Screening for Mutants and Studying Plant Stress Responses in Arabidopsis Thaliana and Zea Mays

Abstract

As primary producers, plants have evolved an arsenal of defense strategies in response to herbivory and environmental stresses. Cytochrome P450s (CYPs) are involved in plant secondary metabolism with biochemical pathways for defense against biotic and abiotic stresses. CYP72A is a subfamily of enzymes in flowering plants that are the focus of study in this lab. Gene expression data suggests that these CYP72A genes are involved in abiotic (heat and drought) and biotic (caterpillar herbivory) stress responses. Model plants maize (Zea mays) and Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) are used to understand plant defense under abiotic and biotic stresses. CYP72A mutants were made using the CRISPR system and TDNA inserts in Arabidopsis and using Ac/Ds system in maize. Comparison of mutant to wildtype plants allows investigation into conditions in which CYP72A gene function is required. The results of this study are as follows: 1) Under soil salinity stress, there was no significant difference in plant biomass or ROS levels between wild type and mutant plants. 2) There was no significant difference in caterpillar weights for mutants after heat stress and herbivory. 3) Different plant lines and combinations of abiotic and biotic stresses will be tested to further examine the role of CYP72A8.