Quinnipiac Chapter of Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Honor Society
Seminar Series presents
Dr. Ravikumar Patel, Agricultural
Post-Doctoral Research Scientist at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment
Station
“Unraveling the Power of Protist-Bacterial Partnerships: Novel Auxin Dynamics in the Rhizosphere”
Monday, April 14, 1:00 PM, Carl
Hansen Student Center SC 119
Protists play a crucial role in shaping rhizosphere microbial
communities, often forming symbiotic associations with bacteria enriched for
plant-beneficial traits. Using metagenomic sequencing, we identified 61 unique
bacterial genomes from maize rhizosphere protists, 70% of which contained
phytohormone synthesis genes. We validated the gene annotation predictions by
lab testing and found that auxin is the most prevalent trait. We next asked if protists would respond to
exogenously supplemented auxin. Auxin supplementation significantly enhanced
protist growth, prompting transcriptomic analysis in Colpoda, which
revealed over 1,700 differentially expressed genes linked to auxin signaling
and cell cycle regulation. Our findings reveal a diverse array of heterotrophic
rhizosphere protists associated with auxin-producing bacteria, exhibiting
auxin-dependent growth phenotypes and gene expression. This is the first
evidence of auxin-dependent growth in heterotrophic single eukaryotes. These
findings highlight auxin's pivotal role in mediating tripartite interactions
among plants, bacteria, and protists in the rhizosphere.
Dr. Ravikumar Patel is a postdoctoral research scientist at
the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, New Haven, CT, where he
devotes his expertise to unraveling the complex interactions between
single-cell eukaryotes, bacteria, and plants. With over a decade of research
experience in microbiology, molecular biology, plant biology, and analytical
chemistry, Dr. Patel specializes in the investigation of plant-associated
microbes. His postgraduate work includes the identification of the mechanism of
interaction between rhizosphere protists and bacteria and the molecular basis
of bacterial pathogen survival against different control treatments. Dr. Patel
received his Ph.D. in Biotechnology from Sardar Patel University. Throughout
his career, he has published extensively, contributed to multiple prestigious
journals, and been recognized with various awards.
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