Project Details
Projekt
Genetics of bacterial community response to plant metabolites and consequences for plant growth
Applicants
Professor Dr. Claude Becker; Dr. Niklas Schandry
Subject Area
Organismic Interactions, Chemical Ecology and Microbiomes of Plant Systems
Term
since 2021
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 466385132
Via their roots, plants release a substantial number and total amount of primary and specialized metabolites into the surrounding soil, where they can affect animals, plants, and microbes. Many soil-dwelling microbes, particularly those associating with plants, respond highly sensitively to qualitative and quantitative fluctuations in plant-derived metabolites, as these compounds indicate the presence or the physiological status of a putative host. Conversely, some of the released metabolites inhibit the growth of certain microbes, acting as specific antibiotics; some can even affect the growth of nearby plants. From the perspective of a non-synthesizing plant or microbe, foreign plant-derived metabolites constitute xenobiotics (in such a context also referred to as allelochemicals). Benzoxazinoids are a class of multi-functional plant metabolites that exist in many grass species, including important crops such as wheat, maize, or rye. These metabolites are highly bioactive, acting for example as herbivore repellents and iron chelators. Most importantly in the context of the present proposal, benzoxazinoids have been shown to have lasting effects on soil bacteria, which still impacts plants grown in the same soil weeks or even months later.The broader goal of this project is to understand how plant-derived xenobiotics affect root-colonizing microbes and how this in turn impacts plant phenotype and plant fitness. Using benzoxazinoids as a case study, we combine metagenomic and molecular genetic approaches to identify the bacterial genetic components that drive the specific response to benzoxazinoids in individual microbes and microbial communities, and to characterize their contribution to plant-microbiome feedback relationships.The goal of this project is to uncover how benzoxazinoids affect bacteria and their capacity to colonize plant roots, and how benzoxazinoid-mediated alterations in colonization ultimately influence plant phenotype and fitness. By combining metagenomic and molecular genetic approaches, we aim to identify the bacterial genetic components that drive the specific response to benzoxazinoids in individual microbes and microbial communities and to characterize their contribution to plant-microbiome feedback relationships.
DFG Programme
Priority Programmes
