Project Details
Projekt
Endophytes and local adaptation modulate aquatic plant responses to warming and anoxia stress
Subject Area
Organismic Interactions, Chemical Ecology and Microbiomes of Plant Systems
Term
since 2024
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 515385982
Aquatic vascular plants are key ecosystem components in marine and freshwater habitats, yet have experienced major declines. However, responses to multiple stressors, resistance of certain genotypes, local adaptation and cross-tolerance are heavily understudied. Subproject (SP) 3 will contribute to the Research Unit PlantsCoChallenge by using marine and freshwater model plant species: the seagrass Zostera marina (eelgrass) and the pondweed Stuckenia pectinata (fennel pondweed). The main objectives are to (i) identify microbial associations by comprehensively inventorize microbes such as bacteria, fungi, and protists in both species (along with Z2), (ii) explore the dynamics of the plant microbiome under stress conditions, examining how endophytic fungi and protists impact plant tolerance and resistance, (iii) investigate the effects of abiotic stressors, particularly anoxia and warming, on growth and susceptibility of these aquatic plants to pathogens, (iv) assess whether plant populations and their associated microbiomes are locally adapted to different stress environments, considering trade-offs between resistance and growth and (v) perform inoculations with endophytic protists to examine the effects of ubiquitous Labyrinthulids on plant stress tolerance. Our main research hypothesis is that both Z. marina and S. pectinata possess a core endophytic microbiome that correlates with abiotic stress conditions. Anoxia and warming may act synergistically to negatively affect plant fitness-correlated performance (growth, photosynthesis rates) and increase pathogen susceptibility. We also hypothesize that the interaction between plants and their endophytic fungi and protists may shift from beneficial to pathogenic under certain stress conditions. SP3 will explore whether plant populations collected along gradients of warming and anoxia stress exhibit local adaptation to these stressors, and whether biotic interactions within the microbiome could mediate this adaptation. SP3 will comprise field investigations and laboratory experiments using controlled conditions including one with both species under brackish conditions. Gnotobiotic climate chambers will be used to conduct studies with controlled microbiome compositions. Investigations are strongly linked to studies on terrestrial plants in SP1 and SP5. Multi-omics analyses (transcriptomics and metabolomics) will permit an understanding of gene-to-metabolite networks and secondary metabolite biosynthesis in these aquatic plants, as well as the molecular correlates of trade-offs to different biotic and abiotic stressors (along with Z1).
DFG Programme
Research Units
