LuxSoM · LuxR solos as major proteobacterial players of cell-cell signaling in the plant microbiome

LuxR solos as major proteobacterial players of cell-cell signaling in the plant microbiome

About 60 to 70% of soils in the EU are subject to severe degradation processes: erosion, pollution, loss of biodiversity, salinisation and sealing; this is the result of unsustainable land use and overexploitation of agrochemicals. Microbial-based solutions, in agriculture, are now becoming important alternatives as an environmentally friendly strategy to agrochemical additives. However, microbially-based inoculants are often unstable or lose efficacy over time due to poor colonization mainly because of the limited knowledge of the mechanisms underlying the formation and maintenance of plant-associated microbial communities. To develop more effective microbial-based strategies we need to increase the knowledge on: (i) microbial communities behaviour in natural environments and (ii) bacterial cell-cell interaction networks that influence community composition, dynamics, and stability. Numerous mechanisms of cell-cell interactions have been studied in laboratory set-ups (mainly pure cultures), but their roles in natural environments (e.g root-microbiome) remain elusive, preventing concrete applications. The practical exploitation of these mechanisms will very likely lead to novel solutions for a sustainable agriculture, in order to fight the upcoming challenge of climate change. Main members of the root microbiome are Proteobacteria, as they account for 50% of the bacterial population, and LuxSoM aims to generate critical insights on their assembly and cell-cell communication mechanisms via a well-defined and targeted approach. LuxR solos, which evolved from cell-cell signaling quorum sensing systems (QS), are very widespread and almost exclusively found in Proteobacteria. They are a wide family of transcriptional regulators that respond to endogenous or exogenous (also of plant origin) signals. We intend to study the LuxR solos by genomics, genetics, molecular biology, analytical and molecular chemistry, biochemistry, microbiome analysis and state-of -the-art mass spectrometry based technologies. The main aim of this project is to explore the importance of bacterial LuxR solos in the plant-microbiome network, understanding their influence on plant host physiology and microbial community dynamics. This research seeks to develop a community of interacting plant-beneficial strains that will serve as a probiotic solution for plants to enhance plant health and sustainable agricultural productivity. Moreover, the discovery of novel bacterial signal molecules will also open a realm of possibilities for the utilization of these compounds as prebiotics in order to influence plant microbiomes and thus devise new ways to enhance plant health in a sustainable way. The study of LuxR solos-based systems will bridge the gap of our understanding of how bacteria engage in contact-independent cell-cell communication, allowing also the design of new probiotic and prebiotic solutions for agriculture. This project will unravel the first major cell-cell signal players for plant microbiome establishment.

Текст от CORDIS, на английски · Данни: CORDIS, © Европейски съюз