Replicating Arabidopsis Model Leaf Surfaces for Phyllosphere Microbiology

Type of content
Journal Article
Publisher's DOI/URI
Thesis discipline
Degree name
Publisher
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Language
Date
2019
Authors
Soffe R
Bernach M
Remus-Emsermann M
Nock V
Abstract

Artifcial surfaces are commonly used in place of leaves in phyllosphere microbiology to study microbial behaviour on plant leaf surfaces. These surfaces enable a reductionist approach to be undertaken, to enable individual environmental factors infuencing microorganisms to be studied. Commonly used artifcial surfaces include nutrient agar, isolated leaf cuticles, and reconstituted leaf waxes. Recently, replica surfaces mimicking the complex topography of leaf surfaces for phyllosphere microbiology studies are appearing in literature. Replica leaf surfaces have been produced in agar, epoxy, polystyrene, and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). However, none of these protocols are suitable for replicating fragile leaves such as of the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. This is of importance, as A. thaliana is a model system for molecular plant genetics, molecular plant biology, and microbial ecology. To overcome this limitation, we introduce a versatile replication protocol for replicating fragile leaf surfaces into PDMS. Here we demonstrate the capacity of our replication process using optical microscopy, atomic force microscopy (AFM), and contact angle measurements to compare living and PDMS replica A. thaliana leaf surfaces. To highlight the use of our replica leaf surfaces for phyllosphere microbiology, we visualise bacteria on the replica leaf surfaces in comparison to living leaf surfaces.

Description
Citation
Soffe R, Bernach M, Remus-Emsermann M, Nock V (2019). Replicating Arabidopsis Model Leaf Surfaces for Phyllosphere Microbiology. Scientific Reports.
Keywords
Ngā upoko tukutuku/Māori subject headings
ANZSRC fields of research
Fields of Research::31 - Biological sciences::3107 - Microbiology::310703 - Microbial ecology
Field of Research::06 - Biological Sciences::0607 - Plant Biology::060705 - Plant Physiology
Rights