Investigating the Multifaceted Interactions of Environmental Microbes
Public Deposited- Creator
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Van Ess, Alexi Ann
- Affiliation: School of Medicine, Department of Microbiology and Immunology
- Abstract
- Microbes exist across some of the most diverse environments and habitats on earth and are crucial for maintaining proper ecosystem functions. Although we know microbes are essential for many different environmental processes, our understanding of how microbes provide these functions and behave in the diverse environments is lacking. A greater insight into the different factors that influence microbes and microbial communities in the environment are prerequisites for developing the ability to manipulate microbial communities. The ability to manipulate microbial communities could have impacts for human, plant, and environmental health. For example, altering microbial communities could provide enhanced resilience to pathogens and infections - ultimately preventing diseases. In agriculture, the ability to add in plant growth promoting organisms would enhance crop yields and prevent pests, ultimately enhancing crop production. In the environment, altering microbial communities could alter biogeochemical cycling – enhancing microbes that are involved in carbon sequestration which could shift ecosystems from being carbon sources to carbon sinks. And finally, manipulating microbial communities could reduce environmental toxins and pollutants – enhancing microbes that have the metabolic capacity to degrade toxins. Overall, the ability to manipulate microbial communities could be advantageous for a range of industries. Broadly, the goal of my dissertation was to advance our understanding of the multifaceted interactions of environmental microbes. To do this, I studied, 1) the interconnection between cellular differentiation and specialized metabolites in Bacillus subtilis, 2) the role of specialized metabolites as intra-species signals in B. subtilis differentiation, and 3) the impact of rhizobacteria on the ability of Listeria monocytogenes to colonize plant roots.
- Date of publication
- 2021
- Keyword
- DOI
- Resource type
- Rights statement
- In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted
- Advisor
- Schoenborn, Elizabeth A
- Arthur, Janelle C
- Cotter, Peggy A
- Tamayo, Rita
- Bourret, Robert B
- Wolfgang, Matthew C
- Degree
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Degree granting institution
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Graduate School
- Graduation year
- 2021
- Language
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- Parents:
This work has no parents.
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