Summer Research Opportunity in Plant Physiology and Inorganic Chemistry
Chan Laboratory
What will we do?
The Chan lab is interested in studying the effects of environmental calcium on the growth and development of plants. That calcium is a necessary nutrient for plant growth is perhaps well-documented in the current literature. However, how calcium is taken up and utilized in plants cells and how these processes affect various aspects of plant growth and development is not well understood. The Chan lab aims to shed light on these topics by examining the effect of varying levels of environmental calcium on the growth of Arabidopsis thaliana (the most widely-used model plant system). Specifically, we compare the growth of normal (wild-type) plants with those with genetic defects in calcium uptake functions. Our current results strongly suggest that calcium uptake through a particular calcium channel is required for proper cell elongation. Plants with defects in this channel are stunted in growth and have reduced seed yield. An altered pattern of in planta ion accumulation seems to correlate with these growth phenotypes. During Summer 2008, we plan to perform more experiments to carefully compare the ion composition of wild-type and mutant plants grown under a range of external calcium concentrations. We also plan to investigate the possibility that our calcium channel mutant is altered in its response to various plant hormones. Crosstalk between calcium and hormone signaling pathways is common in plants, and defects in growth hormone signaling and/ or response may contribute to the reduced cell elongation phenotype in the mutant.
What kind of skills and knowledge will research participants take from this experience?
The proposed summer project uses a variety of techniques to study fundamental and crucial growth and signaling mechanisms in plants. Participants will work as a team to conduct multiple experiments concurrently. In this manner, all participants benefit from being exposed to a different techniques and biological problems at the same time, and work to learn these techniques and solve problems together. Everyone will be involved in library and on-line research, and are expected to participate in and contribute to discussion of current scientific literature that is relevant to our research projects.
Expectation/ Work Commitment
Participants are expected to commit to an average of a 40-hour work week for eight weeks (9th June – 1st August 2008). However, depending on the phase of experiments and other commitments of the mentor and research participants, work schedules can be somewhat flexible.