Evaluating Growth Rates of Microbial Cultures Isolated from Sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata subsp. tridentata) Leaves Using Image-Based Analysis
Faculty Mentor Information
Dr. Leonora Bittleston (Mentor), Boise State University
Abstract
The diversity of microorganisms in a phyllosphere are influenced by a variety of interconnected factors not limited to the environment, the plant’s genotype, and genome. Specifically, temperature has been known to play an important role in regulating the growth of different microorganisms. This study aims to investigate the growth rates of sagebrush leaf microorganisms under three different temperatures: 10°C, 21°C and 30°C. These conditions were selected because they were realistic temperatures for these organisms’ environments and represented the average temperature range of most sagebrush habitats. Our goal was to better understand the physiology and adaptation of these microbes in their environment. Our first step was to revive the cultures that were stored in glycerol at -80°C on PDA plates for 7-days. Then, these organisms were spot inoculated on PDA plates with 3 replicates per temperature treatment and incubated at the appropriate temperature. Using ImageJ, we took daily measurements of the organisms’ growth areas over 14-days. In general, our results showed different temperature preferences for the microbes, with 21°C being the optimum growth temperature for the fungal isolates and 30°C being the optimum temperature for the bacterial isolate. Specifically, Cladosporium, Hormonema and Bacillus grew best at 10°C, 21°C, and 30°C respectively.
Evaluating Growth Rates of Microbial Cultures Isolated from Sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata subsp. tridentata) Leaves Using Image-Based Analysis
The diversity of microorganisms in a phyllosphere are influenced by a variety of interconnected factors not limited to the environment, the plant’s genotype, and genome. Specifically, temperature has been known to play an important role in regulating the growth of different microorganisms. This study aims to investigate the growth rates of sagebrush leaf microorganisms under three different temperatures: 10°C, 21°C and 30°C. These conditions were selected because they were realistic temperatures for these organisms’ environments and represented the average temperature range of most sagebrush habitats. Our goal was to better understand the physiology and adaptation of these microbes in their environment. Our first step was to revive the cultures that were stored in glycerol at -80°C on PDA plates for 7-days. Then, these organisms were spot inoculated on PDA plates with 3 replicates per temperature treatment and incubated at the appropriate temperature. Using ImageJ, we took daily measurements of the organisms’ growth areas over 14-days. In general, our results showed different temperature preferences for the microbes, with 21°C being the optimum growth temperature for the fungal isolates and 30°C being the optimum temperature for the bacterial isolate. Specifically, Cladosporium, Hormonema and Bacillus grew best at 10°C, 21°C, and 30°C respectively.