Revealing oxalate-mediated carbon flow through plant-fungal-bacterial rhizosphere interactions as part of a globally important carbon-sequestering biogeochemical process
EMSL Project ID
60377
Abstract
Bacterial and fungal interactions in plant rhizospheres impart a myriad of beneficial functions to plant and soil health as well as playing important roles in biogeochemical cycling. However, the metabolic mechanisms mediating these interactions remain shrouded due to the innate biotic and abiotic complexity of soil ecosystems. The oxalate-carbonate pathway (OCP) is a biogeochemical process involving metabolic interactions between plants, fungi, and bacteria in soil. Oxalate produced and excreted by oxalogenic plants and fungi forms complexes with calcium generating calcium-oxalate (CaOx) precipitates. Oxalotrophic bacteria and fungi utilize oxalate as a carbon and energy source, generating CO2 and an increase in soil alkalinity. This in turn may lead to the formation of a terrestrial carbon sink through increased dissolved inorganic carbon in the soil solution and/or CaCO3 biomineralization. Consequently, the OCP has been suggested as a prevalent, yet underestimated, atmospheric carbon sink. One of the remaining gaps in our understanding of the OCP centers on the metabolic exchanges between the main biological partners: plants, fungi, and bacteria. This Large-Scale EMSL research proposal will address these gaps utilizing key technologies at EMSL to integrate and extend data coming from an ongoing EMSL-ER project (60184) investigating the genetic and metabolomic mechanisms driving OCP-C exchange between fungi and bacteria towards uncovering the microbial OCP interactions with oxalogenic plants. This work will expand upon ongoing research efforts to understand the role of oxalogenic plants in establishing the rhizosphere microbial populations and interactions that cumulatively promote OCP carbon flow. Expanding our knowledge of the plant-fungal-bacterial interactions within the OCP will provide access to novel approaches to improve plant growth for biofuel production, soil fertility, as well as management tools for terrestrial carbon sequestration.
Project Details
Project type
Large-Scale EMSL Research
Start Date
2022-10-01
End Date
N/A
Status
Active
Released Data Link
Team
Principal Investigator
Co-Investigator(s)
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