Dynamics of Microbiomes in Space (DynaMoS)
EMSL Project ID
51756
Abstract
Microorganisms were the first colonizers of our planet and they have since evolved over billions of years to utilize the resources that are available to them. Of all of Earth’s habitats, soil is the most complex with the highest diversity of microbial life. Soil microorganisms are critical for cycling of carbon and other nutrients and supporting growth of plants. Life in soil,
however, presents particular challenges, including patchy availability of resources, a heterogenous soil matrix and often luctuating environmental conditions (e.g. temperature, redox conditions and
soil moisture). Because of this complex environment, soil microbes rarely function in isolation,
but are reliant on other members of the soil ecosystem for sharing resources. On the other hand,
when resources are scarce, soil microbes need to compete for limiting resources or resort to
survival strategies, such as dormancy. These complex interactions are important to understand both
on Earth and in space. To date, the study of complex soil microbiomes has been hindered by the
lack of appropriate monitoring tools and the complexity of the soil environment. Here, we propose
to overcome these hurdles by application of state-of-the-art multi-omics approaches and the use of
model consortia to enable us to decipher specific mechanisms underlying species interactions in the complex soil habitat, and how the space environment influences those interactions.Microorganisms were the first colonizers of our planet and they have since evolved over billions
of years to utilize the resources that are available to them. Of all of Earth’s habitats, soil is the most complex with the highest diversity of microbial life. Soil microorganisms are critical for cycling of carbon and other nutrients and supporting growth of plants. Life in soil, however, presents particular challenges, including patchy availability of resources, a heterogenous soil matrix and often fluctuating environmental conditions (e.g. temperature, redox conditions and
soil moisture). Because of this complex environment, soil microbes rarely function in isolation,
but are reliant on other members of the soil ecosystem for sharing resources. On the other hand,
when resources are scarce, soil microbes need to compete for limiting resources or resort to
survival strategies, such as dormancy. These complex interactions are important to understand both on Earth and in space. To date, the study of complex soil microbiomes has been hindered by the lack of appropriate monitoring tools and the complexity of the soil environment. Here, we propose to overcome these hurdles by application of state-of-the-art multi-omics approaches and the use of model consortia to enable us to decipher specific mechanisms underlying species interactions in the complex soil habitat, and how the space environment influences those interactions.
Project Details
Start Date
2020-11-17
End Date
2021-09-30
Status
Closed
Released Data Link
Team
Principal Investigator
Team Members