Скачать или смотреть CABBI Greenhouse Stable Isotope Facility

A new greenhouse custom-designed to support research at the Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation (CABBI) is now open at the University of Illinois Research Park.

The Plant Biology Innovation Greenhouse (PBIG) features unique cutting-edge capabilities that are already benefiting plant and microbial science researchers on the U. of I. campus. This video highlights the brand new state of the art stable isotope labeling facility and growth chambers.

In the mirror-lined growth chambers, mature sorghum plants were recently harvested from sealed plexiglass containers where they received water, light, and fertilizer for growth. The plants’ roots, leaves, and stems were examined to study their physiological traits and metabolites, microbial composition, and belowground carbon and nutrient dynamics. This initial study tested procedures for detecting differences in plant tissue metabolite profiles for future work comparing wild-type and oil-accumulating sorghum.

Researchers are already planting new sorghum seeds, to be fed isotopically labeled carbon dioxide. This will allow CABBI to explore carbon fluxes in crops, investigate linkages between plant-soil-microbial interactions and carbon fluxes, and gain an understanding of specific metabolic pathways of bioenergy crops — all to identify potential opportunities for crop improvement.