Plant Biotic Interactions
The Plant Biotic Interactions grant program supports research on beneficial and harmful interactions between plants and various organisms to advance agricultural practices.
Funder: U.S. National Science Foundation
Due Dates: Proposals accepted anytime
Funding Amounts: Estimated total funding: $18,500,000 | Typical awards: $50,000–$300,000 per year for 2–4 years (up to 5 years for CAREER)
Summary: Supports research on mechanisms mediating beneficial and antagonistic interactions between plants and microbes, invertebrates, and other biotic partners, with relevance to both fundamental biology and agriculture.
Key Information: No formal deadlines; proposals may be submitted at any time.
Description
The Plant Biotic Interactions (PBI) program is a joint initiative of the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA). It funds research investigating the processes that govern interactions between plants and their viral, bacterial, oomycete, fungal, plant, and invertebrate symbionts, pathogens, and pests. The program covers both fundamental and translational research, supporting projects that aim to apply new knowledge to improve agricultural practices.
Projects may address all forms of symbiosis, including commensalism, mutualism, parasitism, and host-pathogen interactions. Research topics may include, but are not limited to, metabolic interactions, immune recognition and signaling, host-symbiont regulation, and mechanisms of self/non-self recognition (e.g., pollen-pistil interactions). The program encourages approaches that integrate molecular, genomic, metabolic, cellular, network, and organismal processes, and welcomes the use of quantitative modeling alongside experimental work.
Strictly ecological projects without a mechanistic component are not appropriate for this program.
