b'a day in the lab with Pushing LimitsWere pushing the microbiome to a new level. We are isolating microbes from healthy and high-performing plants that have grown in a stressful environment. Stresses such as diseases, nematodes, drought, or nutrient (NPK) stress. Any plant that has been surviving would have a specific associated microbiome that helps it survive those stresses. Were exposing the plant to field-like conditions and identifying what microbial isolates are helping those plants survive those Dr. Thomas Williams extreme pressures. Looking Beyond the Soil Getting Answers, Fast We try to think of the nitrogen cycle We have an advanced confocal laseras a whole and nitrogen fixation, scanning microscope. It shoots lasers atBioConsortias focus, is a part of it. Plants a sample, and those lasers are at a cer- cant take nitrogen from the air and turn tain wavelength so that when they hitit into useable form, they depend on our fluorescently tagged microbes, thatmicrobes to do that (or the farmer must fluorescent protein emits a specific wave- add artificial fertilizer to the soil). We are length of light. We capture that emittedlooking at leads that fix nitrogen and light with advanced camera technology.those that impact the nitrogen cycle. We Using this technology, we are able tosee that as a plentiful source of nitrogen take our plant sample and put it underyou can tap into. In addition, were taking the microscope and get an answera more holistic approach and thinking of within seconds to see if the microbes arethe whole cycle and how microbes play colonizing. a role.JUNE 2020SEEDWORLD.COM /29'