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US (IL): Excitement over new isotope labelling facility

Recently, researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign were faced with a problem, a lack of existing facilities that could house tall bioenergy grasses and allow for stable isotope labeling to study plant-microbe interactions.

To address this gap, CABBI purpose-built high-growth height and stable isotope labeling chambers to study plant growth and interactions with soil microbes under tightly controlled environmental conditions.

Plexiglass modular enclosures within the growth chambers can be adjusted in height as the plants grow. The chambers aim to mimic the field environment in regard to light spectrum, intensity, and growth conditions. They also allow precise control over water and nutrient delivery to fully enable the study of bioenergy grasses that are essential for sustainable energy production.

In initial experiments, researchers aimed to identify the optimal growth conditions for bioenergy plants inside the growth chambers and understand how their high-value products are distributed across leaves, stems, and roots. As they harvest their experiments, researchers then look at specific compounds within different plant tissues so that they can understand where high-value products such as lipids are being produced and how they may better achieve targets of increasing the lipid content of crops.

Researchers are also looking into the composition of the compounds being released from the roots, the composition of plant residues, and how that links to the activity and growth of the microbial community that is cycling nutrients in the soil and contributing to soil carbon storage.
I'm really excited about this facility because using stable isotope tracers allows us to look specifically at these plant-microbe interactions, and that will allow us to answer questions that we haven't been able to address before.

Researchers are also looking into the composition of the compounds being released from the roots, the composition of plant residues, and how that links to the activity and growth of the microbial community that is cycling nutrients in the soil and contributing to soil carbon storage.

"I'm really excited about this facility because using stable isotope tracers allows us to look specifically at these plant-microbe interactions, and that will allow us to answer questions that we haven't been able to address before," said Dr Wendy Yang, Professor of Plant Biology & Geology at the university.

The result
The custom-built growth chambers have significantly advanced CABBI's ability to study bioenergy grasses and their interactions with soil microbes. This advanced facility opens new avenues for research, enabling the CABBI team to push the boundaries of the discovery process.

For more information:
Conviron
www.conviron.com

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