Bittleston lab at it again!! #ASMicrobe2025 #ASMicrobe @asm.org @leonorabit.bsky.social #bittlestonlab

Had a blast at #ASMMicrobe2025 today! Learned so much and loved sharing some #latebreaking research. If you missed my talk, feel free to connect—I'd be happy to catch you up!

🔍 Our key finding? When the bacterial community excelled at breaking down chitin (a major component of insect exoskeletons), the pitcher plants grew larger compared to the controls!

💧 We introduced aquatic bacterial communities with varying functional capabilities into pitcher plants and observed how these differences influenced plant growth and health.

🧪🌱 We set out to experimentally test how communities with different functions affect plants, using a fascinating microbe-plant duo: carnivorous pitcher plants! 🪰🪴

🌱🔬The most time-intensive and difficult paper of my PhD is now published in #mSystemsJ! I'm proud of this work and also how much I've grown since I first started this experiment. Read on to learn more about how the functions of bacterial communities impact plant growth and health. 👇