{"id":144655,"date":"2013-11-09T13:40:10","date_gmt":"2013-11-09T12:40:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.madrimasd.org\/blogs\/universo\/?p=144655"},"modified":"2013-11-09T13:40:10","modified_gmt":"2013-11-09T12:40:10","slug":"el-biochar-inteligencia-militar-y-espionaje-masivo-entre-las-fuerzas-del-bien-y-del-mal-en-el-seno-del-suelo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.madrimasd.org\/blogs\/universo\/2013\/11\/09\/144655","title":{"rendered":"El Biochar, Inteligencia Militar y Espionaje Masivo entre las Fuerzas del Bien y del Mal en el Seno del Suelo"},"content":{"rendered":"

La noticia de la que vamos a analizar hoy lleva el siguiente t\u00edtulo \u201cEl Biochar tranquiliza a los microbios, \u00a0incluyendo algunos pat\u00f3genos de las plantas<\/em><\/span>\u201d. <\/strong>En principio cabr\u00eda pensar que: \u00a1vaya por Dios!, por fin han encontrado un ansiol\u00edtico<\/strong><\/span> con vistas a calmar a los estresados microbios del suelo en estos tiempos de incertidumbre,\u00a0zozobra y desasosiego que corren<\/strong><\/span>. Empero el contenido de la noticia no es tranquilizante precisamente, sino m\u00e1s bien muy<\/strong><\/span>, pero que muy inquietante \u00bf?<\/span><\/strong>. En muchos sentidos me recuerda al espionaje masivo que han sufrido muchos Estados aliados por parte del\u00a0gran amigo americano<\/a>. Esta es la noticia que sacude a la opini\u00f3n p\u00fablica en el momento que escribo el post. M\u00e1s aun, el experimento ha sido llevado a cabo en USA. \u00a0\u00a1M\u00e1s madera! No obstante hay un detalle en la noticia lo suficientemente importante e interesante como para que necesitemos redactar otro post. Os dejar\u00e9 de momento intrigados por una conjetura que se me antoja muy sorprendente<\/a> (aqu\u00ed va el primer indicio<\/a>, aunque hay que rebuscar en su contenido). Pero vayamos al meollo del tema.<\/p>\n

\"comunicacion-microbios-suelo\"<\/p>\n

La variada comunicaci\u00f3n de los microrganismos del Suelo. Fuente: JSMC Jena School for Microbial Communication (Microbial Communication – Talking Microbes?)<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0Existen numerosas evidencias de que las especies que componen las comunidades microbianas del suelo se comunican entre s\u00ed, y con las plantas e invertebrados que all\u00ed habitan<\/strong><\/span>, generalmente utilizando se\u00f1ales qu\u00edmicas<\/strong> <\/span>aunque quiz\u00e1s tambi\u00e9n el\u00e9ctricas<\/a>. Obviamente hablamos de billones de bichitos en un kilo de suelo, por lo cual aquello debe ser como el tr\u00e1fico actual en la WEB<\/strong><\/span>. Dicho de otro modo, estos peque\u00f1os bichitos tambi\u00e9n atesorar\u00edan su Red de Redes, por desordenada que sea, aunque tambi\u00e9n lo es la nuestra. Y como a fin de cuentas el ser humano no ha inventado casi nada, en tal ingente pl\u00e9tora de mensajes existen unos positivos para las plantas, mientras que otros son negativos, como<\/strong><\/span> los que afectan a esas \u00abfuerzas del mal\u00bb que intentan destruir los cultivos y a los que llamamos pat\u00f3genos<\/strong><\/span>. Pues bien, los cient\u00edficos que han llevado a cabo este tenebroso estudio dicen haber comprobado que un biochar (con ciertas propiedades novedosas) y la adici\u00f3n de nutrientes alteran tal comunicaci\u00f3n<\/strong><\/span>, como si de llamaradas solares se tratara respecto a los sistemas satelitales de comunicaciones que estamos empleando lo humanos. Empero ante tal novedoso \u00bf? \u201cfinding<\/em>\u201d, estos paisanos han tenido la grand\u00edsima idea de que resultar\u00eda viable elaborar<\/strong><\/span> biochar personalizados<\/a> que interrumpan\/da\u00f1en\/distorsionen la comunicaci\u00f3n entre las c\u00e9lulas terroristas pat\u00f3genas, sin modificar e incluso favorecer la de los \u201cbuenos aliados\u201d<\/span><\/strong> (generalmente en el seno de la rizosfera<\/a>) (cuando acaba de mostrarse que tal cosa no existe, como muchos d\u00e1bamos por contado desde hace d\u00e9cadas). Y de este modo las fueras del bien ganar\u00edan a las del mal<\/span><\/strong>. Y en este sentido os traduzco la siguiente frase de la nota de prensa original en Suajili: \u00abAlgunos microbios ayudan a las plantas, mientras que otros son perjudiciales. Eso significa que existen comunicaciones positivas y negativas, en lo que respecta al desarrollo de las plantas simult\u00e1neamente, entre los microorganismos del suelo. Creemos que es probable que algunos biochars alteraren\/modifiquen algunas conversaciones, mientras que no afecten a otras, por lo que queremos poner a prueba esa idea y, si es posible, llegar a una forma de biochar a medida para la diversidad microbiana que se desea<\/span><\/em>\u00ab. Perm\u00edtanme que me parta de risa. Ser\u00eda algo as\u00ed como un espionaje masivo de tal big data<\/em><\/strong><\/span>, mediante procedimientos de data mining<\/em><\/strong>, <\/span>por parte de los cient\u00edficos del suelo, con vistas a detectar los mensajes perversos entre terroristas, entre una billonada de otros totalmente inocuos o beneficiosos<\/strong><\/span>. \u00bfEstamos preparados para ello?. Jajajajajaja. Eso s\u00ed, todos sus experimentos se han llevado a cabo en placas Petri y con bacterias modificadas gen\u00e9ticamente. De este modo se pod\u00eda detectar mediante bioluminiscencia a los bichitos que hablan (en rojo) y a los que escuchaban (en verde).<\/p>\n

