SOURCE: microbial community system for transforming regolith using chicory endophytes

Overview

The SOURCE (System for the OUtput of transformed Regolith using Chicory Endophytes) project proposes a novel approach to converting barren regolith into viable soil by pairing chicory (Cichorium intybus L.) with its native root microbiome. Chicory is a hardy taprooted perennial that thrives in poor, disturbed soils, including mafic substrates chemically similar to those found on the Moon and Mars. By transferring the beneficial microbial communities that wild chicory naturally recruits in challenging environments to cultivated plants, SOURCE aims to accelerate soil formation, improve water retention, and enhance plant resilience against abiotic and biotic stresses.

This system has direct relevance to space agriculture, planetary habitat construction, and terrestrial applications such as mine site reclamation and restoration of degraded landscapes. The approach addresses a critical bottleneck in off-world habitation: producing arable soil where none exists.

Technical specifications

Core approach:

• Wild chicory populations growing in mafic soils recruit specialized microbial communities to their rhizosphere, including microbes involved in carbon cycling and nutrient mobilization.
• These microbial communities are isolated from field-collected root tissue and applied as inoculum to captive-grown chicory.
• Inoculated chicory is then grown in regolith simulant, where the plant-microbe partnership drives soil development through biopore creation, organic matter input, and enhanced nutrient cycling.

Key features and benefits:

• Taprooted chicory creates biopores that improve water retention and nutrient access for current and future plant communities.
• Recruited root microbiomes provide protection against plant pathogens, heat, and drought stress.
• Microbial communities are maintained in captivity and transferred between plant generations.
• The system is designed for validation at the SAM Biosphere2 facility using established regolith simulants.

Validation methods:

• Transcriptome and microbiome sequencing of wild-collected root tissue samples.
• Isolation and culturing of beneficial bacterial communities.
• Comparative growth trials between inoculated and control plants in regolith simulant.
• Assessment of pathogen resistance, total biomass production, and regolith transformation metrics versus unplanted controls.

Technology readiness level

SOURCE is currently at an early research and concept validation stage. The foundational science is supported by published research demonstrating that root microbiomes confer stress protection, that chicory selectively recruits beneficial microbes, and that field-collected microbial communities can be successfully transferred to laboratory-grown plants. The project team has expertise in plant-microbe interactions and endophyte isolation.

The next phase involves field collection of wild chicory root microbiomes from mafic substrate sites, confirmation that these communities can be maintained in cultivation, and controlled trials at the Biosphere2 facility. Commercial deployment would require successful demonstration of regolith transformation in controlled environments and subsequent scaling for either space mission applications or terrestrial land restoration projects.