Getting to the root of the rhizosphere

Getting to the root of the rhizosphere

Science Sessions are brief conversations with cutting-edge researchers, National Academy members, and policymakers as they discuss topics relevant to today's scientific community. Learn the behind-the-scenes story of work published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), plus a broad range of scientific news about discoveries that affect the world around us.

In this episode, researchers describe methods for illuminating interactions between plants and microbes in the rhizosphere.

In this episode, we cover:
•[00:00] Introduction
•[00:35] Molly Hanlon describes a relatively inexpensive technique for rapidly imaging plant anatomy along the root axis.
•[01:47] Oumeng Zhang explains a microscopy technique for imaging 3D microbial interactions with improved speed and reduced phototoxicity compared to traditional methods.
•[03:07] Reinaldo Alcalde describes the results of his and Oumeng's approach.
•[04:08] Victoria Orphan used synthetic cryolite to create a transparent, soil-like scaffold, allowing belowground microbial processes to be visualized.
•[05:31] Final thoughts and conclusion.

About Our Guests:
Molly Hanlon
Senior Research Scientist
Donald Danforth Plant Science Center

Oumeng Zhang
Assistant Professor
Texas A&M University

Reinaldo Alcalde
Senior Postdoctoral Scholar
California Institute of Technology

Victoria Orphan
James Irvine Professor of Environmental Science and Geobiology
California Institute of Technology

View related content here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2643651525001566
https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2403122121
https://academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/article/4/5/pgaf118/8114130

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