\u00a0Es decir se \u201cinfiere\u201d que se tratar\u00eda de analizar si un buen biochar pudiera interrumpir la comunicaci\u00f3n entre los malvados<\/strong> <\/span>(quiz\u00e1s con virus y troyanos<\/strong><\/span>) sin alterar, e incluso potenciando, el intercambio de informaci\u00f3n entre las fuerzas aliadas del bien, Deber\u00edan pues identificarse y discernir entre billones de se\u00f1ales distintas en una casi infinita pl\u00e9tora de idiomas dispares, en el seno de un suelo, que no una placa petri. Hasta aqu\u00ed pod\u00edamos llegar. Hay colegas apasionados por los films de espionaje y la ciencia ficci\u00f3n, aunque todo tiene un l\u00edmite. Y estos han pasado ya al mundo de los smart scientists<\/em><\/strong><\/span>.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Continuar\u00e1 (\u2026\u2026.) tachin, tachin\u2026\u2026\u2026.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Juan Jos\u00e9 Ib\u00e1\u00f1ez<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Biochar quiets microbes, including some plant pathogens<\/strong><\/a>
\n<\/strong>by Staff Writers. Houston TX (SPX) Oct 03, 2013<\/p>\n

In the first study of its kind, Rice University scientists have used synthetic biology to study how a popular soil amendment called \u00abbiochar\u00bb can interfere with the chemical signals that some microbes use to communicate<\/strong>. The class of compounds studied includes those used by some plant pathogens to coordinate their attacks<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Biochar is charcoal that is produced<\/strong> – typically from waste wood, manure or leaves – for use as a soil additive<\/strong>. Studies have found biochar can improve both the nutrient- and water-holding properties of soil<\/strong>, but its popularity in recent years also owes to its ability to reduce greenhouse gases by storing carbon in soil<\/strong>, in some cases for many centuries<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The new study<\/strong>, published online this month in the journal Environmental Science and Technology, is the first to examine how biochar affects the chemical signaling that’s routinely used by soil microorganisms that interact with plants<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\u00abA potted plant may look tranquil, but there are actually a lot of conversations going on in that pot<\/strong>,\u00bb said study co-author Joff Silberg, associate professor of biochemistry and cell biology and of bioengineering at Rice. \u00abIn fact, there are so many different conversations going on in soil that it was impractical for us to determine exactly how biochar was affecting just one of them<\/strong>.\u00bb<\/p>\n

