The team will investigate the role of root-associated Actinobacteria in promoting host fitness under drought stress in two plants important to the DOE mission of sustainable biofuels. Preliminary data suggest that Actinobacteria are reproducibly more abundant in the roots of drought-treated sorghum and rice than in those of well-watered controls. They hypothesize: 1) that the enriched Actinobacteria are actively recruited to the root endosphere in response to shifts in host metabolism, and 2) that they enhance the plant’s drought tolerance either directly, by modulating host transcription, or indirectly, by displacing or suppressing fungal microbes pathogenic to the host plant.
Proposer: Devin Coleman-Derr, USDA-ARS