Faculty Sponsor
Bethany Zolman
Final Abstract for URS Program
Root development in plants is essential for their survival and understanding how hormones influence their development can explain how plants grow under different circumstances. Researching how Indole-3-butyric acid (IBA), a hormone that induces root production, affects the plant model Arabidopsis thaliana helps explain the hormone's effect in agricultural crop systems. To understand root pathways, we performed assays on mutant lines of Arabidopsis by growing plants on varying concentrations of IBA. For wild-type and mutant lines, phenotyping experiments like branching of roots, lengths of stems, and root length were conducted along with PCR and restriction digest genotyping experiments to compare their genetic differences. The root length experiment indicates that mutant lines grow longer roots than wild-type, suggesting these genes are involved in the normal responses. IBA concentrations have an influential effect on root development in all experimental conditions. The results from these experiments give insight into the genes that are disrupted by these mutations. This research explains how the roots behave in varying conditions and hormone concentrations that can translate to agriculture. With the climate changing rapidly in the world, our research gives insight on how roots of plants can be influenced to best support growth in a variety of environments.
Presentation Type
Visual Presentation
Document Type
Article