Project Grant 2243817

This Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) Division of Integrative Organismal Systems under the Biological Sciences (CFDA# 47.074) program will fund a 3-year, $405,461 collaborative research project to decipher the host-environment dependencies in the legume-rhizobia symbiosis. The researchers at the Regents of the University of Minnesota will take an integrative approach to identify the plant and rhizobia genes that work together to control the efficacy of nitrogen fixation, a critical process that provides essential nutrients to support plant productivity. Through manipulative experiments, the researchers will measure the benefits that legume host species gain when growing in association with different rhizobia bacteria, and use dual-sequence transcriptomics to assay the expressed genes in these plant-microbe pairs across varying nitrogen environments. The goal is to identify gene modules and plant-microbe gene pairs that are essential for optimizing the legume-rhizobia symbiosis for improved plant health and reduced agricultural reliance on nitrogen fertilizers. The research results will also contribute to developing STEM educational materials and training new scientists in advanced genomic engineering approaches.