Using methyl halides as a reporter in a model soil consortium and for intercellular signaling

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dc.contributor.advisorSilberg, Jonathanen_US
dc.creatorLu, Li Chiehen_US
dc.date.accessioned2023-09-01T20:43:45Zen_US
dc.date.created2023-08en_US
dc.date.issued2023-08-08en_US
dc.date.submittedAugust 2023en_US
dc.date.updated2023-09-01T20:43:45Zen_US
dc.description.abstractOver the past decades, there has been an increasing understanding of the important and diverse role played by the soil microbiome in maintaining soil health, plant productivity, and biogeochemical cycles. Understanding the precise nature and contribution of these roles can allow us to harness soil microbial communities for agriculture, environmental engineering, and bioremediation. While -omics approaches and other bulk measurements have provided insights into soil microbial communities and their composition, these attempts can be confounded by a lack of suitable tools for understanding the perception and responses of individual microbes to different events and community members in soil. In this thesis, I review applications of synthetic biology to address some of the aforementioned challenges in researching and applying soil microbial communities. Then, I describe my work in evaluating and expanding the use of gas-output microbial biosensors in individual soil bacterial species and in a soil bacterial consortium via a gas-mediated cell-cell signaling relay. Additionally, I describe the construction of safe soil habitats for synthetic biology that allow us to evaluate intercellular microbial interactions and gas-output biosensor applications at centimeter- and meter-length scales. I also describe my efforts at constructing novel biosensor inputs for gas-output microbial biosensors and characterizing these new biosensors in liquid and soil environments. Finally, I discuss avenues for expanding on my work by applying gas-output microbial biosensors in more realistic soil conditions to answer fundamental soil science questions.en_US
dc.embargo.lift2024-08-01en_US
dc.embargo.terms2024-08-01en_US
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen_US
dc.identifier.citationLu, Li Chieh. "Using methyl halides as a reporter in a model soil consortium and for intercellular signaling." (2023) Diss., Rice University. https://hdl.handle.net/1911/115273.en_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/1911/115273en_US
dc.language.isoengen_US
dc.rightsCopyright is held by the author, unless otherwise indicated. Permission to reuse, publish, or reproduce the work beyond the bounds of fair use or other exemptions to copyright law must be obtained from the copyright holder.en_US
dc.subjectbiosensoren_US
dc.subjectcommunityen_US
dc.subjectconsortiumen_US
dc.subjectgene expressionen_US
dc.subjectmethyl halideen_US
dc.subjectmicrobiologyen_US
dc.subjectreporteren_US
dc.subjectsignalingen_US
dc.subjectsoilen_US
dc.subjectsynthetic biologyen_US
dc.titleUsing methyl halides as a reporter in a model soil consortium and for intercellular signalingen_US
dc.typeThesisen_US
dc.type.materialTexten_US
thesis.degree.departmentBiochemistry and Cell Biologyen_US
thesis.degree.disciplineNatural Sciencesen_US
thesis.degree.grantorRice Universityen_US
thesis.degree.levelDoctoralen_US
thesis.degree.nameDoctor of Philosophyen_US
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