Scientists set up a microchip lab to study living trees

The process of plant root-microbe interactions (RMI) is hiddenIt does not give

researchers continuously observe the attachment of microbes and the exchange of nutrients without interruption and for a long time.To get around this problem, scientists have traditionally analyzed the root environment by growing plants in pots, between sheets of glass or agar bowls, and then observing the roots forphysical changes and microbial interactions, sacrificing a sample. An agar dish is a petri dish containing agar.as a solid growth medium plus nutrients used for the cultivation of microorganisms.

However, the ideal way to controlThe relationship between plant roots and their surrounding microorganisms in the rhizosphere - the nutrient-rich area of ​​soil surrounding the plant root - is to observe all interactions when they occur over extended periods of time and in high resolution. So researchers at the Argonne Biosciences Division, along with scientists at the Argonne Nanoscale Materials Center, a user facility of the US Department of Energy's Science Office, developed an RMI chip: a tiny microfluidic device that allows a small amount of liquid to pass through microchannels or paths on a chip that are only a few squares in size. centimeters across.

“Channels are created using soft lithography,approach to creating 3D structures using soft materials, ”explains Giorgi Babnigg, bioinformatist and molecular biologist at Argonne, co-author of the device.

Babnigg and his colleagues used this techniqueto create a negative impression of your device. They then doused the mold with a plastic-like silicone, heated it to solidify, and then removed it from the mold. The researchers then punched holes in the material to form inlets and outlets, and finally fused it with a piece of microscope coverslip so they could observe what was going on inside the channels through the microscope. As a result, it turned out mminiature laboratory for the study of trees.

Microfluidic devices like thatcreated by Babnigg and his team, has long been used by researchers to study the interactions of roots and microbes, albeit exclusively in small, short-lived flowering plants. The new device is the first to be used on living woody plants.

The new development has already allowed researchersDetermine if symbiotic processes are observed, such as the absorption by microbes of nutrients secreted by the plant root, or the release of materials such as phosphorus and plant hormones that control the movement of the root.

Within a few weeks, researcherscontinuously observed how different types of microbes grow and interact with living roots through a microscope, and found that in the absence of external nutrients, microbes actually attach to the root surface and use root exudates for growth.

We visualized all these interactions while the plant was still alive. Our ability to do this with our device for several weeks is what sets this job apart.

Giorgi Babnigg, a bioinformatician and molecular biologist from Argonne, co-developed the device

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