Ecofabs: A Platform for Rapid and Reproducible Screening of Plant-Microbe Interactions | AIChE

Ecofabs: A Platform for Rapid and Reproducible Screening of Plant-Microbe Interactions

Authors 

Mewalal, R. - Presenter, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Andeer, P., Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Lay, C. Y., Concentric Ag
Sukdeo, N., Concentric Ag
McIntosh, L., Concentric Ag
Northen, T., Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Plant-microbe interactions are fundamental for plant health and productivity. The interactions may underlie plant-holobiont-based strategies for sustainable agriculture. The dynamic interactions between plants and microbes are challenging to study under agriculturally-relevant conditions in a reproducible manner. Fabricated ecosystems, EcoFABs (www.eco-fab.org) are convenient devices that facilitate detailed investigations of plant-microbe interactions including plant developmental physiology, exo/endo-metabolomics and microbial kinetics within researcher-defined environments. A multi-laboratory ring-trial using Brachypodium distachyon in EcoFABs showed the statistical consistency of the system. In the current study, we aimed to assess the feasibility of using EcoFABs to propagate economically-important crops. Furthermore, we used EcoFABs in combination with targeted and untargeted metabolomics to rapidly screen the efficacy of a commercial microbial consortia, SYNERGRO (Concentric Ag), which improves crop yields and replenishes agricultural soil. Here we demonstrate successful propagation of several crops-of-interest in EcoFABs including collard greens, lettuce, onion, poplar, and nodule-forming lotus and Medicago. Furthermore, we show that the dicot, collard greens (Brassica oleracea) and the monocot white spear onion (Allium fistulosum) increased biomass and root architecture with SYNERGRO. Metabolomics analyses are underway to profile the metabolomes associated with SYNERGRO performance within EcoFABs under various conditions including abiotic stresses. Overall, our study highlights the feasibility of using EcoFABs to rapidly determine key features (chemical, microbial or plant physiological) to establish a product performance assay and to potentially identify the mechanisms of commercial products.