27th Annual Student Research Conference
Identification and Alteration of Key Transcription Factors Affecting the Arabidopsis Photosynthetic Pathway
Andrew R. Greenwell
Dr. Michael Seipel, Faculty Mentor
Genetic modification, through gene insertion, in plants is becoming increasingly important to the agricultural industry. The greater the impact a single gene insertion has on a plants productivity or resource use, the more likely it will be commercially successful. Transcription Factor (TF) proteins, originating from the TF genes, are essential components of all genes expression. By determining the TF genes that have the largest number of interaction (protein:protein, transcriptional, etc.) with the essential photosynthetic genes it may be possible to alter their expression and increase photosynthetic efficiency. This research primarily consisted of data mining the important TF and photosynthetic genes and drawing correlations between them. Once the most significant TF genes were determined, preliminary testing of photosynthetic capacity was accomplished using Arabidopsis plants with a down regulated gene and a Li-6400.
Keywords: Genetic Modification, Computational Biology, Bioinformatics, Photosynthesis, Transcription Factors, Danforth Center, Internship, Arabidopsis
Topic(s):Agricultural Science
Biology
Presentation Type: Oral Paper
Session: 406-1
Location: MG 1000
Time: 2:30