Harnessing Wild Plan t Microbiomes to Enhance Stress Resilience in Cultivated Crops
Plants growing in extreme environments from hyper-arid deserts t o steep elevation gradients host microbial communities that play cent ral roles in nutrient acquisition, stress mitigation, and soil functi oning. In this seminar, I will explore how we can move from character izing these microbiomes in wild relatives to engineering them as tool s for sustainable agriculture. Using examples from date palm and wild grapevine microbiomes, I will show how ecological filters select for highly functional microbial hubs and plant-beneficial traits. I will then bridge these insights to the design of synthetic microbial comm unities (SynComs) and to the emerging field of AMF upscaling, includi ng recent bioreactor-based approaches and lipid-engineering strategie s. Together, these perspectives illustrate how combining microbial ec ology with biotechnology can reduce chemical inputs, strengthen soil health, and enhance crop resilience under climate change.
DESCRIPTION: Harnessing Wild Plant Microbiomes to Enhance Stress Resil ience in Cultivated Crops Plants growing in extreme environments from hyper-arid deserts to steep elevation gradients host microbial commu nities that play central roles in nutrient acquisition, stress mitiga tion, and soil functioning. In this seminar, I will explore how we ca n move from characterizing these microbiomes in wild relatives to eng ineering them as tools for sustainable agriculture. Using examples fr om date palm and wild grapevine microbiomes, I will show how ecologic al filters select for highly functional microbial hubs and plant-bene ficial traits. I will then bridge these insights to the design of syn thetic microbial communities (SynComs) and to the emerging field of A MF upscaling, including recent bioreactor-based approaches and lipid- engineering strategies. Together, these perspectives illustrate how c ombining microbial ecology with biotechnology can reduce chemical inp uts, strengthen soil health, and enhance crop resilience under climat e change. END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR