Alon Avraham Ginatt
My research focuses on understanding how microbial communities in the rhizosphere function and interact, and how these interactions are linked to plant performance. Broadly, my work sits at the interface of microbial ecology, metagenomics, and bioinformatics, with an emphasis on connecting community composition and functional potential to plant traits.
Current project:
In my current project, I explore how rhizosphere microbial communities may influence plant growth through the specific lens of phosphorus availability and solubilization across different soil environments. I work with high-resolution metagenomic data to reconstruct microbial genomes (MAGs) and analyze them using multivariate modelling frameworks that search for microbial groups and functional traits associated with variation in plant performance under different environmental conditions. Within this context, I examine the functional potential of key taxa, with a tentative focus on phosphorus-related pathways and broader nutrient-cycling functions, mediated through trophic exchanges. More generally, the project aims to highlight trends, associations, and interactions between microbes, functions, and plant responses that could inform strategies to improve crops and agricultural practices in a sustainable way.
Publications:
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Ginatt, A. A., Berihu, M., Castel, E., Medina, S., Carmi, G., Faigenboim-Doron, A., ... & Freilich, S. (2024). A metabolic modeling-based framework for predicting trophic dependencies in native rhizobiomes of crop plants. elife, 13, RP94558.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.94558.3
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Berihu, M., Somera, T. S., Malik, A., Medina, S., Piombo, E., Tal, O., ... & Freilich, S. (2023). A framework for the targeted recruitment of crop-beneficial soil taxa based on network analysis of metagenomics data. Microbiome, 11(1), 8.
https://doi.org/10.1186/s40168-022-01438-1