CENTENNIAL HONORS COLLEGE
Western Illinois University
Undergraduate Research Day 2016
PosterPresentation
TheEffectofBacterialInoculantsontheHeatStressResponseofCorn
MorganHare
FacultyMentor:SueHum-Musser
Biology
Ourprojectgoalistocomparethegrowthandanalyzegeneexpressionofcornplantsthathavebeen
inoculatedwithbacterialinoculantsandexposedtoheatstress.Somebacteriacanpromotethegrowth
ofplants.TheMicroAZbacterialinoculantcontainstwostrainsofAzospirilliumbacteria.Thesebacteria
canimproverootsystemsandfixatmosphericnitrogenintoaformusablebyplants.Thisresultsinthe
abilityforgreaterplantnutrientuptakeandtherefore,anincreaseintheyield.TheMicroAFinoculant
containavarietyofbacteriaandmaypromoteplantgrowthandhelpwardofplantdiseases.
Thisexperimentispartofalargerprojectexaminingthetotalgeneexpressionincornplants.Mymain
focuswastheeffectoftheinoculantsonplantleaftissueunderheatstress.FirstIinoculatedcornplant
seedswithMicroAZandMicroAFseparately,andgrewthematroomtemperature(25oC)fortwoweeks.
Ithenexposedhalfoftheseedlingstoaheatshock(35oC)for16hoursinthedark.Theotherhalfofthe
seedlingswereleftatroomtemperature.ThenIexaminedgeneexpressionoftheleaftissue.Thiswas
completed by extracting the RNA, synthesizing cDNA and running real-time quantitative polymerase
chain reaction. There were different levels of gene expression in a variety of genes due to the two
distinct bacterial inoculants, along with heat or room temperature growing environments. Ultimately,
theoveralldeterminationoftheeffectsofMicroAZandMicroAFoncornplantgrowthandresponseto
heatstressisimportantinthesearchofmoreenvironmentalfriendlymethodstoincreasecropyieldto
meettherisingdemandoffoodtofeedthevastlygrowingworldpopulation.