NSF PRFB FY23: Effects of bioengineering on community assembly and ecosystem functioning in a soil microbial community

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2023, Integrative Research Investigating the Rules of Life Governing Interactions Between Genomes, Environment, and Phenotypes. The fellowship supports research and training of the fellow that will contribute to the area of Rules of Life in innovative ways. Current trends in the development of new products and technologies may lead to the release of bioengineered organisms into the environment. While much work is done to develop such technologies, their environmental effects get less attention. More work is needed to understand and predict the impacts of bioengineered organisms. In this proposal, the Fellow will study how bioengineered organisms affect the environment by studying their DNA, traits, and interactions with other organisms. This research will involve high school interns, agricultural laborers, and artists. The purpose of the work is to develop a fairer approach to bioengineering, making sure that the development of such technology considers both people and the planet. The fellow will use a combination of engineering, experimental, and observational approaches to describe the effects of introduced genetic variation on population-level traits, community stability, and ecosystem functioning. This project investigates a Rule of Life (RoL) by connecting the mechanistic relationships between genomes and phenomes of bioengineered organisms to ecological processes such as community assembly and ecosystem functioning. Using a system of plant-associated soil microbes, the fellow will use genetic engineering to create microbial consortia and study its effects on community and ecosystem processes. The research will show whether individual genetic changes affect community assembly and ecosystem functioning in this system. Results will advance theoretical predictions about the effects of extreme trait variation on ecological and evolutionary processes. The fellow seeks to expand participation in STEM research and education through collaborating with youth interns and working with local non-profits in the greater Bay Area of California. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.