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Inspire Session

Session: Microbial adaptation is gonna change our understanding of soil carbon-climate feedback

INS 3-2 - Green thumbs up for microbial culture collections, comparative genomics, and adaptive traits

Tuesday, August 16, 2022

8:00 AM – 9:30 AM EDT

Location: 520A

Presenting Author(s)

MC

Mallory J. Choudoir

UMass Amherst
Amherst, Massachusetts, United States

Co-author(s)

AN

Achala Narayanan

University of Massachusetts Amherst
DR

Damayanti Rodriguez-Ramos

University of Wisconsin madison
AE

Alon Efroni

University of Massachusetts Amherst
RS

Rachel Simoes

University of Massachusetts Amherst
KD

Kristen M. DeAngelis

University of Massachusetts Amherst, United States

The fate of soil carbon hinges on microbial responses to climate change. Adaptation (an irreversible evolutionary response) introduces novel, heritable traits into microbial communities. These adaptive traits have cascading effects on ecosystem function, but soil complexity hinders our ability to disentangle ecological and evolutionary responses. Environmentally-explicit culture collections, including the DeAngelis Lab’s Harvard Forest LTER isolates, are invaluable resources. Our culture collection microbes link genome variation directly to physiology, and provide an unparalleled opportunity to identify adaptive traits and quantify evolutionary rates. In a field dominated by culture-independent methods, green thumb approaches will transform our understanding of soil carbon-climate feedback.