Member Institutions:

• Bowling Green State U.
• Cleveland State U.
• Kent State U.
• Medical College of Ohio
• Miami U.
• The Ohio State U.
• Ohio U.
• University of Cincinnati
• University of Toledo
• Wright State U.
• Youngstown State U.

W. Dietz Bauer Associate Professor Departments of Horticulture & Crop Science, Plant Pathology, Plant Biology and Environmental Science Program The Ohio State University 202 Kottman Hall 2021 Coffey Road Columbus, Ohio 43210-1086 Phone (614) 292-9035 FAX (614) 292-7162 email bauer.7@osu.edu	Back to Scientists

Research Interests

Research program in rhizosphere biology and ecology including

1. studies on the role of bacterial motility in nutrient acquisition, xenobiotic degradation, survival and dispersion in the soil as well as in rhizosphere colonization and root infection; genetic analysis of non-motile and hypermotile mutants; isolation and characterization of agronomically useful mutants with enhanced rhizosphere colonization; analysis of behavioral responses of bacteria to starvation.
2. role of bacterial autoinducers in root colonization, attachment and twitching motility.
3. Rhizobium-legume symbiosis
4. cell-cell signalling and infection mechanisms in plant microbe interactions.
5. the structural and functional analysis of plant root mucilage; degradation and utilization of mucilage by rhizosphere microbes.
6. occurrence and ecology of viable but non-culturable microorganisms in the rhizosphere.

Selected References

• Caetano-Anolles, G., E. Wrobel-Boerner and W.D. Bauer. 1992. Growth and movement of spot-inoculated Rhizobium meliloti on the root surface of alfalfa. Plant Physiol. 98:1181-1189
• Robinson, J.B., O.H. Tuovinen and W.D. Bauer. 1993. Role of divalent cations in the subunit associations of complex flagella from Rhizobium meliloti. J. Bacteriol. 174:3896-3902
• Robinson, J.B. and W.D. Bauer. 1993. Chemotaxis of Rhizobium meliloti towards C4-dicarboxylic acids and its relation to carboxylate transport functions. J. Bacteriol. 175:2284-2291
• Mathews, A., W.D. Bauer, J. Brockwell, B.J. Carroll, R. R. Gault and P. M. Gresshoff. 1993. Rhizosphere colonization by Bradyrhizobium japonicum is related to extent of nodulation of Glycine max cv. Bragg and its supernodulating mutants. Soil Biol and Biochem. 25:613-617
• Wei, X. and W.D. Bauer. 1998. Starvation-induced changes in motility, chemotaxis and flagellation of Rhizobium meliloti. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 64:1708 1714.
• Han, D.Y., D.L. Coplin, W.D. Bauer and H.A.J. Hoitink. 1998. Induction of systemic resistance to bacterial leaf spot of radish by Pantoea agglomerans E278Ar from compost in a novel growth pouch bioassay. In review.
• Wei, X. and W.D. Bauer. 1998. Tn5-induced and spontaneous switching of Sinorhizobium meliloti to enhanced swarming behavior. In review.
• Robinson, J.B., and W.D. Bauer. 1998. Changes in motility, chemotaxis and flagellation of Rhizobium meliloti during growth in C- and N-limited chemostats. In preparation.
• E. Knee, M. Teplitski, F.C. Gong, M. Gao, A.J. Mort and W.D. Bauer. 1998. Degradation and utilization of the root mucilage from pea as a sole carbon source by soil and rhizosphere bacteria. In preparation.

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