The debilitating impact of climate change on crop production remains an issue of global concern. Climate change has over the years been a driving force of extreme weather conditions that can adversely impact the growth, development, and yield of crops. Plants are able to combat the effects of stress conditions using complicated signaling networks and pathways. Several chemicals and phytohormones have been identified as part of these signaling pathways. However, the role of phytohormones in facilitating the transmission of extracellular stress stimuli into intracellular responses in plants remains unclear. This challenge is a consequence of the difficulty in studying real-time plant trafficking mechanisms in live plants and understanding how phytohormones facilitate this process. The objective of this study is to explore the mechanism of phytosulfokine trafficking in Arabidopsis thaliana with the aid of a fiber-optic fluoresce microscope that was built specifically for this purpose. Phytosulfokine (PSK) is a peptide hormone that is involved in both plant growth and stress response signaling. PSK and tetramethyl-rhodamine labelled PSK (TAMRA-PSK) were delivered to the roots and leaves of different Arabidopsis thaliana genotypes (wild type, PSK receptor deficient, overly expressed PSK receptor). With the aid fluorescence micrographs captured by the fiber-optic microscope PSK was observed to be transported form the abaxial surface of the leaf to the adaxial surface, the movement of PSK from the roots to the leaves was also observed with significant difference in mobility in the different plant genotypes. The more effective phytosulfokine mobility observed in the genotype with overly expressed PSK receptors suggests that PSK mobility is receptor dependent. Further quantitative analysis via different extraction methods and HPLC analysis will test the amount free PSK and receptor bound PSK in root and leaf tissues to better understand the mechanism of phytosulfokine in plant signaling.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ETSU/oai:dc.etsu.edu:asrf-2209 |
| Date | 25 April 2023 |
| Creators | Tindi, Martin, Obuaba, Issaka, Abakah, Bernard |
| Publisher | Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University |
| Source Sets | East Tennessee State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Source | Appalachian Student Research Forum |
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