Clik here to view.
Polina Idelchik, PhD Student from Te Herenga Waka – Victoria University of Wellington
The term ‘microbiome’ has gone from obscure, medical jargon to a household term over the last decade, as the general population realises how much our health relies on the bacteria living in and on our bodies.
Polina Idelchik thinks the same could be said for plants. The PhD candidate at Te Herenga Waka – Victoria University of Wellington is two years into researching the communities of bacteria that live within the kiwifruit ‘phyllosphere’.
“It’s a bit of a fluid definition,” Polina says, “but the phyllosphere is basically just the above-ground part of the plant”.
“The phyllosphere and its bacterial community has gain increased interest in the last 20-30 years”
Funded by Bioprotection Aotearoa, Polina is sequencing the genetics of bacterial communities living on plants in different kiwifruit orchards in Te Kaha.
She says “Kiwifruit is a good model plant to work with because it’s so relevant to New Zealand. The results we get could benefit this species, but also give us general insights for other plants.
“We might find some new, better ways of managing plant pathogens.”
Once she knows which species are living on the plants, she can investigate the interaction between bacterial species and how the bacteria might benefit the plant.
Polina says “Initially we sampled a few kiwifruit orchards – some were surrounded by agriculture and some were surrounded by native bush. We assumed we were going to see some difference in their phyllosphere community.”
But the team only found a very small difference in bacterial communities, which wasn’t explained very well by the surrounding environment. So now it’s Polina’s job to explore the interactions within the bacterial community and interactions between plant and its microbiome.
With only one year left of her studies, Polina’s passion for bacteria clearly hasn’t waned.
“It’s so interesting,” she says, “watching the bacteria and finding out new stuff. I mean, they are capable of doing such amazing things. They have all these different abilities like how to move or sense things. And they even have their own sort of memory.
“I love my project so much.”
More Information
It’s passion like this that creates great scientists and gets passed on to everyone around them. We’re excited to see where Polina’s research ends up and can’t wait to share her results with you.
Learn more on this research >>
The post New research into the microbiome of plants appeared first on Bioprotection Aotearoa.
