Subproject 7: Mycorrhiza
Subproject 7: Mycorrhiza
PI: François Buscot, Prof. Dr. (UFZ Leipzig-Halle)
Co-PI: Uwe Langer, Dr. (UFZ Leipzig-Halle)
Summary
Roots are involved in complex interaction networks with soil microorganisms. Different symbiotic mycorrhizal associations with soil fungi formed during the evolution, which rule nutrient acquisition, diversity of plant formations and soil stability. The complex relationships can only be disentangled by extending current investigations to non temperate regions. In addition a high throughput data production on a wide range soil microorganisms (mycorrhiza, decomposing bacteria and fungi) is essential. To meet this challenge, the present project is embedded in a field biodiversity experiment in subtropical forests of China. At the functional level, it will characterize the contribution of the different groups of microorganisms to the soil biomass by calibrating phospholipid fatty acids profiles measured in soils against reference culture strains isolated from the sites. At the structural level it will develop DNA arrays to monitor the diversity of mycorrhizas and other microorganisms in field plots on which the tree and shrub diversity will be manipulated. The arrays will be developed from metagenomic libraries constructed with DNA from the field sites soils. The data will be produced in cooperation with the Chinese partner Prof. Liangdong Guo and integrated in complex correlation analyses with the ones of further projects participating to the Research Unit.
Objectives
The goal of this application is to optimize and combine most modern molecular ecological analyses with biomass measurements of functional groups of soil microorganisms to disentangle the link between diversities of key below ground players and plants and to relate this link to ecosystem functions with a special focus to soil stabilization.
The road map consists in three steps.
1. In step one Phospholipid fatty acids analyses (PLFA) will be calibrated to microbial communities and single organisms from the experimental region in order to separate quantitatively the respective biomass of different functional groups of soil organisms (bacteria, mycorrhizal or saprotroph fungi etc.). At the functional level, we will screen genes encoding for laccases and possibly cellulases in bacteria and fungi, enzymes that attack the two prominent parts of plant litter. The analyses will deliver high quality data on the α-diversity of the three experimental sites, thus allowing their comparison and determination of the degree of specificity and endemism of a wide range of soil organisms.
2. In step two, both the PLFA and array tools will be used for an intensive monitoring of the response of soil microorganisms and mycorrhizas to the biodiversity manipulation realized in the BFE experiment both in terms of microbial diversity and biomass.
In step three, we will work on the data integration by providing data files to the metadata central system (Central project Z2) and by participating to the strategic reflections on the adequate way to bind processes occurring at the microscales (the one at which soil microbe operate) and the one that occur at higher scales (plant formation, plots and landscapes).