Presenter(s): Roxanne Fieldhouse − Biology
Faculty Mentor(s): Lucas Nebert, Brendan Bohannan
Poster 58
Research Area: Natural Science
Funding: UnderGrEBES Research Award
All plants contain within them an associated microbial community, functioning similar to the human gut community. These plant associated bacteria and fungi have recently come into focus as an important factor in fitness, helping to aid plants by increasing drought resistance, increasing limiting macronutrients available, and providing pathogen resistance. Importantly, many of these beneficial microbes can be inherited in the seed. Because some species can become pathogenic when the plant comes under stress, agricultural communities look to sterilize their seed of these complex communities. Little is known about the ecology of seedborne bacteria and fungi. The objective was to evaluate the microbial community of corn seeds, determine significant environmental factors, such as seed type, climate, and farm, affecting the microbial community composition. Additionally, we attempt to separate these environment-microbe interactions from the microbe-microbe interactions happening within the seed. We hoped to find microorganisms that negatively affect the presence of pathogenic microbes, specifically Fusarium, a genus of fungi that contains multiple species of corn pathogens. These fungi are relevant to human health because they produce a mycotoxin, fumonosin, which negatively impacts neurological development and liver function. Preliminary results have shown type of corn is a significant environmental factor in determining the composition of the microbial community and that significant microbe-microbe associations occur within a subset of the data. This research could allow future investigators to more clearly understand how host microbe interactions operate and reinforces the importance of
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a diverse microbiota.