Learning from the Past: Ancient Microbes and Climate Change
Plants form intimate relationships with soil microorganisms, bacteria and fungi. These relationships are essential for the health and successful growth of plants, aiding the plant in nutrient uptake and protecting it from adverse environmental factors.
Throughout history, natural climate fluctuations have driven both plant and microbial adaptation. By analyzing bacteria from soil strata over 7,000 years old, scientists can uncover how microbial populations responded to past episodes of climate warming. This knowledge will provide valuable insights to discover what soil bacteria were present, how these populations of bacteria adapted to climate change over long periods of time and how modern soil bacteria may—or may not—adapt to today’s rapid climate changes.
Fast-Tracking Evolution for Climate-Resilient Agriculture
At the present time we are only at the start of the period of global warming caused by human activities, and soil microbial populations have only had a brief period, in evolutionary terms, to adapt. Although we cannot retrieve living organisms from the ancient permafrost samples, we can gain information from the DNA about the identity of the organisms that were there and some indications about which species had come to predominate the population.
Using this information, we can search for their closest living relatives, study their characteristics, and harness their abilities to mitigate climate change effects on crops. By investigating the properties of these identified bacteria, we can select the most suitable helpful organisms, optimize their growth, analyze their genetic make-up and produce quantities of organisms to add back to the soil environment to accelerate the development of an adapted microbial population in the soil.
A Groundbreaking Collaboration Between Academia and Industry
In effect Tolerate will be speeding up the evolution of a microbial population adapted to global warming with the result of moderating the effects of global warming on crop plant growth and yield, improving the factors such as drought tolerance, This accelerates the natural adaptation process, enhancing drought resistance and improving crop yields—a strategy known as bioaugmentation, which is an innovative approach that is becoming favorable in the agricultural biotechnology sector.
Tolerate Project is also focused on working with our industrial partners to identify bioproducts of interest, such as biosurfactants and potential pharmaceuticals. The academic partners in TOLERATE then use cutting edge computer science and molecular biology and genetic engineering tools to identify if these target molecules can be produced from genetic sequences present in ancient DNA, or bacteria in soil associate communities. This further demonstrates how the TOLERATE project has been designed to be a collaboration between academia and industry to generate practical and innovative solutions, and open doors for new biotechnological advancements that bridge the gap between history and future innovation.
Content contribution: Ulster – University of Ulster