IT HAS BEEN PREDICTED THAT BY THE YEAR 2050, THE DEMAND FOR FOOD REQUIRED TO SUPPORT THE EXPECTED INCREASE IN THE HUMAN POPULATION IS GOING TO EXCEED THE AMOUNT OUR CURRENT AGRICULTURAL PRACTICES CAN PROVIDE.EACH YEAR PLANT PATHOGENS ACCOUNT FOR AN ESTIMATED GLOBAL YIELD LOSS OF 10-16%, RESULTING IN AN ECONOMIC LOSS EQUIVALENT TO 220 BILLION US DOLLARS.THEREFORE, THERE IS A NEED FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF NEW SUSTAINABLE TECHNOLOGIES IN AGRICULTURE THAT WILL INCREASE CROP FOOD PRODUCTION. THIS PROPOSED PROJECT CONTAINS A STRATEGY THAT AIMS TO INCREASE CROP PRODUCTION, BY DECREASING CROP LOSS DUE TO DISEASE.MOREOVER, THERE HAS BEEN AN INCREASE IN PUBLIC AWARENESS OF GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL AND HEALTH ISSUES RELATING TO AGRICULTURE. THIS HAS RESULTED IN AN INCREASE IN THE GLOBAL ORGANIC FOOD INDUSTRY AT A RATE OF 20-22% ANNUALLY. THEREFORE, ANY DETERRENCE FROM USING SYNTHETIC CHEMICALS IN AGRICULTURE WOULD BE VIEWED BY THE PUBLIC AS A MORE MARKETABLE AND FAVORABLE PRACTICE.APOTENTIAL OUTCOME OF THIS PROJECT WOULD BE THE FORMULATION OFA NATURALLY OCCURRING PLANT HORMONE-BASED AGROCHEMICALTHAT INCREASES PLANT IMMUNITY. FURTHER, IMPLEMENTATION OF THIS PRODUCT TO AGRICULTURAL SYSTEMS WOULD ALLOW THE PUBLIC TO FEEL SAFER AND MORE ENVIRONMENTALLY CONSCIOUS ABOUT THE FOOD THEY CONSUME.IN ORDER TO ACCOMPLISH THIS GOAL, I PLAN TO INVESTIGATE THE USE OF THE PLANT-HORMONE, CYTOKININ, AS AN APPLICATION TO CANOLA PLANTS WITH THE INTENT TO INCREASE THE PLANT IMMUNE RESPONSE TO DISEASE-CAUSING BACTERIA AND FUNGI. TO DO THIS, I WILL FIRSTCHARACTERIZE USING CYTOKININ AS AN APPLICATION TO PLANTS IN ORDER TO INCREASE PLANT IMMUNITY. THESE DATA WILL PROVIDE INFORMATION ABOUT THE TIME AFTER APPLICATION TO WHICH THE PLANT STILL HAS AN INCREASED IMMUNITY, THE EFFECTS OF PLANT GROWTH DUE TO THE CYTOKININ APPLICATION, AND THE RESULTING BROAD RANGE OF IMMUNITY THE PLANT EXPERIENCES. FURTHER, I WILL COMPLETE EXPERIMENTS THAT AIM TO UNDERSTAND HOW CYTOKININ INCREASES PLANT IMMUNITY BY MANIPULATING THEPLANT'S INTERNAL CONCENTRATIONS OF CYTOKININ AND BY OBTAINING GENOME-WIDE GENE EXPRESSION AND CHROMATIN ACCESSIBILITY CHANGES THAT ARE OBSERVED AFTER CYTOKININ APPLICATION.FURTHER UNDERSTANDING OF HOW THE APPLICATION OF CYTOKININ INCREASES PLANT IMMUNITY PROVIDES MORE OPPORTUNITY FOR MANIPULATION OF THE PLANT IMMUNE SYSTEM. THIS KNOWLEDGE ALLOWS FOR THE CREATION OF PLANTS THAT ARE MORE ROBUST TO PATHOGEN ATTACKS RESULTING IN A DECREASE OF CROP LOSS DUE TO DISEASE. MOREOVER, IF CYTOKININ IS USED AS A NEW AGROCHEMICAL, THERE IS POTENTIAL FOR A MORE SUSTAINABLE AND PUBLICLY FAVORABLE AGRICULTURAL PRACTICE.