Functional Imaging of Microbial Interactions With Tree Roots Using a Microfluidics Setup.

Coupling microfluidics with microscopy has emerged as a powerful approach to study at cellular resolution the dynamics in plant physiology and root-microbe interactions (RMIs). Most devices have been designed to study the model plant at higher throughput than conventional methods. However, there is a need for microfluidic devices which enable studies of root development and RMIs in woody plants.

Glucose Monitoring in Critically Ill: Is Absence of "Stress Hyperglycemia" a Cause for Concern?

Aim: To study variations in glucose levels over 48 hours in critically ill patients by capillary blood glucose done on glucometer and compare the same in different categories of patients based on various diseases, as well as their correlation with sepsis and diabetes mellitus. To compare the same results in a subset of patients with the readings of continuous glucose monitoring.

Material And Methods: We studied 50 critically-ill patients (Age≥18 years), admitted in medical ICU (on mechanical ventilation/ionotropic supports/in sepsis) in a teaching hospital in semi-urban Maharashtra.

Pseudomonas fluorescens increases mycorrhization and modulates expression of antifungal defense response genes in roots of aspen seedlings.

Background: Plants, fungi, and bacteria form complex, mutually-beneficial communities within the soil environment. In return for photosynthetically derived sugars in the form of exudates from plant roots, the microbial symbionts in these rhizosphere communities provide their host plants access to otherwise inaccessible nutrients in soils and help defend the plant against biotic and abiotic stresses. One role that bacteria may play in these communities is that of Mycorrhizal Helper Bacteria (MHB).

Dynamics of Aspen Roots Colonization by Pseudomonads Reveals Strain-Specific and Mycorrhizal-Specific Patterns of Biofilm Formation.

Rhizosphere-associated are known plant growth promoting (PGP) and mycorrhizal helper bacteria (MHB) of many plants and ectomycorrhizal fungi. We investigated the spatial and temporal dynamics of colonization of mycorrhizal and non-mycorrhizal Aspen seedlings roots by the strains SBW25, WH6, Pf0-1, and the strain Pf-5. Seedlings were grown in laboratory vertical plates systems, inoculated with a fluorescently labeled strain, and root colonization was monitored over a period of 5 weeks.

A New Suite of Plasmid Vectors for Fluorescence-Based Imaging of Root Colonizing Pseudomonads.

In the terrestrial ecosystem, plant-microbe symbiotic associations are ecologically and economically important processes. To better understand these associations at structural and functional levels, different molecular and biochemical tools are applied. In this study, we have constructed a suite of vectors that incorporates several new elements into the rhizosphere stable, broad-host vector pME6031.

Carbon allocation and partitioning in Populus tremuloides are modulated by ectomycorrhizal fungi under phosphorus limitation.

The fate of carbon (C) captured by forest trees during photosynthesis is influenced by the supply of other resources. Fixed C may be partitioned among biomolecules within the leaf and/or allocated throughout the tree to growth, storage and maintenance activities. Phosphorus (P) availability often limits tree productivity due to its high biological demand and strong interactions with soil minerals.

Transportome Is Linked to Strain-Specific Plant Growth Promotion in Aspen Seedlings under Nutrient Stress.

Diverse communities of bacteria colonize plant roots and the rhizosphere. Many of these rhizobacteria are symbionts and provide plant growth promotion (PGP) services, protecting the plant from biotic and abiotic stresses and increasing plant productivity by providing access to nutrients that would otherwise be unavailable to roots. In return, these symbiotic bacteria receive photosynthetically-derived carbon (C), in the form of sugars and organic acids, from plant root exudates.