Document Type
Honors Thesis
Abstract
Stomata are pores present on the surface of plants and are primarily involved in transpiration. However, due to their abundance and their location on the surface of leaves, they become potential sites of entry for pathogens introduced on the plant surface. Stomata however, possess the innate ability to open and close in response to a pathogen. They can do this by recognizing molecules called pathogen associated molecular proteins (PAMPs) present on the surface of the pathogens. This constitutes the first line of defense for the plant. My research is focused on examining the role of the Tesmin/TSO1-like protein in stomatal immunity. The gene responsible for the production of this protein in Arabidopsis thaliana (Arabidopsis) is At4g29000. Homozygous T-DNA insertion mutant was used for experimentation. Thermal imaging, which is used to monitor stomatal opening and closing, has shown that stomatal pores in this mutant have small aperture width as indicated by a hotter leaf surface temperature two and four hours post inoculation with Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato DC3118 and DC3000 (Pst DC3118 and Pst DC3000). The mutant has also shown significantly lower levels of infection when inoculated with Pst DC3118 and Pst DC3000. Further research and confirmation of the role of the Tesmin/TSO1-like protein in stomatal immunity can have potential applications in developing plant lines that have enhanced stomatal immunity, thus, providing opportunities for employing additional control measures to decrease the impact of plant diseases on food production.
Publication Date
5-1-2015
Language
English
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Khardi, Roshni, "ASSESSING THE ROLE OF GENE AT4G29000 IN STOMATAL IMMUNITY IN ARABIDOPSIS THALIANA" (2015). 2015 Spring Honors Capstone Projects. 9.
https://mavmatrix.uta.edu/honors_spring2015/9