Location: Sugarbeet Research
Project Number: 3060-21000-045-042-S
Project Type: Non-Assistance Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Sep 5, 2025
End Date: Aug 31, 2026
Objective:
1. Identify microbes that effectively colonize sugarbeet leaves.
2. Develop synthetic communities of identified bacteria that can inhabit and persist in sugarbeet leaves.
3. Test sugarbeet leaves harboring synthetic communities for resistance to Cercospora leaf spot disease.
Approach:
1. Establish core microbiome of the sugar beet phyllosphere: The core microbiome of the sugar beet phyllosphere will be identified through extensive field sampling, DNA extraction, and high-throughput amplicon sequencing.
Objective 2: Develop culture collection of sugar beet phyllosphere microbiomes to design synthetic communities: We will utilize high throughput culturomics methods to develop a metabarcoding-informed culture collection from the sugar beet phyllosphere that will serve as a community resource as well as enable Obj. 3 below.
Objective 3: Genetic engineering of molecular tags to track sugar beet phyllosphere microbiome assembly: Genetically engineered molecular tags will be developed to track synthetic microbial communities in the sugar beet phyllosphere. These tags will enable real-time monitoring and absolute quantification of the occupancy of isolated strains in the sugar beet microbiome.