Investigation of the role of alternative splicing of the maize gene ZmMATE1 in conferring Aluminum tolerance in acidic soil

My project was investigating alternative splicing of the ZmMATE1 gene from maize which contributes to aluminum tolerance. I used techniques such as reverse transcription – PCR, cloning of PCR products into TOPO vectors, transformation and plating of E. coli onto PB plates under selection. In addition I performed colony selection from plates, formation of a glycerol stock library of 96 well plates and the use of this library for probing with specific primers for alternative splice variants, and visualized the results with electrophoresis in agarose/EtBr gels. I also performed plate pooling and used the pools for PCR for increased screening efficiency. The people in the lab were very welcoming and my mentor was friendly, helpful, and open to sharing her experiences and giving advice. Overall I learned a lot and it was an amazing summer experience.