So Silberg and colleagues used the tools of synthetic biology – and a refined experimental setup that <\/strong>Silberg initially drafted with his son’s spare Lego bricks – to establish a situation where just one microbial conversation was taking place and where biochar’s effects on that conversation could be measured<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The study is the latest from Rice’s interdisciplinary Biochar Research Group, which formed in<\/strong> the wake of Hurricane Ike in 2008 when the city of Houston called for ideas about how to get rid of the estimated 5.6 million cubic yards of fallen trees, broken branches and dead greenery left behind by the storm.<\/p>\n

The Rice Biochar Group won the $10,000 grand prize in the city’s \u00abRecycle Ike\u00bb contest and used the money to jump-start a wide-ranging research program that has since received support from the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy, Rice’s Faculty Initiative Fund, Rice’s Shell Center for Sustainability and Rice’s Institute of Bioscience and Bioengineering.<\/p>\n

The cell-signaling study grew out of a previous investigation by<\/strong> one of the group’s founding members, Carrie Masiello, associate professor of Earth science. Masiello and another member of the group, Rice biologist Jennifer Rudgers (now at the University of New Mexico), were investigating the combined effects of adding biochar and nutrients to soils<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

In all but one case, the biochar and nutrients seemed to enhance one another<\/strong>. In the lone exception, a soil fungus that was typically beneficial to plants began growing so rapidly that it impeded plant growth<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\u00abAll of these organisms, to a much greater extent than we probably understand, are talking to each other all the time<\/strong>,\u00bb Silberg said.<\/p>\n

\u00abMicrobes talk to microbes. Microbes talk to plants<\/strong>. Plants talk to microbes. And they each make decisions about their behavior based on those conversations<\/strong>. When we started talking about these results, my first thought was, ‘You’re probably interfering with a conversation.'\u00bb<\/p>\n

There was no practical way to isolate the conversation that was likely being interfered with in the previous experiment, but Silberg thought of a way to create engineered microbes to test the idea of whether biochar could interfere with such a conversation<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

His lab began by working with Matt Bennett, assistant professor of biochemistry and cell biology at Rice, to make use of two tailored forms of E. coli bacteria created by<\/strong> Rice graduate student Chen Ye. One strain \u00abspoke\u00bb with a type of chemical communication commonly used by soil microbes, and the other \u00ablistened<\/strong>.\u00bb<\/p>\n

Unlike the fungi that use this communication method in soil, the E. coli could be grown in clear agar gels in a petri dish, which meant the researchers could more easily observe them under a microscope<\/strong>. The team next inserted florescence genes into each organism<\/strong>, which caused them to glow different colors – red for speaking and green for listening<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\u00abWe needed a way to conduct two experiments in the same dish, one where biochar had a chance to interfere with a conversation and another where it didn’t<\/strong>,\u00bb Silberg said.<\/p>\n

Working with his son’s Legos, Silberg constructed a pair of rectangular platforms that sat parallel in the dish, about one inch apart. Agar was added to fill all parts of the dish except for the areas blocked by the bricks. Once the agar gel had set, the rectangular platforms were removed to create two empty parallel troughs.<\/p>\n

One of these was filled with clear agar, and the other was filled with agar containing biochar. \u00abSpeaker\u00bb organisms were added to the middle of the dish, and \u00ablisteners\u00bb were placed on the opposite side of each trough.<\/p>\n

Graduate student Shelly Hsiao-Ying Cheng refined Silberg’s Lego design and used tools at Rice’s Oshman Engineering Design Kitchen to create a set of sturdy platforms for repeated tests. The group then ran dozens of microscopy tests with Dan Wagner, Rice associate professor of biochemistry and cell biology, to see how different formulations and amounts of biochar affected cell signaling.<\/p>\n

Algunos comentarios adicionales extra\u00eddos de la P\u00e1gina Web de la Universidad de Rice<\/a>.<\/p>\n

(\u2026.) In every case, we observed significantly less green light from the opposite side of the biochar, which meant the E. coli on that side had trouble hearing the sender,\u201d Silberg said. \u201cThat upheld our hypothesis, which was that biochar could interfere with cell signaling, most likely by binding with the fatty-acid molecules that the speakers were using to broadcast their message<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n

