Postdoctoral Fellow: Joseph Spraker Proposal Number: 1612169
This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2016, Research Using Biological Collections. The fellowship supports a research and training plan for the Fellow to take transformative approaches to grand challenges in biology that employ biological collections in highly innovative ways. The title of the research plan for this fellowship to Joseph Spraker is "Bacteria in Fungi in Plants: How intimate microbial interactions mediate plant disease." The host institutions for this fellowship are the University of Arizona and the University of California - Berkeley, and the sponsoring scientists at these institutions are Dr. A. Elizabeth Arnold and Matthew Traxler, at each respective institution.
The goal of this project is to investigate the interactions of fungi (endophytes) associated with plant leaves, and the bacteria that live within these fungi (endohyphal bacteria). Plant microbiomes are complex communities consisting of bacteria and fungi. The interactions between these microbes are increasingly recognized to play important roles in plant health in both natural and agricultural settings. Although research has largely focused on microbial communities associated with soils and plant roots, it is increasingly apparent that the interactions between microbes colonizing plant leaves and shoots are similarly impacting plant health. To gain a better understanding of how above-ground microbes impact plant health, the Fellow is examining how their interactions impact resistance to plant pathogens, through the production of bioactive compounds. Integral to this work is the globally unique Robert L. Gilbertson Mycological Herbarium collection, housing >60,000 living fungal endophytes, which will be used as a source for a large-scale, systematic survey of endophylal bacteria (EB). Specifically, the Fellow is: 1) systematically characterizing EB associated with endophytic fungi and determining what environmental factors drive their interactions; 2) assessing the impacts of EB on fungal metabolism; and 3) evaluating the impact of EB on endophyte-plant-pathogen interactions. The results of this work will provide new insights into untapped strategies of sustainable disease management. Additionally, this work will improve the knowledgebase of the existing Robert L. Gilbertson Mycological Herbarium by documenting cryptic microbes already stored within the collection.
The Fellow is receiving training in cross-cutting research methodologies including next generation sequencing, computationally intensive meta-analyses, culture-based and plant-based bioassays, high throughput chemical analyses, and cutting-edge in planta metabolomics. These skills are facilitating the Fellow's professional goals of becoming a research professor at an academic institution. The Fellow is also improving his skills as an educator and bringing science to underrepresented groups. He is developing and implementing a unique high school outreach module focused on engaging underrepresented minorities in STEM with biological research, using art to facilitate learning and comprehension. This module is being developed within the framework of the award-winning science outreach program of the Arnold lab, and will also draw on the unique insights of the Arts and Environment Network, also housed at the University of Arizona.
