RIS8:  Exploiting tailored plant genotype x microbiome interaction toward sustainable increase of rice productivity and resilience to climate change

RIS8 (from rice, riso in Italian, and the 8 WPs under which the project is articulated) aims to identify rice genotypes tolerant to climate change-related harsh environmental conditions in association with the optimal combination of bacterial inoculants used as biostimulants (Synthetic Communities, SynCom). This will also provide the basis to clarify the plant and bacteria genetic basis behind the capacity to constitute a successful holobiont.

The general hypothesis of RIS8 is that plant-microbiota interactions underpinning rice adaptation to the environment have been shaped by the evolutionary constraints faced by domesticated and wild genotypes. As these latter have evolved even under stressful soil conditions (seen from the temperate rice point of view), we further hypothesize that plant and microbial genes in the wild rice and “wild” microbiota could confer an adaptive advantage to plants exposed to the abiotic stresses caused by climate change.

To test these hypotheses and ultimately unravel the genetic network linking a plant genome and its associated microbiota we are focusing on the following objectives:

1) Defining a suitable set of endophytes promoting rice growth

2) Mapping rice genetic determinants underpinning endophyte colonisation

3) Decoding novel bacterial and plant genomes

4) Defining transcriptomic signature of rice-endophyte interactions

5) Genetic evaluation of candidate genes implicated in rice-endophyte interactions

6) Probing endophyte-rice interactions for plant’s adaptation to water stresses

The partners of the project are:

Università degli Studi di Firenze (coordinator): Prof. Alessio Mengoni

Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna di Pisa (partner): Prof.ssa Chiara Pucciariello

CNR-IBBR Napoli (partner): Dott.ssa Carmen Bianco

Università del Piemonte Orientale: Prof. Giampiero Valé

Università degli Studi di Milano: Prof.ssa Vittoria Brambilla