Mapping the colonization of a synthetic microbial community inoculum from sugarcane microbiome in maize and soybean plants

• Grant number: 16/23425-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: March 01, 2017
• End date: February 28, 2018
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Genetics - Molecular Genetics and Genetics of Microorganisms
• Agreement: Coordination of Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES)
• Principal Investigator: Paulo Arruda
• Grantee: Natália de Brito Damasceno
• Host Institution: Centro de Biologia Molecular e Engenharia Genética (CBMEG). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The aim of this project is to study the mechanisms and pathways involved in the colonization process of maize and soybean plants inoculated with a synthetic microbial community inoculum obtained from the sugarcane microbiome. This project is a part of a bigger project titled "The Sugarcane Microbiome (Saccharome): A Key Element in Sustainability of an Energy Crop" (caneina.cbmeg.unicamp.br/saccharome) which is a collaboration between the State University of Campinas and the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid and funded by Repsol and Repsol Sinopec Brasil. The Saccharome project revealed a detailed description of diversity and relative abundance of bacterial and fungi communities found in roots, stem and leafs of sugarcane plants during different stages of plant development (Souza et al., 2016). Also, it was criated and annotated a representative collection of microorganisms from sugarcane roots and stems samples (Armanhi et al., 2016). The identification of the isolates present in the collection allowed to cross-reference this data against the sugarcane microbial profile obtained through rRNA 16S sequencing which resulted in the designing of a synthetic inoculum composed by 17 bacterial isolates that represents the most abundant groups at sugarcane root and stem. These bacterial groups belongs to the "core microbiome", that is a restricted community composed by a small subset of groups that consistenly maintain their high abundance during all stages of plant development. Maize plants were used as model plants for inoculation assays. Preliminary results showed that the presence of the synthetic community highly improved plant growth.During this master's degree project we aim to map the colonization of the synthetic community in different plant models by looking at the relative abundance of each group at each tissue and at their patterns of distribution during plant organs. Maize plants will be used as monocotyledons model and soybean will be used as dicotyledonous model. We also have sequenced the complete genome of each isolate used in the inoculum. With this information, it will be possible to look at some specific genes or clusters of genes that can be directly involved in the regulation of functions that improve and promotes plant growth and development. Finally, the results obtained in this project can contribute to better understand the biology behind plant-microbe communication and also to guide the designing of new inoculums to improve maize and soybean crops. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

LEITE ARMANHI, JADERSON SILVEIRA; CORREA DE SOUZA, RAFAEL SOARES; DAMASCENO, NATALIA DE BRITO; DE ARAUJO, LAURA M.; IMPERIAL, JUAN; ARRUDA, PAULO. A Community-Based Culture Collection for Targeting Novel Plant Growth-Promoting Bacteria from the Sugarcane Microbiome. FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE, v. 8, JAN 4 2018. (16/04322-0, 16/23425-5)

CORREA DE SOUZA, RAFAEL SOARES; LEITE ARMANHI, JADERSON SILVEIRA; DAMASCENO, NATALIA DE BRITO; IMPERIAL, JUAN; ARRUDA, PAULO. Genome Sequences of a Plant Beneficial Synthetic Bacterial Community Reveal Genetic Features for Successful Plant Colonization. FRONTIERS IN MICROBIOLOGY, v. 10, AUG 13 2019. (18/19100-9, 16/04322-0, 16/23218-0, 16/23425-5)

Academic Publications

(References retrieved automatically from State of São Paulo Research Institutions)

DAMASCENO, Natália de Brito. Mapping the colonization of a synthetic microbial community inoculum from sugarcane microbiome in soybean and maize plants. 2018. Master's Dissertation - Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Instituto de Biologia Campinas, SP.