1:00pm, Monday, 11th October
QUAD 2, First Floor
Geology Building
(Social distance room capacity of 45 people)
Dr Simon Kelly
Aarhus University, Denmark
‘Investigating factors that govern plant-microbe interactions through binary and community level studies’
Plant roots are exposed to a diverse soil microbial population yet only a restricted subset of these are permitted to colonise the root endosphere. Our research aims to understand the plant and microbial factors enabling root colonisation with the aim of assisting the application of beneficial microbes in sustainable agricultural practices.
The accommodation of symbiotic microbes by legume plants provides an ideal system for studying factors that allow symbiont colonisation. I will present research into the role legume carbohydrate receptors play in facilitating both bacterial and fungal symbiotic infection.
To understand root colonisation factors within the context of complex microbial communities and diverse plant hosts, we have employed microbiome approaches. I will discuss how we are utilising ecosystem-specific reference databases and synthetic microbial communities to enable microbiome studies that move away from simply surveying the community towards gaining functional insights.
