Project Details
The goal of the Plant-Microbe Interfaces SFA is to gain a deeper understanding of the diversity and functioning of mutually beneficial interactions between plants and microbes in the rhizosphere. The plant-microbe interface is the boundary across which a plant senses, interacts with, and may alter its associated biotic and abiotic environments. Understanding the exchange of energy, information, and materials across the plant-microbe interface at diverse spatial and temporal scales is our ultimate objective. Our ongoing efforts focus on characterizing and interpreting such interfaces using systems comprising plants and microbes, in particular the poplar tree (Populus) and its microbial community in the context of favorable plant microbe interactions. We seek to define the relationships among these organisms in natural settings, dissect the molecular signals and gene-level responses of the organisms using natural and model systems, and interpret this information using advanced computational tools.
The advances anticipated here will set the stage for detailed understanding of other symbiotic relationships and of natural routes to ecosystem response to climate change, the cycling and sequestration of carbon in terrestrial environments, and the development and management of renewable energy sources.
Importance of interactions between plants and microbes
The beneficial association of plants and microbes exemplifies a complex, multiorganismal system that is shaped by the participating organisms and the environmental forces acting on them. Often these plant-microbe interactions can benefit plant productivity and performance by, for example, (1) affecting nutrient uptake and growth allocation, (2) influencing plant hormone signaling, (3) inducing catabolism of toxic compounds, and (4) conferring resistance to pathogens. In both natural and engineered systems, plants and microbes function collectively to determine the responses of terrestrial ecosystems to global changes as well as to offer potential as dedicated feedstocks in a renewable, carbon-neutral economy.
To learn more, visit https://pmiweb.ornl.gov.
