Grant: Collaborative Research and Development Grants

Lallemand manufacturers BioBoost, a soil-active growth-promoting rhizobacteria (Delftia acidovorans) that is applied to canola as a post-emergent spray. In agricultural field trials between 2007 and 2012 BioBoost application resulted in an average yield increase of two bushels per acre. This project is the result of a collaboration between Lallemand and researchers at the University of Regina, Saskatchewan to investigate the genetic basis of the plant growth promotive effects of the BioBoost inoculant. The project involves the use of high throughput DNA sequencing to sequence the genome of the Delftia acidovorans strain. The assembled genome will form the basis of subsequent investigations on the mechanisms of D. acidovorans colonization of the canola rhizosphere and plant growth promotive effects. Using a high throughput mutagenesis approach (INSeq) to undertake a genome wide screen we will identify genes required for fitness in colonizing the rhizosphere environment. Simultaneously RNA-seq profiling will be used to study the transcriptome of D. acidovorans as it colonizes the rhizosphere. Together, these two methodologies will provide high resolution insights into the mechanisms of rhizosphere colonization and the metabolic activities of D. acidovorans that may be correlated to plant growth promotion. The second phase of the project will involve using INSeq and directed mutagenesis to study sulphur oxidation gene networks in the D. acidovorans inoculant strain and measure the magnitude of sulphur oxidation as a plant growth promotive factor.