Microbial Communities of Spinach at Various Stages of Plant Growth From Seed to Maturity

Simple item page
dc.contributor.authorCarder, Phyllisen
dc.contributor.committeecochairWelbaum, Gregory E.en
dc.contributor.committeecochairPonder, Monica A.en
dc.contributor.committeememberFreeman, Joshua H.en
dc.contributor.committeememberWilliams, Robert C.en
dc.contributor.departmentFood Science and Technologyen
dc.contributor.departmentHorticultureen
dc.date.accessioned2014-03-14T20:41:47Zen
dc.date.adate2010-07-26en
dc.date.available2014-03-14T20:41:47Zen
dc.date.issued2010-06-11en
dc.date.rdate2012-06-22en
dc.date.sdate2010-07-21en
dc.description.abstractLittle is known about how the leaf bacterial community is affected by the seed microbiota at different stages of plant development. The bacterial populations of spinach seed and leaves after germination were compared using DGGE, to assess bacterial community richness, and real-time PCR to compare the abundance of select phyla (total bacteria, <i>Actinobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes, α-Proteobacteria and β- Proteobacteria</i>). To determine the effect of environment, the plants were grown in the field and growth chambers. Vertical transmission of bacterial community members was evident; the developmental stage of the plant affected the richness and abundance of select bacterial phyla. The bacterial richness of plants grown in the two environments was not affected. However, overall numbers of bacteria increased in field grown samples in comparison to those produced in growth chambers during development. A statistically significant interaction was seen between growth stage and environment with each of the selected phyla. Populations on cotyledons were smaller than mature leaves, but were not significantly different than the 3-4 leaf stage plants. The culturable populations of bacteria on seeds (~5 log CFU/g) were significantly smaller than determined using real time PCR (~7 log copies). Of these bacteria cultured from spinach seeds, isolates belonging to the genera <i>Pantoea</i> were found to inhibit growth of <i>E. coli</i> O157:H7 <i>in vitro</i>. This study highlights the importance of vertical transmission on the bacterial community of plants and suggests the importance of developing strategies to influence these communities on seed to control human and plant pathogens on the leaf surface.en
dc.description.degreeMaster of Science in Life Sciencesen
dc.description.degreeMaster of Scienceen
dc.identifier.otheretd-07212010-181124en
dc.identifier.otheretd-07272010-134832en
dc.identifier.sourceurlhttp://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-07212010-181124/en
dc.identifier.sourceurlhttp://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-07272010-134832/en
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10919/34104en
dc.publisherVirginia Techen
dc.relation.haspartCarder_PA_T_2010.pdfen
dc.rightsIn Copyrighten
dc.rights.urihttp://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/en
dc.subjectmicrobial antagonismen
dc.subjectmicrobial diversityen
dc.subjectmicrobial abundanceen
dc.subjectmicrobial communityen
dc.subjectspinachen
dc.titleMicrobial Communities of Spinach at Various Stages of Plant Growth From Seed to Maturityen
dc.typeThesisen
thesis.degree.disciplineFood Science and Technologyen
thesis.degree.disciplineHorticultureen
thesis.degree.grantorVirginia Polytechnic Institute and State Universityen
thesis.degree.levelmastersen
thesis.degree.nameMaster of Science in Life Sciencesen
thesis.degree.nameMaster of Scienceen

Files

Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
Carder_PA_T_2010.pdf
Size:
3.19 MB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Download

Collections

Masters Theses