Anna Kazarina

Interaction of plant-derived metabolites and rhizobiome functions enhances drought stress tolerance - Genome Biology Background Plants have evolved alongside microbes, enabling plants to better cope with abiotic and biotic stress. Interactions between plant roots and local soil microbes are critical for environmental adaptation and plant health. Plants actively regulate the microbial community composition in their rhizospheres to recruit specific microorganisms that enhance their fitness in the ecosystem they inhabit. This study builds on prior research suggesting that plants exhibit a “home field advantage” by preferentially recruiting microbes unique to their native environments, likely through mutual recognition and selective recruitment mechanisms. Results Using gene- and genome-centric approaches, we assess the functional potential of root-associated microbes and profile their host metabolites to uncover the metabolic outputs potentially regulating host‒microbe interactions in Andropogon gerardii. We find that plants adapted to drier environments experience less stress, producing fewer stress-related metabolites and impacting the recruitment of microbes with genes linked to stress relief pathways. In particular, plant-derived trimethyllysine is highly associated with microbial populations capable of improving nutrient uptake, producing plant growth-promoting compounds, and modulating stress responses. Conclusions This study highlights the critical interplay between host exudates and microbial substrate uptake as the primary mechanism of rhizosphere assembly. We demonstrate that plants actively produce metabolites to recruit microbial populations with the functional potential to enhance their ability to thrive in stressful environments. This research provides insights into the mechanisms of plant–microbe communication, rhizosphere recruitment, and the complex interplay of plant–microbe interactions. Furthermore, it highlights promising avenues for manipulating rhizosphere microbiomes to support conservation agriculture when coping with climate change.

My second PhD chapter is now live in Genome Biology! Turns out plants actively produce metabolites, like trimethyllysine, to recruit microbial populations with the functional potential to enhance hosts’ ability to thrive under drought conditions!

link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Dr. Kazarina!! It still feels surreal to say that!

From the bottom of my heart thank you to all who joined to celebrate this milestone with me. I feel incredibly lucky and deeply grateful for the amazing people who’ve supported me throughout this PhD journey.

I’m excited to invite you all to the public portion of my PhD defense, happening this Thursday, July 10th, at 11am (CDT)!

The defense will also be streamed on zoom! ksu.zoom.us/j/95643073574

We are super excited about this work, as it sets the stage for deeper understanding of the interaction between microbial functions and plant host derived products. It is a deliberate course of actions from community level understanding to providing mechanistic insights into rhizosphere interactions.

We used multi' omics approaches, and observed that plants adapted to drier environments experienced less stress, and produced fewer stress-related metabolites, which in turn impacted the recruitment of microbes with genes that aid in stress relief.

Interaction of plant-derived metabolites and rhizobiome functions enhances drought stress tolerance Background : Plants evolved alongside microbes, enabling plants to better cope with abiotic and biotic stresses. The interactions between plant roots and local soil microbes are critical for environme...

The 2nd project of my PhD work is now live! We showed strong associations of plant-derived metabolite trimethyllysine and rhizobiome functions, on mechanisms of rhizosphere recruitment and the microbial capacity to enhance host’s drought stress resilience. @sonnytmlee.bsky.social

shorturl.at/mivJs

Presenting my work at #ISME19 today (08/22)! Come talk to me about the new approach in building plant-oriented SynComs! @sonnytmlee.bsky.social