Introduction

Careers in Plant Biology

Degree Requirements

Courses

Research Opportunities

Undergraduate Research Opportunities

2007 Undergraduate Research Symposium

Joseph W. Foley — “A New Noise Filter for DNA Microarray Expression Data.” The results that Joe presented at this symposium were obtained working in the laboratory of Plant Biology faculty member Fumiaki Katagiri. Joe was participating in his second University of Minnesota Undergraduate Research Symposium in 2007. In 2005, he presented the results of his work on Chlamydomonas in Professor Carolyn Silflow’s laboratory. Joe is currently working towards his Ph.D. degree at Stanford University.

Kevin Dorn — “Circadian Rhythm Affects Plant Competitive Traits.” Kevin is shown here with his third Undergraduate Research Symposium poster in three years. His research was performed under the supervision of Plant Biology Assistant Professor Cynthia Weinig. Kevin found that plants with short circadian periods had longer stems and enhanced fitness. He also demonstrated that mutants with short circadian periods (toc1-1 and toc1-2) exhibited greater stem elongation in response to foliar shade than mutants with long circadian periods (ztl1-1 and ztl1-2). 

Joshua Baller — “Discovery of Sequence Motifs Shared among the Promoters of Co-regulated Genes in Arabidopsis Defense Responses.” Josh searched the promoters of genes involved in the responses of Arabidopsis plants to various plant pathogens for conserved sequence motifs. He analyzed data from Affymetrix GeneChip® gene expression experiments and identified shared promoter sequence motifs. Josh’s faculty mentor was plant Biology Associate Professor Fumiaki Katagiri.

Rebecca Reckelberg (left) and Jordan Keen (not shown) — “Function of Calcium-Dependent Protein Kinase 1 (CDPK-1) in Medicago truncatula.” Rebecca and Jordan carried out their research in the laboratory of Plant Biology Associate Professor Steve Gantt. They used a yeast two-hybrid system to look for proteins that might interact with CDPK-1. Bait and prey plasmids were constructed containing portions of the CDPK1 gene and sequences from a M. truncatula cDNA library, respectively. The inserts in the identified prey plasmids were then sequenced, and the resulting sequences were compared with existing databases for identification.
           
The poster to the right of Rebecca’s was prepared by Aaron Oldre, who carried out his research under the supervision of Plant Biology faculty member Nathan Springer.  Aaron’s poster is entitled “Are There Good or Bad Heterotic Crosses for the Maize Plant?” His work was performed with input from Post Doc Bob Stupar — now an Assistant Professor in the Department of Agronomy and Plant Genetics.

Katie E. Wolf (center), shown here with her parents — “Efficient Discovery of Plant Regulatory Genes.” Katie’s research was carried out in the laboratory of Plant Biology faculty member Fumiaki Katagiri, with the assistance Post Doc Remco van Poecke. One goal of Katie’s research was to develop a procedure for rapidly mapping alleles of potentially useful regulatory genes. F2 progeny of a cross between Arabidopsis ecotypes Col-0 and Ws-2 were analyzed by expression profiling after infection by Pseudomonas syringae. RNA samples from 200 F2 plants were examined for the levels of expression of selected genes by qRT-PCR, with the results being used to map the regulatory gene.

Roshani Dahal (left) — “O-GLcNAc Modification Affects the Activity of NADP-Dependent Glyceraldehyde-3-Phosphate Dehydrogenase.” Roshani’s research was performed under the supervision of Plant Biology Professor Neil Olszewski and Research Associate Lynn Hartwick (center). Ann Brigl (right) was an Undergraduate Research Assistant in the Olszewski lab at the time. Rashani studied the effect of the O-GLcNAc post-translational modification of NADP-dependent glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase in Arabidopsis.  Her results show that NADPH production is slower in an in vitro system when modified enzyme is used, suggesting that the addition of O-GLcNAc decreases enzyme activity.

Steven Biorn — “O-GLcNAc Modification Sites of Light Harvesting Complex II  (LHCII) Plant Proteins.” Steven’s poster is to the right of Rashani’s (behind Ann). Steven’s research was also carried out in Neil Olszewski’s laboratory. Steven’s work focused on identifying the site(s) of O-GLcNAc modification of LHCII.

Other Plant Biology posters at the Symposium — for which no photos are available — were the following:

Kari Kruger — “The Affects of Floral Morphology on the Mating System in Brassica rapa” — Faculty Mentor Cynthia Weinig.

Angela Haugen — “Secondary Metabolites of Freshwater Cyanobacteria:  A Screen for Allelopathic Compounds” — Faculty Mentor Florence Gleason.

Jill Peiffer — “Trans-Generational Effects of CO2 and Nitrogen in Three Minnesota Prairie and Grassland Plant Species” — Faculty Mentor Peter Tiffin & Post Doc Mentor Jennifer Lau.