| Explore | My group and I took a biology course last year and through previous science classes we know the basic lifecycle of plants and we know about general plant structure. Through research we were able to learn more about the plant we will be using, Arabidopsis Thaliana, and the mutants we are using which are based around Abscisic Acid (ABA). ABA is the hormone released in plants as a response to stress. The first mutant we are using is ABA deficient, meaning it does not produce the hormone, and the second is ABA insensitive, meaning it can not respond to the hormone when it is produced. This led us to question what effects environmental stress would have on the mutants, such as water stress. |
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| Research Question | Our Group wants to test the effects of water stress on ABA based mutants of Arabidopsis Thaliana and a natural variant that survives in an environment with more water. We came to this question through our research of available plants we can use and our research of ABA and how it responds to water stress. |
| Predictions | A predicted outcome of our experiment is that the natural variants would grow the best and most efficiently in the stressful conditions. The ABA deficient and insensitive mutants will likely not grow as well in the stressful conditions as the wild types because they do not have the ability to use ABA to regulate their response to stress. The seeds should all grow fairly well in the controlled environment. |
| Experimental Design | For this experiment, we will be observing how the amount of water affects a plant. We will be taking four different plants, two original and two mutants. Our first original plant is Columbia, and our second is Lovvik. Our first mutant is abscisic acid deficient, and our other mutant is abscisic acid insensitive. With twelve set ups (three per the type of plant) we will take our plants and alter the amount of water each seed receives. There will be three different levels of water saturation, measuring the water with a graduated cylinder. Then, with time we will measure the plant growth (height), leaf size, and the number of leaves. |
| Conclusion | Our hypothesis was partially supported All plants died in dehydrated Plant types all did fairly well in hydrated and saturated environments Leaf size statistically significant P-Values showed that leaf size was affected by the amount of water provided Stem height not significant P-Values showed that stem height was not affected by the amount of water provided Flaws in experimental design Time was limited Data collection was irregular Water was estimated based on each environment’s needs |
| Investigation Theme | ARABIDOPSIS |
| Grade Level | High School Students (Grades 9,10,11,12) |
| School Name | Glenbard East High School |
| Session | Fall 2016 |
