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Identification of plant host and microbe model system for study of rhizophagy cycle


EMSL Project ID
51003

Abstract

Rhizophagy (“root eating”) is a process by which plants actively uptake soil microbes into their roots and use oxidative degradation to extract micronutrients from the cells. This phenomenon has been proposed to be a general mechanism for plants to acquire nutrients from the environment via bacteria and fungi. Determining the conditions under which rhizophagy occurs and its prevalence in different plant species will improve our understanding of nutrient dynamics and plant-microbe metabolic interactions at the molecular level. This project will develop plant-microbe culturing and imaging methods using fluorescence and light microscopy to track specific stages of rhizophagy cycle (root association, intracellular uptake, degradation, and migration out of the root). Imaging experiments will establish whether rhizophagy is occurring in selected host-microbe pairs and identify a suitable model system for further rhizophagy study. This work will provide a foundation for future rhizophagy studies using imaging, plant science, and microbiological capabilities at PNNL/EMSL and enable further investigation into rhizophagy as a mechanism by which bioenergy plant species can modulate nutrient acquisition from their environment.

Project Details

Start Date
2019-06-21
End Date
2019-09-30
Status
Closed

Team

Principal Investigator

Vivian Lin
Institution
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Team Members

Yuliya Farris
Institution
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Natalie Sadler
Institution
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

William Chrisler
Institution
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory