Dr. Paul Carini Funded to Investigate RNA Stability in Desiccated Soil Bacteria

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Dr. Paul Carini, Environmental Science Professor and Co-Investigator of Project 3, was recently awarded $ 1,466,520 from National Science Foundation's Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program for his proposal titled: “Just Add Water? Investigating RNA Stability in Desiccated Soil Bacteria”. 

Microbes in dryland soils are critical to food security, biodiversity, carbon sequestration, and strongly regulate variations in atmospheric CO2. These microbes face extreme stress from increases in temperature and drought that lead to severe soil drying.

Although microbes in drylands can persist without water for months at a time through desiccation-induced dormancy (removal of moisture causing inactivity), the molecular systems that control the tolerance and resiliency to prolonged desiccation are largely unknown.

This project was designed to test the hypothesis that water availability regulates the molecular process of RNA turnover which in turn controls desiccation tolerance. Determining the molecular controls of microbe desiccation tolerance is vital to understand dryland vulnerability and management of drought-impacted agricultural systems.

To learn more about Dr. Carini’s  CAREER award you can read his blog where he talks about this research:   https://uncultured.carinilab.com/p/just-add-water-what-happens-to-bacterial

Congratulations Dr. Paul Carini!