Investigation of the CEP / CEPR1 / CEPD interaction in arabidopsis thaliana as a potential method for alerting farmers of the presence of nitrogen stress in the plant.
Plants and the Environment- Grade:
- 8
- Teacher:
- Krista Young
My science fair project is about plants and how they can communicate with farmers when they are deficient in nitrogen. I chose this project because I think the idea of crops growing was interesting and I wanted to better understand the importance of nitrogen to the growing process. Nitrogen and other nutrients cost money. Adding more nitrogen than the plants need is bad for the environment. So farmers do not want to waste nitrogen, but there is no easy way to tell when a plant lacks nitrogen. My results demonstrated a potential method for monitoring plants for nitrogen stress. My project could help farmers not waste money on excessive use of nitrogen-rich fertilizer, and reduce the risk of nitrogen related problems in the environment. This area of research is part of the work being done in the Dr. Mark Beilstein lab at the University of Arizona.
You did a great job using real lab methods (PCR, gels, and microscope images) and your data table makes it clear how the red signal changes between your samples.