Inqui r y I s sue
2
| 2014
13
Nilsen-Hamilton, working in partnership with Ames
Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory,
Ames Laboratory researcher George Kraus and Iowa
State University associate professor of plant pathology
and microbiology, Larry Halverson, is on the brink of
creating a technology that would allow a clearer look
at the entire rhizosphere system through the use of
aptamers, short strands of genetic material that bind to
a specific target molecule.
“It’s really a type of non-destructive imaging, extended
to biological systems,” said Nilsen-Hamilton. “There is a
little extra portion of genetic material that we place on the
gene, and if we do it properly, it doesn’t affect how the gene
functions. On the right gene, it will report on a response
to a change in the cell’s environment such as a signal from
another cell or more nutrients. We’ll know when that gene
is turned on.”
These “reporters,” called IMAGEtags (Intracellular
MultiAptamer GEnetic Tags), are established into a
particular species of microbe, or in a particular type of plant
cell such as in a root hair, and will allow scientists to track
cellular activity when they are in their normal environment.
The reporters allow live-cell imaging with fluorescence
microscopy methods and are now being expanded to use
with radioactive imaging to “see” through soil.
Nilsen-Hamilton said the IMAGEtags have been
developed and proven to work in the lab. The next step is
establishing them in soil microbes and plant material and
in a controlled soil environment that replicates conditions
found in nature.
“These are more defined conditions that are closer to
what you would observe in the field than a cell in a dish,”
said Nilsen-Hamilton, “and practical application could allow
us to understand much more specifically, in real time, how
these microbes and plant cells interact.”
The technology could be applied to a number of uses,
including agricultural research, environmental monitoring,
medical diagnosis and treatment, or anything involving a
biological system.
Graduate assistant Judhajeet Ray works as part of Marit Nilsen-Hamilton’s research
project to develop methods of non-destructive imaging of biological systems.
