Osborn Club lecture
| Date/Time: | Monday, 12 Oct 2009 at 7:00 pm |
|---|---|
| Location: | 1420 Molecular Biology |
| Contact: | Keith Woo, Osborn Club chair |
| Phone: | 515-294-5852 |
| Channel: | Groups, governance |
| Categories: | Lectures |
| Actions: | Download iCal/vCal | Email Reminder |
Collectively, the surfaces of aerial plant leaves form one of the largest biosphere-atmosphere interfaces in the world. These surfaces are teeming with microbial residents, including a great diversity of bacteria. Although a few of these bacterial residents can have direct and unhappy consequences on humans, such as salad spinach residents that cause food-borne diseases, most carry out functions that are of greater consequence to plant or environmental health than human health. The majority of research on leaf-associated bacteria has focused on bacterial plant pathogens; this has culminated in a sophisticated understanding of how these organisms cause diseases on their plant hosts. Beyond plant pathogenesis, however, we are only beginning to understand the plethora of ecological functions carried out by members of the leaf microflora. For example, bacterial ice nucleation, that is, the ability to initiate the formation of ice in supercooled water, is a function exclusively of bacteria that grow well on leaves. How ubiquitous are these biological ice nuclei in the atmosphere and do they have a role in influencing the weather? Similarly, given the large collective surface area and thus microflora of leaves, do leaf microorganisms have a role in the degradation of airborne pollutants? From the microbial perspective, leaf surfaces offer a harsh and challenging landscape for survival as they are rife with environmental stresses imposed by rapid and continuous fluctuations in temperature, water availability and solar radiation, as well as relatively low levels of nutrients; yet, microbial communities thrive there. What adaptations have evolved to allow microbial exploitation of plant surfaces? Moreover, are there plant breeding and engineering efforts that influence leaves as habitats for these organisms? Furthermore, are these likely to influence the probability of plant pathogenesis, climate events or poor air quality? These and other questions will be discussed as I take the audience on a tour of the microbiology of the phyllosphere.
The Osborn Research Club was founded in 1921 and named in honor of Dr. Herbert Osborn. Members of the club are active researchers within the natural or physical sciences, and the club provides a forum for exchange of ideas across scientific disciplines. Club members meet monthly from September through May for a program consisting of a social period, dinner, and presentation of a research lecture. The lecture portion of the program is open to the public.