Location
Innovation Lab Atrium
Start Date
4-2-2025 10:00 AM
End Date
4-2-2025 11:30 AM
Presentation Date
2 April 2025, 10:00am - 11:30am
Biography
Sophia Nicolette Militante is currently an international sophomore majoring in Biological Sciences (BS), with an emphasis in Medical Laboratory Science. She graduated from Philippine Science High School-Eastern Visayas Campus, where she started being involved in interdisciplinary research. Currently, she is working with Dr. David Westenberg in his Laboratory for Applied Microbiology, and has been since her freshman year. She participated in the 2023-2024 First-Year Research Experience program, where she started her current project on cell-cell signaling in Bradyrhizobium japonicum bacteria. She hopes of becoming a medical laboratory scientist (MLS), as well as possibly pursuing medical microbiology research, in the future. If you can't hear her laughing loudly with her friends in the library, then she is most likely waiting in silence for her samples on the ground floor of Schrenk Hall. You might also randomly see her volunteering for events like Celebration of Nations and the Science Olympiad.
Meeting Name
2025 - Miners Solving for Tomorrow Research Conference
Department(s)
Biological Sciences
Document Type
Poster
Document Version
Final Version
File Type
event
Language(s)
English
Rights
© 2025 Sophia Nicolette Militante, All right reseerved
Included in
What's That Sound?: Characterizing Chemical Signals in Bradyrhizobium japonicum Strains
Innovation Lab Atrium
Comments
Advisor: David J. Westenberg
Abstract:
Bradyrhizobium japonicum bacteria live in the root nodules of soybean plants, which are important to Missouri's agriculture and economy. Their abilities to convert atmospheric nitrogen into more usable forms (ex. nitrates) help drastically improve the growth of these crops. Quorum sensing (QS) makes this possible; bacterial cells send and receive autoinducers to regulate the expression of certain genes and, thus, group behaviors. This project focused on determining the chemical structures of these autoinducers produced by selected B. japonicum strains (NRRL B-14193, 61A224, 61A227) via thin-layer chromatography and mass spectrometry. Current experimental results suggest that all three strains produce two detectable autoinducers at 24-32 hours of growth: C8-HSL and a smaller (<= C6-HSL), possibly modified AHL. Ultimately, this information could help in further distinguishing B. japonicum strains whose QS "communication skills" contribute to optimal soybean plant growth.