Structural Effect on Root-Pathogen Interaction Using Synthetic Root Replica

Soil borne plant pathogens can severely damage crop quality and quantity in many vegetables and field crops. The entrance point for soil borne pathogen to the plant is usually the root. The interaction between these microorganisms and the root depends upon a molecular communication between the two species as well as the physical interaction between them. The physical interaction depends mostly upon the microstructure of the root. When studying this interaction using the natural system it is hard to distinguish between the molecular and the physical components.

Mimicking the microstructure of biological systems in a synthetic system aids in separating the structural effect from molecular one. When performed on other parts of the plant such as the leaf, this separation shed light on the locomotion movement of bed bugs due to bean leaf trichomes¹ and on the washing limitation of e.coli bacteria from spinach leaves.² While mimicking microstructure of leaves was proven to be a successful tool for studying leaf-microorganism interaction, no such tool exists for the root system of the plant.

We are adopting tools from the leaf microstructure mimetics field into the world of plant roots. We are studying the effect of tomato root microstructure on its interaction with soil borne microorganisms, specifically tomato pathogens using a synthetic inert system that mimics root microstructure.

1. Szyndler, M. W. etal. J. R. Soc. Interface 10, 20130174 (2013).
2. Sirinutsomboon, B. etal. Biosyst. Eng. 108, 244–252 (2011).