The team found that biochar that was created with higher temperatures was as much as 10 times more effective at shutting down conversations<\/strong>. The researchers said this finding was significant because<\/strong> it jibed with the results from a 2012 study by Masiello that found that biochars created with higher-temperature processes were more effective at holding water and nutrients<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\u201cBiochar can be made in processes that range from 250 to 1,000 degrees<\/strong> Celsius, and there\u2019s mounting evidence that the temperature can dramatically affect the final properties<\/strong>,\u201d Masiello said. \u201cUltimately, we\u2019d like to create a simple guide that people can use to tailor the properties of their biochar.\u201d<\/p>\n

Silberg added, \u201cSome microbes help plants and others are harmful. That means there\u2019s good communication and bad communication going on in the soil at the same time<\/strong>. We think it\u2019s likely that some biochars will knock out some conversations and not others, so we want to test that idea and, if possible, come up with a way to tailor biochar for the microbial diversity that\u2019s desired.\u201d<\/p>\n

Study co-authors include Ye Chen, Xiaodong Gao, Shirley Liu and Kyriacos Zygourakis, all of Rice.<\/p>\n

Post Previos sobre los or\u00edgenes del biochar y sus propiedades<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Biodiversidad, Culturas Prehisp\u00e1nicas y Suelos (\u00bfMito de los Bosques Primigenios en la Amazon\u00eda?)<\/a><\/p>\n

Cultivos de Tala y Quema en el Amazon\u00eda (Chamiceras) y la Calidad del Suelo<\/a><\/p>\n

Francisco de Orellana y la Cultura Perdida del Amazon\u00eda: Del Origen de las Terras Pretas a los Fertilizantes del Futuro <\/a><\/p>\n

Terras Pretas del Amazonas: Distribuci\u00f3n y Caracter\u00edsticas Generales<\/a><\/p>\n

Terras Pretas: Propiedades y Fertilidad (Biochar o Agrichar)<\/a><\/p>\n

Biocarb\u00f3n, Fertilidad de Suelos y Cambio Clim\u00e1tico<\/a><\/p>\n

Biochar, Cambio Clim\u00e1tico, Secuestro de Carbono, Suelos y Marketing Empresarial<\/a><\/p>\n

Biochar Personalizados Para todo tipo de Suelos y Cultivos<\/a><\/p>\n

Fertilizantes Nitrogenados, \u00d3xido Nitroso, Contaminaci\u00f3n y Cambio Clim\u00e1tico<\/a><\/p>\n

Biochar, Ecolog\u00eda del Suelo, Cambio Clim\u00e1tico y Reducci\u00f3n de las Emisiones de \u00d3xido Nitroso<\/span>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

La noticia de la que vamos a analizar hoy lleva el siguiente t\u00edtulo \u201cEl Biochar tranquiliza a los microbios, \u00a0incluyendo algunos pat\u00f3genos de las plantas\u201d. En principio cabr\u00eda pensar que: \u00a1vaya por Dios!, por fin han encontrado un ansiol\u00edtico con vistas a calmar a los estresados microbios del suelo en estos tiempos de incertidumbre,\u00a0zozobra y desasosiego que corren. Empero el contenido de la noticia no es tranquilizante precisamente, sino m\u00e1s bien muy, pero que muy inquietante \u00bf?. En muchos sentidos me recuerda al espionaje masivo que han sufrido muchos Estados aliados por parte del\u00a0gran amigo americano. Esta es la noticia\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[596,609,618,597,606,616],"tags":[47175,18142,46910],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":4}},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madrimasd.org\/blogs\/universo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144655"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madrimasd.org\/blogs\/universo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madrimasd.org\/blogs\/universo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madrimasd.org\/blogs\/universo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madrimasd.org\/blogs\/universo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=144655"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.madrimasd.org\/blogs\/universo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144655\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":144742,"href":"https:\/\/www.madrimasd.org\/blogs\/universo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144655\/revisions\/144742"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madrimasd.org\/blogs\/universo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=144655"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madrimasd.org\/blogs\/universo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=144655"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madrimasd.org\/blogs\/universo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=144655"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}