Date of Award
Summer 2024
Document Type
Open Access Thesis
Department
Biological Sciences
First Advisor
Bert Ely
Abstract
Our laboratory has been studying how different Caulobacter strains impact Arabidopsis plant growth. While reading papers published by other laboratories, I noticed inconsistencies in the methods used by different plant/bacteria interaction studies. For example, a variety of different variables have been used for defining a bacterium as Plant Growth Promoting (PGP). To establish a baseline, I conducted longitudinal studies that examined the impact of bacteria on all phases of a plant’s life. I found that individual Caulobacter wild type strains impact different aspects of plant growth. In addition, I continuously encountered problems with within and between pot variation in plant growth. Therefore, I undertook a series of experiments to create standard conditions that decrease the variability of the results. The net result of these efforts is a standardized protocol that will be used by our laboratory for future experiments. In addition, I identified additional genera of PGP bacteria that are present in the soil that we use to grow the Arabidopsis plants.
Rights
© 2024, Caroline Victoria Royals
Recommended Citation
Royals, C. V.(2024). A Careful Examination of the Parameters Impacting the Study of Plant/Bacteria Interactions. (Master's thesis). Retrieved from https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/etd/7996