Publications by authors named "Maude Pomerleau"
Many strains from the Bacillus subtilis species complex exert strong plant growth-promoting activities. However, their efficacy in relevant conditions is variable, due in part to their inability to establish a strong interaction with roots in stressful environmental conditions. Adaptative laboratory evolution (ALE) is a powerful tool to generate novel strains with traits of interest.
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- Root-associated microorganisms, particularly plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR), are crucial for plant health, and their effectiveness as biofertilizers can be hampered by competing species.
- Adaptive laboratory evolution experiments were conducted with a specific PGPR in the presence of inhibiting bacteria, leading to the emergence of evolved strains that showed improved root colonization abilities in tomatoes.
- Whole-genome resequencing of these evolved isolates revealed mutations in genes related to biofilm development, suggesting that directed evolution can enhance beneficial traits in PGPR for agricultural applications.
With the increasing occurrence and severity of cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms (cHAB) at the global scale, there is an urgent need for rapid, accurate, accessible, and cost-effective detection tools. Here, we detail the RosHAB workflow, an innovative, in-the-field applicable genomics approach for real-time, early detection of cHAB outbreaks. We present how the proposed workflow offers consistent taxonomic identification of water samples in comparison to traditional microscopic analyses in a few hours and discuss how the generated data can be used to deepen our understanding on cyanobacteria ecology and forecast HABs events.
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- - Siderophores are molecules that help microorganisms acquire iron by binding to its oxidized form, Fe(III), and facilitating its uptake through specific receptors.
- - The soil microbe Bacillus subtilis produces a compound called pulcherriminic acid (PA) that binds to Fe(III), forming a precipitate that reduces iron availability, rather than aiding in its acquisition.
- - PA not only helps B. subtilis cope with oxidative stress by limiting harmful reactions, but it also works alongside its own siderophore, bacillibactin, to reclaim some iron from the pulcherrimin precipitate during competition with other microbes like Pseudomonas protegens.
Plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) such as the root colonizers spp. may be ideal alternatives to chemical crop treatments. This work sought to extend the application of the broadly active PGPR UD1022 to (alfalfa).
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