Annemette Lyhne-Kjærbye

Annemette Lyhne-Kjærbye finished her PhD at University of Copenhagen, Denmark.

She studied the microbial community in the roots and rhizosphere soil (i.e. the soil closely surrounding plant roots) of deep-rooted crops. took samples from the towers and processed them in the lab: extracted bacterial DNA, sequenced 16S rRNA genes and runned qPCR.

Plants and their associated microorganisms interact so closely together that they can be considered as one functional organism, the plant holobiont. Today, little is known regarding the deep root associated microorganisms and studying their role in the plant holobiont can lead to a better understanding of plant health and growth.

Therefore, some of the questions Annemette answered were:

a.       How are deep roots colonized by bacteria?

b.       Is there a seasonal or yearly variation in the microbial communities?

c.       Are different crops recruiting different bacteria?

Annemette started her study in November 2015 and concluded them in August 2019.

Publications:

Root litter chemistry and nitrogen availability interact on control of deep subsoil carbon turnover (submitted)