Kun Xiao

TL;DR: It is demonstrated theoretically and empirically that host-specific soil microbes can be major determinants of the diversity-productivity relationship in grasslands using an analytical model and a series of experiments.

TL;DR: A collection of 53 antibiotic-producing Streptomyces isolated from soils from Minnesota, Nebraska, and Washington were evaluated for their ability to inhibit plant pathogenic Phytophthora medicaginis and Phytophile sojae in vitro, and eight isolates tested significantly reduced root rot severity in alfalfa and soybean.

TL;DR: Limited understanding of non-agricultural niches in the ecology and evolution of plant pathogenic bacteria is highlighted of their role in the development of agricultural epidemics both as sources of inoculum and as source of novel traits that may enhance bacterial pathogenicity and fitness.

TL;DR: It is found that antibiotic inhibition is significantly more intense among sympatric than allopatric Streptomycete populations, indicating local selection for inhibitory phenotypes, and that coevolutionary niche displacement may reduce the likelihood of an antibiotic arms race.

TL;DR: To explore how specific types and amounts of carbon compounds influence Streptomyces in soil, glucose, cellulose, and lignin were added alone and in combination with six other carbon substrates of varying complexity to mesocosms of native prairie soil for 9 months at amounts equivalent to natural inputs from plants.