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Updated: Feb 15, 2026

A Hydroponic Co-cultivation System for Simultaneous and Systematic Analysis of Plant/Microbe Molecular Interactions and Signaling
Published on: July 22, 2017
HOMEs for plants and microbes - a phenotyping approach with quantitative control of signaling between organisms and
Oskar Siemianowski1, Kara R Lind, Xinchun Tian
1Department of Materials Science & Engineering, Iowa State University of Science and Technology, 2220 Hoover Hall, Ames, IA 50011, USA. lcademar@iastate.edu.
Abstract:
We describe a simple, scalable, modular, and frugal approach to create model ecosystems as millifluidic networks of interconnected habitats (hosting microbes or plants), which offers (i) quantitative and dynamic control over the exchange of chemicals between habitats, and (ii) independent control over their environment. Oscillatory laminar flows produce regions of vortex mixing around obstacles. When these overlap, rapid mass transport by dispersion occurs, which is quantitatively describable as diffusion, but is directional and tunable in rate over 3 orders of magnitude. This acceleration in the rate of diffusion is equivalent to reducing the distance between the habitats, and therefore, the organisms, down to the length scales characteristic of signaling in soil (<2 mm).
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