CAREER: Characterization of new Arabidopsis mutants with altered response to auxin

Texas State University - San Marcos, San Marcos TX

Investigators

Abstract

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). Some of the major challenges that the world faces today are how to feed the ever-increasing population and to find the ways to deal with global climatic change. A better understanding of molecular mechanisms involved in plant growth and development is necessary to design new strategies to improve crop plants that suit the changing environment. The plant hormone auxin plays a pivotal role in growth and development, regulating many developmental programs. Although molecular mechanisms involved in auxin signaling in plants have been studied in great detail, our understanding on these molecular mechanisms is far from complete. Synthetic chemicals that perturb signaling pathways have been used to identify new genes and their functions in these signaling pathways. This study will focus on identification and characterization of three Arabidopsis mutants, pic7, pic30 and pic115 with altered response to picloram, an auxinic herbicide that is widely used in Agriculture. During the term of this project, these three mutant genes will be identified by map-based cloning, and their functions in auxin response will be characterized using genetic, molecular and biochemical approaches. As picloram functions differently from other known auxins, it is expected that these genes and their functions will elucidate new molecular mechanisms involved in plant auxin response. The broader impacts of this work will enhance science education at different levels. The project is set to train graduate, undergraduate and high school students in auxin biology research during the term of this project. Texas State University has 27% minority student enrollment and nearby San Marcos High School (SMHS) has 64% Hispanic student population. The project will have a major impact on training of minority students in science. Additionally, an inquiry based semester?long laboratory module will be conducted with the undergraduate students in Bio 3465 Plant Physiology course. To maximize the impact of the research on grade 6-12 education, an inquiry module on auxin biology will be introduced to pre and in-service teacher training at the Texas State University. In collaboration with the SMHS, one to two high school students will be trained during each summer. As experiments outlined here involve several disciplines such as genetics, molecular biology, biochemistry, physiology and genomics, students will be exposed to hands on experiences in many scientific disciplines.