Beneficial Plant-Microbe Interactions

Inoculation of legumes with Hg-tolerant rizobia (soil bacteria) confers mercury tolerance to the plants. Some mechanisms explaining this effect are known, but most of them are not. The aim of this work is to search for potential molecular and/or physiological markers of heavy metal tolerance and identification of mechanisms involved in the acquisition of tolerance by the plants, with particular interest in the role of individual proteins. Tolerance and accumulation capacity of nodulated legumes to other heavy metals will also be studied, and their potential for phytoremediation will be explored. We also aim to study soil microbial biodiversity and its response to disturbance (fire, heavy metals,...) to identify soil microbial taxa and guilds as potential bioindicators of soil quality, and the functional consequences derived from disturbance impacts on paramount soil processes such as nutrient cycling.