Roots and bacteria: Basis of attraction

Microbiology Seminar Series

  • Date: May 22, 2023
  • Time: 01:15 PM (Local Time Germany)
  • Speaker: Prof. Dr. Niko Geldner
  • University of Lausanne, Dept. Plant Molecular Biology
  • Location: MPI for Terrestrial Microbiology
  • Room: Lecture Hall / Hybrid
  • Host: Prof. Dr. Victor Sourjik
  • Contact: victor.sourjik@synmikro.mpi-marburg.mpg.de

Root microbiome research faces enormous soil physico-chemical complexity and a staggeringly complex biotic environments. Synthetic communities and defined soil substrates promise to enable mechanistic analysis of bacterial establishment in the rhizosphere. However, current methods are not able to describe the dynamically evolving, distinct micro-niches for bacterial colonization in developing roots. We aim to characterise these by extensive use of fluorescent microbial marker strains and mutants, combined with precise genetic manipulations of root development that are currently only possible in Arabidopsis. I will report on our recent characterization of an Arabidopsis mutant with defective extracellular diffusion barriers, which causes strong bacterial overcolonisation and leads to dysbiosis. Our data suggests that this is due to enhanced leakage of amino acids, especially glutamine to the rhizosphere. We speculate that restricted and transient provision of amino acids in wild-type roots underlies specific spatial patterns of bacterial colonization.

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