Microfluidic chips provide visual access to in situ soil ecology
Mafla-Endara, Paola Micaela LU ; Arellano-Caicedo, Carlos LU ; Aleklett, Kristin LU ; Pucetaite, Milda LU ; Ohlsson, Pelle LU
and Hammer, Edith C.
LU
(2021)
In Communications Biology
4(1).
- Abstract
Microbes govern most soil functions, but investigation of these processes at the scale of their cells has been difficult to accomplish. Here we incubate microfabricated, transparent ‘soil chips’ with soil, or bury them directly in the field. Both soil microbes and minerals enter the chips, which enables us to investigate diverse community interdependences, such as inter-kingdom and food-web interactions, and feedbacks between microbes and the pore space microstructures. The presence of hyphae (‘fungal highways’) strongly and frequently increases the dispersal range and abundance of water-dwelling organisms such as bacteria and protists across air pockets. Physical forces such as water movements, but also organisms and especially fungi... (More)
Microbes govern most soil functions, but investigation of these processes at the scale of their cells has been difficult to accomplish. Here we incubate microfabricated, transparent ‘soil chips’ with soil, or bury them directly in the field. Both soil microbes and minerals enter the chips, which enables us to investigate diverse community interdependences, such as inter-kingdom and food-web interactions, and feedbacks between microbes and the pore space microstructures. The presence of hyphae (‘fungal highways’) strongly and frequently increases the dispersal range and abundance of water-dwelling organisms such as bacteria and protists across air pockets. Physical forces such as water movements, but also organisms and especially fungi form new microhabitats by altering the pore space architecture and distribution of soil minerals in the chip. We show that soil chips hold a large potential for studying in-situ microbial interactions and soil functions, and to interconnect field microbial ecology with laboratory experiments.
(Less)
- author
- Mafla-Endara, Paola Micaela
LU
; Arellano-Caicedo, Carlos
LU
; Aleklett, Kristin
LU
; Pucetaite, Milda
LU
; Ohlsson, Pelle
LU
and Hammer, Edith C.
LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2021-07-20
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- in
- Communications Biology
- volume
- 4
- issue
- 1
- article number
- 889
- pages
- 12 pages
- publisher
- Nature Publishing Group
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:85111119134
- pmid:34285323
- ISSN
- 2399-3642
- DOI
- 10.1038/s42003-021-02379-5
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- additional info
- Funding Information: We thank Martin Bengtsson for expertise and assistance during the design and production of the chips. E.H. acknowledges funding from the Foundation of Strategic Research (Future research leader grant SSF FFL18-0089), E.H. and P.O. acknowledge funding from the Swedish research council (VR-621-2014-5912), P.O. from the Sten K Johnsson foundation (20200363), E.H. and K.A. from the Crafoord foundation, the Wallenberg foundation and the strategic research environment for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services in a Changing Climate (BECC). Publisher Copyright: © 2021, The Author(s). Copyright: Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
- id
- 6f98ef3a-2cd4-4813-a551-cd4630d3d353
- date added to LUP
- 2021-09-01 19:13:06
- date last changed
- 2024-07-13 17:53:53
@article{6f98ef3a-2cd4-4813-a551-cd4630d3d353,
abstract = {{<p>Microbes govern most soil functions, but investigation of these processes at the scale of their cells has been difficult to accomplish. Here we incubate microfabricated, transparent ‘soil chips’ with soil, or bury them directly in the field. Both soil microbes and minerals enter the chips, which enables us to investigate diverse community interdependences, such as inter-kingdom and food-web interactions, and feedbacks between microbes and the pore space microstructures. The presence of hyphae (‘fungal highways’) strongly and frequently increases the dispersal range and abundance of water-dwelling organisms such as bacteria and protists across air pockets. Physical forces such as water movements, but also organisms and especially fungi form new microhabitats by altering the pore space architecture and distribution of soil minerals in the chip. We show that soil chips hold a large potential for studying in-situ microbial interactions and soil functions, and to interconnect field microbial ecology with laboratory experiments.</p>}},
author = {{Mafla-Endara, Paola Micaela and Arellano-Caicedo, Carlos and Aleklett, Kristin and Pucetaite, Milda and Ohlsson, Pelle and Hammer, Edith C.}},
issn = {{2399-3642}},
language = {{eng}},
month = {{07}},
number = {{1}},
publisher = {{Nature Publishing Group}},
series = {{Communications Biology}},
title = {{Microfluidic chips provide visual access to in situ soil ecology}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s42003-021-02379-5}},
doi = {{10.1038/s42003-021-02379-5}},
volume = {{4}},
year = {{2021}},
}