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Open Access Publications from the University of California
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EcoFAB 3.0: a sterile system for studying sorghum that replicates previous field and greenhouse observations
Published Web Location
https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2024.1440728No data is associated with this publication.
Abstract
Introduction
Studying plant-microbe interactions is one of the key elements in understanding the path to sustainable agricultural practices. These interactions play a crucial role in ensuring survival of healthy plants, soil and microbial communities. Many platforms have been developed over the years to isolate these highly complex interactions however, these are designed for small model plants. This creates a need for complementary devices for larger plants, such as sorghum.Methods
This work introduces a novel platform, EcoFAB 3.0, which is designed to enable studying bioenergy plants such as sorghum for up to 4 weeks in a controlled sterile environment. Several other advantages of this platform such as dark root chambers and user-friendly assembly are also discussed in this work.Results and discussion
EcoFAB 3.0 was found to replicate previous greenhouse and field observations when comparing an engineered sorghum line overproducing 4-hydroxybenzoic acid (4-HBA) and wildtype (variety BTx430). Consistent with greenhouse and field observations, it was found that the engineered line of sorghum grown in EcoFAB 3.0 had a higher 4-HBA content and a lower dry biomass.Many UC-authored scholarly publications are freely available on this site because of the UC's open access policies. Let us know how this access is important for you.