关联模式的理解以及负责这些模式的过程仍处于起步阶段，这是由于最近研究了分子方法来研究微生物的生物多样性。我的研究计划的长期目标是了解植物 - 微生物相互作用的生态和演变 - 微生物在叶子上的生活，它们执行的功能以及它们对植物宿主的重要性是什么。我的研究计划的短期目标是将植物植物层（叶子表面上的微生物）用作模型系统，以了解植物和微生物之间的关联如何在整个生命的植物树中发展，以识别叶子上的微生物群落的来源，以及在生态过程中的生态过程，并确定植物的不同社区，以确定植物的不同社区，以确定植物的不同植物群体，以确定其功能的功能。我的实验室将采用一种多尺度方法，该方法将结合植物相关的微生物群落的广泛调查和分析，以了解负责植物及其相关微生物群落相互作用的生态和进化过程，以及在田间的操纵实验，以了解植物互动的机制，以了解植物互动和植物的重要性。我们将使用最先进的分子生物学和生物信息学方法直接从叶子中测序微生物DNA来量化微生物多样性。拟议的研究将大大扩展我们对植物 - 微生物相互作用机制的理解及其对植物和生态系统功能沿广泛的空间和环境梯度的重要性。除了测试有关植物 - 微生物关联的生态学和进化的基本假设外，该研究计划还将量化与植物相关的微生物群落对植物宿主的重要性，并将允许改进植物微生物组的管理和工程以改善植物健康和生态系统功能。