Date of Award
Spring 5-1-2020
Document Type
Honors Project
Degree Name
Bachelor of Science
Department
Biological Sciences
Department Chair or Program Director
Lewis, Lynn
First Advisor
Wynn, April
Second Advisor
Baker, Dianne
Third Advisor
Morriss, Ginny
Major or Concentration
Biology
Abstract
Uniform germination among crops produces greater yields at harvest. Understanding the mechanisms underlying seed performance could provide strategies to maximize agricultural efficiency and mitigate the effects of adverse climatic conditions. Seeds produced by Arabidopsis thaliana plants that have undergone drought stress have been previously shown to exhibit delayed germination. It has been posited that epigenetic inhibition of growth-promoting genes during gametophyte development could be the cause of this phenomenon. Such inhibition is likely mediated by methylation, a common epigenetic modification. In prior studies, seeds produced by drought-stressed plants have been shown to contain increased genome-wide methylation levels. This study aimed to determine if germination delay is associated with hypermethylation of genes expressed in seeds, and if either the male or female parent plant is disproportionately associated with these transgenerational effects. Reciprocal crosses were performed between drought stressed and control plants and within each treatment groups to create seeds with varying levels of parental stress. Germination delay was found in offspring of drought-stressed plants compared to control. Interestingly, germination occurred more quickly in offspring of a drought-stressed male parent with a control female parent compared to offspring of two control parents. Expression of Tryptophan Aminotransferase 1 (TAA1) was found to be lower in the offspring of drought-stressed plants, suggesting that TAA1 could be a possible target of epigenetic modification. There was no statistical difference in Early Responsive to Dehydration 10 (ERD10) expression between treatment and control offspring. Bisulfite converted DNA was produced for TAA1 and ERD10 for future studies into specific methylation sites in these gene.
Recommended Citation
Moss, Benjamin, "Transgenerational Effects of Parental Drought Stress on Germination Time and Gene Expression in Arabidopsis Thaliana" (2020). Student Research Submissions. 359.
https://scholar.umw.edu/student_research/359