Infrastructure Improvement 2016 - 2021, $20 million

In 2016, the National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded $20 million in EPSCoR Research Infrastructure Improvement (RII) Track-1 funding to a Nebraska team for five years of collaborative research on soil-plant systems, focusing at the root and rhizobiome level: to improve maize varieties’ performance to better feed the world’s growing population. Via NSF’s Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) operations, this project (#1557417) establishes a Center for Root and Rhizobiome Innovation at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL), engaging researchers from UNL, University of Nebraska at Kearney, Doane University, and the University of Nebraska Medical Center.

Maize, or corn, is the primary subject of study, though the research aims to transfer to other crops. CRRI plant scientists, microbiologists, biochemists, geneticists and ecologists pursue systems-level understanding of root metabolism by comparing plants’ variation and performance connection to root exudates and rhizobiome functions. In developing and applying synthetic biology tools to root-rhizobiome interactions, the Nebraska team assesses plants’ responses to root exudate compositions and environmental stresses.