William L King, PhD
Assistant Prof.
University of Southampton
I'm a microbial ecologist with expertise in terrestrial and marine systems. I combine top-down and bottom-up (i.e. synthetic communities) approaches to deconstruct biological complexity, and use a combination of bench microbiology and high-throughput sequencing techniques to answer my questions. I am interested in understanding: (i) how the rhizosphere is formed and maintained through root exudation, (ii) how we can use microbial interactions to manipulate feedback loops with plant hosts (e.g. reduce drought stress), and (iii) how plants can leverage exudation and microbial-associations to rapidly acclimate to changing conditions.
Broad research interests
Root microbes: What are the basic mechanisms (genetics, root traits, root exudation) driving root-microbe interactions?
Drought-stress: How can we use drought-adapted microbes to improve plant fitness under drought stress
Soil microbes: How can we leverage the microbial seed bank to to augment or replenish soil functions of interest and improve soil health
Community manipulations: How do microbial interactions influence microbial functions and host-microbe feedback
Select publications
King et al. Functionally discrete fine roots differ in microbial assembly, microbial functional potential, and produced metabolites. Plant, Cell and Environment (2023)
King et al. Leveraging microbiome rediversification for the ecological rescue of soil function. Environmental Microbiome (2023)
King et al. The hierarchy of root branching order determines bacterial composition, microbial carrying capacity and microbial filtering. Communications Biology (2021)
King et al. Soil salinization accelerates microbiome stabilization in iterative selections for plant performance. New Phytologist (2021)
Yates, King, et al. Temperate trees locally engineer decomposition and litter-bound microbiomes through differential litter deposits and species-specific soil conditioning. New Phytologist (2024)
King and Bell. Can dispersal be leveraged to improve microbial inoculant success? Trends in Biotechnology (2022)