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Harnessing Mycobiomes for Sustainable Improvement of Crop Yield and Resilience in Singapore Farms
Naweed Naqvi
Temasek Senior Investigator, Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory, 1 Research Link, Singapore 117604; Email: naweed@tll.org.sg
Abstract
A mutualistic association with soil-borne beneficial microbes is a hallmark of a broad range of land plants which rely on this rhizosphere symbiosis to assimilate nutrients from the soil or acquire tolerance to biotic and/or abiotic stresses. In this NRF CRP project, we first studied the root-associated fungal microbiota of leafy green vegetables, and the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana, and identified 16 beneficial fungal isolates that individually enhance plant growth in Choy Sum and Kailan under the growth chambers and greenhouse conditions. We also successfully developed several consortia of these beneficial isolates, and found that they impart several other beneficial effects such as improved seed germination, drought tolerance, and/or disease resistance, in addition to the biomass increase in the host plants. Cell biology of the fungus-root interaction revealed novel interfaces and abilities in inducing such robust plant growth. More importantly, the untargeted metabolomics analysis indicated the upregulation of several primary metabolites with the significant perturbations in metabolic pathways, including phenylpropanoid biosynthesis, glyoxylate metabolism, and glucosinolate biosynthesis in the fungus-inoculated Choy Sum plants. Preliminary analysis also provided a cross-kingdom transport of fungus-derived growth-promoting phytohormones (mimics) as a likely contributing mechanism for induced growth in host plants. The fungal isolate AR8 showed a robust growth promotion effect (up to 35% increase) in Choy Sum shoot and root systems. AR8 and 2 other fungal isolates were tested in an urban farm setting in Singapore in three consecutive field trials that successfully showed a significant biomass and resilience increase in the leafy greens. Taken together, we report a robust system that harnesses mycobiome-based probiotics for improvement of urban-farmed leafy greens; and uncover several potential agricultural biofertilizer agents for sustainable yield increase in urban farms. Lastly, we will discuss our preliminary studies on the integration of beneficial mycobiota with regulated LED light and NuSoil/hydrogel.
About the Speaker
Dr. Naweed Naqvi obtained his PhD from the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda (India) and the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI, Philippines) in 1995. He worked as a Rockefeller Foundation Project Scientist at IRRI until 1997, when he joined the Institute of Molecular Agrobiology (Singapore) initially as a postdoctoral fellow; and then as a Principal Investigator focusing on Fungal Patho-biology and Host-pathogen interaction. Currently, he is appointed as a prestigious Temasek Senior Investigator at the Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory (Singapore), and serves as an Adjunct Professor at the National University of Singapore. Naweed’s research focuses on: (1) Molecular basis of fungus-plant interactions (1) Signaling networks that drive fungal morphogenesis and pathogenesis (2) Chemical biology of the Rice Blast pathosystem (4) Harnessing beneficial mycobiome functions.
