Jeff Bennetzen<\/a>, the team will focus on the contributions of an important class of microbes, called arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, in the performance of sorghum, a major grain crop and source of biomass.<\/p>\n\u201cOur study will look at the degree to which field conditions influence whether AMF are positive or negative contributors, and try to identify the plant genes\u2014and to some extent the AMF genes\u2014that determine whether this is a positive or a negative contribution,\u201d said Bennetzen, Norman and Doris Giles Professor in Genetics and Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar.<\/p>\n
Microbes not always useful<\/h4>\n
All plants interact with microbes in their environment that can promote or diminish their productivity, according to Bennetzen. AMF are usually viewed as positive contributors, helping plants acquire nutrients like phosphate and water and providing resistance to certain types of root diseases.<\/p>\n
But AMF are not always useful, and there are many unknowns. For example, plant-AMF interactions are different in different environments\u2014based on variables like soil type or amount of rainfall\u2014and scientists don\u2019t know why. To illuminate the basic rules of the plant-AMF relationship, Bennetzen and his collaborators will conduct tests in two locations: Arizona, where it\u2019s hot and dry with sandy soils, and Georgia, where it\u2019s wetter and there\u2019s an abundance of clay in the soil.<\/p>\n
Bennetzen expects that AMF-sorghum interactions at the two locations will be different, perhaps involving different species of AMF or different plant genes. The team will also explore key plant traits, like root structure, and examine the genes and gene expression patterns that are involved in both the plant and fungus.<\/p>\n
Even as recently as a few years ago, conducting this type of study would have been technically and logistically impossible, but new molecular genetic and genomic techniques make it feasible\u2014and affordable\u2014to examine all the organisms at the same time.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe techniques for data generation and data analysis have become so powerful,\u201d Bennetzen said. \u201cWe can do things now that we could barely imagine just a decade ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
The project brings together a uniquely qualified team, most of whom are UGA faculty. Bennetzen, a plant geneticist, is joined by Katrien Devos, also a plant geneticist and Distinguished Research Professor in crop and soil sciences at UGA.<\/p>\n
It takes teamwork<\/h4>\n
Two team members are experts in AMF. Nancy Collins Johnson, of Northern Arizona University, is a world expert on natural variation in AMF; she\u2019ll apply her knowledge to the sorghum crop situation for the first time. Anny Chung, Haines Family Assistant Professor of Plant Ecology at UGA, is an experimental field ecologist who\u2019s developed techniques to manipulate and study AMF under field conditions, and she\u2019ll apply these to the test sites.<\/p>\n
The final member of the team is Jonathon Arnold, a systems biologist and professor of genetics at UGA, who will uncover, diagram and help test a systems network for the sorghum-AMF interactions. The systems diagram will resemble an electrical circuit diagram, tying together the parts in a way that includes not just connections, but also quantitation of the strength and direction of flow in the connections. Once all the parts are identified, the team will be able to make predictions based on the diagram: If something happens at a particular step, for example, here\u2019s the predicted outcome for every other component.<\/p>\n
\u201cJonathan Arnold is a world leader in doing this. It\u2019s an incredibly difficult, challenging activity,\u201d Bennetzen said. \u201cPeople talk about how complicated computer systems are, but computer data have only two states\u20140 or 1. Biological systems can have connection intensities of anywhere from 0 to near infinity, with any possible variation in between.\u201d<\/p>\n
With the systems diagram in place, plant geneticists like Bennetzen and Devos will be able to help plant breeders choose the right plant with the right genes for their conditions. Choosing plants that attract the most beneficial AMF may allow growers to get higher yields while reducing other costly inputs, like fertilizer and irrigation.<\/p>\n
The project will also generate a wealth of basic knowledge that other scientists can run with, Bennetzen said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re going to be generating novel information that will change the field dramatically,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re asking questions that haven\u2019t been asked, so no matter what the answer is, it\u2019ll be new. We\u2019re venturing into unknown waters\u2014unknown soils, in this case\u2014with tools that are sure to work and a team that will be able to understand, interpret and gain tremendous value from mining the data we generate.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A new project by University of Georgia researchers will explore the largely unknown relationship between plants and soil\u00a0microbes, generating new information that\u2019s expected to be a game changer for plant science. The five-year project, funded by an $11.7 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy, will deliver findings ranging from basic information about plants … <\/p>\n
Continue reading “Digging into the plant and microbe relationship”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":75,"featured_media":34456,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[217],"tags":[],"post_medium":[314],"publications":[],"authors":[345],"photographers":[442],"video_credit":[],"takeaways":[],"class_list":["post-34455","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-genetics","post_medium-read","authors-allyson-mann","photographers-peter-frey","entry"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.uga.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34455","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.uga.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.uga.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.uga.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/75"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.uga.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34455"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/research.uga.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34455\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.uga.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.uga.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34455"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.uga.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34455"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.uga.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34455"},{"taxonomy":"post_medium","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.uga.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_medium?post=34455"},{"taxonomy":"publications","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.uga.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/publications?post=34455"},{"taxonomy":"authors","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.uga.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/authors?post=34455"},{"taxonomy":"photographers","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.uga.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/photographers?post=34455"},{"taxonomy":"video_credit","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.uga.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/video_credit?post=34455"},{"taxonomy":"takeaways","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.uga.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/takeaways?post=34455"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}