Jul 21, 2020
Trent Northen studies the
chemistry of microbiomes. More specifically, he studies how
exogenous metabolites structure a
microbial community, and, in turn, how those microbes change
the metabolite pool and grow the microbial population. Because his
work is primarily funded by the Department of Energy, he's focused
on the
microbial community in soil and on plant roots.
He describes
Trent Northen is the Interim Deputy of the EGSB Division and a Chemist Senior Scientist at the Berkeley Lab of Biosciences. He begins the podcast describing the rich and complex cycles of plant, metabolites, and microbes, noting how plants feed microbes that live in and around their roots and how those microbial populations in turn help the plants with nitrogen-fixing, excluding pathogens, and transporting phosphorous, among other processes.
His work mostly focuses on
bacteria that live in close proximity to the roots, but he
describes how fungi can interact with plant roots over very large
distances. For example, biological soil crusts use fungal hyphae in
extraordinary ways. He explains this process and ecology in more
detail and then he describes his research into the
microbial community attached to the roots of the plants—the
rhizosphere.
He also explains the mechanism of soil depletion in big
agriculture, how the compost and organic carbon cycle of decaying
plant materials is absent from larger farming systems.
Furthermore, he elaborates on ways the work of his lab can and
might address such problems as well as studying which plants might
grow in low nutrient environments and heal the soil as well as
practices for soil carbon restoration and other
advances.
For more information, see his
lab's website, northenlab.org, and eco-fab.org.
Available on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/2Os0myK