Rebecca Martin on bacteriophages: Unseen forces behind mushroom growth

Bacteriophages are the most abundant microscopic agents on Earth, yet much about them remains a mystery. In this episode, Dr Jenny Ekman (AHR) sits down with University of Sydney PhD candidate Rebecca Martin to discuss how these microscopic agents could be playing a surprising role in mushroom production.

The conversation covers what bacteriophages are, how they influence nutrient cycling in compost, and how understanding their behaviour could help Agaricus mycelium access nutrients more efficiently. Rebecca takes us inside her meticulous research, using advanced bioinformatics and DNA analysis to profile compost phages with remarkable precision.

Podcast hosted by Dr Jenny Ekman, AHR.

Rebecca Martin: Rebecca is in the final year of her PhD at the University of Sydney, supervised by Michael Kertesz and Gary Muscatello. She previously completed her Bachelor of Science with honours at the University of Sydney, majoring in both microbiology and biology. Her PhD project perfectly combines two of her major academic interests, ecology and weird microorganisms.