Carbon cost of plant-microbe interactions under drought
EMSL Project ID
50953
Abstract
Plant survival during environmental stress is a major driver of ecosystem carbon (C) cycling, and plant-microbe interactions are central to plant stress survival. However, quantifying how much C enters the soil remains a challenge especially under drought. Plants release C-rich root exudates that recruit beneficial microbes to create a healthy root microbiome that helps plants withstand environmental stress. However, this diverts C from other plant functions such as growth and metabolic maintenance, resulting in a 'C cost.' A critical knowledge gap is the effect of drought severity on the quantity and composition of root exudates and the ensuing effect on the root microbiome and how it enhances plant performance during drought. Blue grama (Bouteloua gracilis) is a widespread perennial grass and its relationship with soil microbes may contribute to its high drought resistance and wide geographic distribution. The goal of this work is to evaluate the effect of drought severity on root exudate quantity and composition and root microbiome, and determine if these shifts enhance blue gram's capacity to withstand drought. Using a manipulative experiment, we will assign blue grama to 3 drought severity treatment groups: ambient, 50% water reduction, 75% water reduction. Since plants use root exudates to alter their microbiome to improve plant performance during drought, we hypothesize that greater drought severity should result in a microbiome that enhances blue grama's capacity to withstand drought compared to lower drought severity.
We will employ the capabilities of EMSL on root exudate composition (metabolomics) and the JGI on root microbiome (metatranscriptomics). This synergy of capabilities will enable us to evaluate the effect of root exudate composition on the root microbiome composition and activity and the cascading impact on blue grama's capacity to withstand drought. EMSL and JGI offer the full suite of capabilities needed to advance this research. This unique opportunity combines genomics and molecular characterization technologies under one collaborative research effort. This allows us to gain a more comprehensive understanding of how plant-microbe interactions influence ecosystem C cycling and plant performance during drought.
Improving estimates of global soil C pools requires a better understanding of the plant-microbe interactions responsible for C flow between plants and microbes. Therefore, examining how root exudates alter the root microbiome and plant performance during drought improves our understanding of overall C cycling, ecosystem productivity, and plant-microbe interactions.
Project Details
Project type
FICUS Research
Start Date
2019-10-01
End Date
2021-09-30
Status
Closed
Released Data Link
Team
Principal Investigator
Team Members