BIOL 114: The Effect of ABA on Arabidopsis thaliana growth and development
Location
Turner Gymnasium
Access Type
Campus Access Only
Presentation Type
Printed poster
Entry Number
2364
Start Date
4-16-2025 12:00 PM
End Date
4-16-2025 1:15 PM
School
School of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Department
Biology
Keywords
Arabidopsis
Abstract
Due to an increase in climate change around the world, precipitation patterns are altered which leads to prolonged periods of drought. Studies have shown that abscisic acid, otherwise known as ABA, has increased the stress hormonal release and receptor performance of arabidopsis thaliana in experiments revolving around cross breeding. With ABA used to inhibit plant growth to prevent drought, we looked to see how arabidopsis thaliana would perform in these conditions in an absence of cross breeding. Additionally, we looked to discover if wild type and mutant type arabidopsis responded differently to the perceived drought. In order to achieve this, 64 pots of arabidopsis (32 wild types and 32 mutants) with four seedlings each were sprayed weekly with a concentration of ABA diluted in 95% ethanol while a control group of equal size was treated with just a concentration of 95% ethanol. Growth of plants was measured weekly and quantified by: leaf count per plant, plant diameter, and plant bolt height. The plants were grown for 10 weeks but treated and measured on three different occasions. There was no visible difference in the mutant type and wild type arabidopsis plants at the end of the 10 week period; however, there was a visible difference between the growth rates of arabidopsis between the control group and experimental group. The experimental group’s growth rate was stunted by the ABA solution more so than the control. This is relevant as it shows that the increased levels of ABA stress hormone presented to the plants did stunt their growth, regardless of a drought actually occurring. This data can lead to further research into the ever increasing presence of drought and how that may affect plant growth and development in the future.
Primary Faculty Mentor(s)
Dr. Erin Friedman
Primary Faculty Mentor(s) Department
Biology
Rights Statement
The right to download or print any portion of this material is granted by the copyright owner only for personal or educational use. The author/creator retains all proprietary rights, including copyright ownership. Any editing, other reproduction or other use of this material by any means requires the express written permission of the copyright owner. Except as provided above, or for any other use that is allowed by fair use (Title 17, §107 U.S.C.), you may not reproduce, republish, post, transmit or distribute any material from this web site in any physical or digital form without the permission of the copyright owner of the material.
BIOL 114: The Effect of ABA on Arabidopsis thaliana growth and development
Turner Gymnasium
Due to an increase in climate change around the world, precipitation patterns are altered which leads to prolonged periods of drought. Studies have shown that abscisic acid, otherwise known as ABA, has increased the stress hormonal release and receptor performance of arabidopsis thaliana in experiments revolving around cross breeding. With ABA used to inhibit plant growth to prevent drought, we looked to see how arabidopsis thaliana would perform in these conditions in an absence of cross breeding. Additionally, we looked to discover if wild type and mutant type arabidopsis responded differently to the perceived drought. In order to achieve this, 64 pots of arabidopsis (32 wild types and 32 mutants) with four seedlings each were sprayed weekly with a concentration of ABA diluted in 95% ethanol while a control group of equal size was treated with just a concentration of 95% ethanol. Growth of plants was measured weekly and quantified by: leaf count per plant, plant diameter, and plant bolt height. The plants were grown for 10 weeks but treated and measured on three different occasions. There was no visible difference in the mutant type and wild type arabidopsis plants at the end of the 10 week period; however, there was a visible difference between the growth rates of arabidopsis between the control group and experimental group. The experimental group’s growth rate was stunted by the ABA solution more so than the control. This is relevant as it shows that the increased levels of ABA stress hormone presented to the plants did stunt their growth, regardless of a drought actually occurring. This data can lead to further research into the ever increasing presence of drought and how that may affect plant growth and development in the future.