So a lot of the projects in my lab are working in FLC, a gene also known as Flowering Locus C that is in a lot of plants.
So what does it do, you may ask?
Have you ever wondered how plants just know when to flower? In Arabidopsis, that’s where FLC comes into play.
Ecotypes with FLC expression require a cold period to flower. You would expect a gene that’s known for flowering to actually encourage flowering when expressed, right? But that’s not the case. FLC actually represses flowering. It is when the plant is exposed to vernalization, a prolonged period of extreme cold (like winter for example) that the plant can flower, because vernalization lowers FLC expression.
FLC is actually pleiotropic, where being the gene superstar that it is, actually influences not just one, but multiple phenotypic traits: flowering time AND germination. That’s what my project is concerned in.
As my PI and secondary mentor, Dr. Donohue and Bri, explained to me before, my project serves a purpose in the lab, as a convergence of the lab’s previous work with the projects being done now. Previously, The lab has been curious about the genetic differences associated with physiological parameters. Now, there are projects more concentrated on the pleiotropy of FLC that I mentioned before, how variation in flowering time is related to variation in germination.
My project is testing how a genotype can respond to different stressful environments. Using seeds with different levels of FLC expression, I’m going to expose them to various low water potentials, and see how that affects their germination rates. From this, we’ll see if there’s any genotype-specific differences in germination.
So in terms in procedure, I’ll first be incubating seeds for 3 days in PEG (polyethylene glycol) solution, which basically lowers the amount of pure water available to the seeds. Then, they’ll be rinsed and transferred to a plate with pure water. I’ll be monitoring for germination daily after that.
And this all starts next week! Can’t wait!
