[All-postdocs] Bioseminar - Biagio DiSalvo

[Ana Velez]

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Biology Department Seminar

Thursday, November 20, 2025 - 12:00 pm
Redfield Auditorium

Biagio DiSalvo
Postdoctoral Fellow, The Marine Biological Laboratory

Rhizosphere Microbes and their Ability to Cycle Sulfur in Coastal Marshes
The rhizosphere of smooth cordgrass, Spartina alterniflora, hosts a diverse community of microbes including sulfur-cycling bacteria. Sulfate reducing bacteria are heterotrophs, respiring root-derived carbon with ocean-derived sulfates to fuel growth. But in doing so, they produce the byproduct sulfide, which is toxic to plants including S. alterniflora. Sulfur-oxidizing bacteria then transform the sulfides back to nontoxic sulfur species, thus promoting plant growth. Here, I will be discussing my recent endeavors to culture sulfur-cycling microbes from S. alteriflora's rhizosphere and develop genetic tools to understand the role of specific genes involved in sulfur-cycling. My work aims to develop engineered strains to apply to the Cardon lab's newly developed axenic S. alterniflora model system to begin to characterize the in vivo functionality of these bacterial genes on the macro-scale holobiont.

Biology Seminar Web Page<https://www.whoi.edu/what-we-do/understand/departments-centers-labs/bio/bio-highlights-events/>

For questions, contact:

Ana Maria Velez
Biology Pre-Award Administrative Associate
Ph: 508-289-2334
[signature_1005462319]

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