DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Molecular Genetic Mechanisms Accounting for Patterns of Tolerance to Apical Meristem Damage in Wild Populations of Arabidopsis Thaliana

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Recently, evidence has been accumulating that plants can sometimes effectively cope with damage to the flowering stalks caused by herbivore browsing (apical meristem damage, AMD), by replacing the damaged flowering stalks with new ones (tolerance). Consequently there is much interest in understanding the genetic mechanisms that afford plants this ability. This study will use genome-wide gene expression data, and single-gene mutant studies, to identify genetic pathways involved in tolerance responses of natural accessions of the weed Arabidopsis thaliana, a species native of Europe and used as a model system in genetics and ecology. This work will uncover genes associated with the already known fact that plants from the Netherlands are very tolerant to AMD at high nutrient levels and very intolerant at low nutrient levels, whereas those from Sweden are intolerant to AMD regardless of nutrient levels.Arabidopsis thaliana is very well studied at the molecular level, so there is the potential to connect findings from this work to other aspects of the physiology and biochemistry of this plant. Furthermore, since A. thaliana is a relative of important crops, such as broccoli and the canola plant, this project can have agricultural implications. This work directly impacts the scientific community in that it has already attracted 14 undergraduate research assistants, including nine women and four minorities, and will continue to involve them in most aspects of the project.