exploring microbial adaptation to agricultural systems mediated by plasmids and IS elements

2026-07-22

Higher demands for increased agricultural production will arise in the future to secure the food supply for an expanding world population. Sustainable agricultural approaches are urgently needed to meet this demand today as well as in future. It is well known that bacterial communities contribute to the ecosystem functions of soil; however, very little is known about the composition and diversity of those communities. One important factor for bacterial adaptation is the horizontal transfer of genetic material. MicroplIS aims to identify mobile genetic elements (MGEs) that are important for bacteria-plant interactions with special regard to insertion sequence elements (ISs). The rhizosphere of plants is a hotspot for horizontal gene transfer and some of the MGEs might carry plant beneficial traits. Therefore, I hypothesize that plant beneficial traits can be found associated with MGEs in the rhizosphere. Identifying these elements will help to harness their contribution to ecosystem services like biofertilization (siderophore release, inorganic phosphate solubilization) and biostimulation (auxin production, VOC release, ACC-deaminase activity, EPS production). Furthermore, the identified traits will be linked to climate change influences in a growth chamber experiment with changing drought and wet conditions. Through this approach it will be possible to link the prevalence of plasmids and ISs with extreme weather events. In conclusion, the findings from MicroplIS will contribute to optimizing ecosystem services to effectively address shifting environmental conditions.

Belgium

2026-01-01