Jo Handelsman, professor in the Department of Plant Pathology and director of the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery, received USDA-NIFA funding for her project Enhancing crop health through the root: Understanding mechanisms of bacterial invasion of rhizosphere communities through the Agriculture Food and Research Initiative competitive grants program. It was among nine projects sharing $7.1 million in funding.

Project summary (from USDA-NIFA site): Crop production needs to increase to meet the future food needs of the Earth’s population. Addressing this challenge will require effective, sustainable methods to bolster yields and improve plant health.Microbial inoculants offer promising technologies but have behaved inconsistently in the past. Our incomplete understanding of how microorganisms invade communities on roots or in soil prevents design of more successful inoculants. Therefore, the goal of the proposed work is to understand the ability of a beneficial bacterium to invade the natural rhizosphere community. Specifically, we will characterize thegenetic drivers of microbial invasiveness. This will enable the design or selection of bacterial crop inoculants that are more successful in reaching their target and accomplish their intended function, such as protecting crop plants from disease or providing them with nutrients. The goal is to reduce the use of chemical pesticides and fertilizers.