Submitted by Eoin Brodie on
Discovery and quantification of traits of soil microbes.
Soil is the most biodiverse microbial habitat and is key to global carbon, water and energy budgets. This project is focused on the interactions between microbial traits, plants, minerals, and soil physical, chemical and biological properties and how soil microbes influence carbon and nutrient cycling. Traits including cell size and shape, growth rate, temperature optimum, substrate acquisition, stress tolerance and antagonism are key to the fitness and interactions of microbes in soil and rhizosphere environments. We predict these traits using genomic information, but those predictions need to be verified with observations. Observations allow us to identify new important traits that influence microbial fitness and interactions, and how we represent microbial roles in earth system processes.
There are opportunities for 3-4 undergraduates to contribute to this work:
Analyze the dimensions and cellular content of microbes in culture and directly from soils and how they change in response to substrate availability or stress;
Quantify fungal (mycorrhizal) colonization of plant roots and how that changes with plant type and root depth.
Assess how soil structure (aggregate size) influences microbial metabolic traits.
Quantifying microbial consumption of low molecular weight volatile compounds originating from plant roots.
Investigate microbe-mineral interactions and the contribution of microbial rock weathering to dissolution of micronutrients and carbonate-forming elements.
If you are interested in soils and how soil microbes work to drive global carbon and nutrient cycles, enjoy molecular biology and ecology, and are passionate about discovering how life has evolved in complex systems; then these will be fun, challenging and rewarding projects. These opportunities are parts of larger team-based projects (linked below), so you will get to learn how microbial-scale processes can influence entire ecosystem functioning.
Finally, you will work within an inclusive, respectful, multi-disciplinary team that spans UCB and Berkeley Lab, so you will get an insight into research in a National Laboratory as well as a university setting. These projects and the training you will receive can all be accomplished remotely as necessary. Our goal is to train you and help you get a publication from this work.
We look forward to hearing from you.
Project URLs: https://watershed.lbl.gov/ ; https://tes.lbl.gov/ ; https://eesa.lbl.gov/projects/enhanced-weathering-via-soil-amendments-fo...
There are a few possible roles here - roughly breaking down into (1) analysis of cell size, shape and biomolecular content using imaging and biochemical approaches, (2) imaging and biomolecular characterization of mycorrhizae in soil and roots, (3) quantifying biomolecular content and volatile compound production by soil microbes in soils with different structures, (4) cultivating microbes on media and in soil using stable-isotope labeled volatile carbon substrates, (5) in situ and lab cultivation of soil and rock microbes and characterization of their rock weathering capabilities under selective conditions using fluorometric assays In each case you will work directly with either a postdoc or a research scientist.
A wide variety of backgrounds could be helpful for this work - some lab experience would be great but is not essential - you don't need to be an expert. Interest/prior coursework in microbiology, ecology, biogeochemistry, biochemistry, biophysics, or molecular biology, would be helpful depending on which project you are most interested in.