Dissecting Calcium Homeostasis in Arabidopsis thaliana: Roles in Temperature Response and Immune Signaling Calcium (Ca²⁺) is an essential secondary messenger for plant signal transduction. Plants typically maintain a low concentration of cytosolic Ca²⁺ ([Ca²⁺]cyt),...
Investigating the role of KINC in arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) symbiosis is an over 400-million-year-old relationship where the AM fungus obtains carbon from the plant and in turn provides the plant with inorganic phosphate. Genetically...
Evaluation of Freezing Tolerance in Solanum sitiens Introgression Lines Tomato is a nutritionally and economically significant crop worldwide, providing an excellent source of antioxidants, vitamin C, and vitamin A. However, its vulnerability to low temperatures...
Investigating Possible Sex Determination Genes HD-ZIP and TCP1 in Hornworts Hornworts may be small in size, but their unique biology could reshape how we understand plant reproduction and evolutionary history. A clade of about 220 species, hornworts are one of just...
Validating UAV-based Crop Architecture Traits with Non-Destructive Ground Truth Data Remote sensing technologies have transformed agricultural monitoring practices by enabling rapid evaluation of agronomically-important traits across spatial and temporal scales. These...
Towards the identification of proteins that may function with LON-1 in regulating C. elegans body size BMPs (Bone Morphogenetic Proteins) are signaling molecules crucial in embryonic development and cell proliferation in humans, with malfunctions in the BMP pathway...
Characterization of function of polycistronic snoRNA transcripts with active translation in Arabidopsis thaliana An extensive reannotation of Brassicaceae long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) was performed by Palos et al. (2022), yielding over 20k putative previously...
Expanding GreenGate Cloning: A Modular Toolkit for Gene Expression and Functional Analysis across Multiple Heterologous Systems Traditional molecular cloning techniques are time consuming, error-prone, lack high throughput, and usually only incorporate one DNA...
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Describing and Evaluating the Pathobiome of Solanum lycopersicum Traditional pathology models disease as the intersection of a pathogen, a favorable environment, and a host, neglecting the influence of a plant’s microbiome in its...
Mapping carbon allocation in above and belowground organs and root exudates of NAM founders and slac1 populations Understanding carbon (C) allocation in Zea mays (maize) under drought is crucial as climate change increases drought frequency. This knowledge will help...
Intercrop Mediated Below Ground Interactions effects on biomass, herbivore resistance, and AMF colonization Research suggests that both above-ground and below-ground facilitation on the growth of Maize crops is influenced by the legume Desmodium Unicatum. There is...
Assessing Lignin’s Role in Soil Nitrogen Dynamics and Predicting Its Content in Maize After maize grain harvest, there remains an abundant biomass of carbon-rich stalk, leaf, and cob tissue, also known as stover, that helps sustain soil carbon and fertility as it...
Longitudinal Modeling of Maize Gas Exchange for Optimizing Water Use Efficiency Stomatal conductance (gsw), a measure of gas diffusion through stomata, has significant implications for water-use efficiency (WUE) in plants. The slow anion channel 1 (slac1) gene is a...
Cells without borders: Optimization of Oligo-FiSH for maize meiocytes Fluorescent in situ hybridization (FiSH) using whole-chromosome oligonucleotide paints is a powerful cytogenetic technique for visualizing chromosomes and their behavior during cell division. This...
Systemic Pesticide Transfer from Treated Corn to Wild Mustard Poses a Risk to Non-Target Herbivores Modern agriculture frequently uses chemical seed treatments combining fungicides and insecticides to mitigate yield losses caused by pests and pathogens. While...
Discovery of putative CEP-CEPD signaling network in Zea mays through a transcriptional lens Studies have shown that eudicots utilize a long-distance nitrogen signaling pathway to coordinate nitrogen uptake from roots-to-shoot and back down shoot-to-root. This is known...
Grafting and micrografting of Nicotiana benthamiana to study the phenotypic role of nicotine Grafting and micrografting in the model species Nicotiana benthamiana allows the study of the systemic movement of molecules and their phenotypic effects. One example involves...
Probing the Role of RDR and DCL proteins in Virus Induced Gene Editing in Tomato Plants Genome editing is an important tool for biological research and crop improvement. Tissue culture is the traditional method for genome editing but requires large time investments,...
Understanding Monarch Caterpillar Attraction to Butternut Squash Monarch caterpillars (Danaus plexippus) are well-known for exclusively feeding on milkweed and turning down other plants. Because they only accept milkweed as a food source, they likely use chemical cues...
Dimensional Analysis of Arabidopsis thaliana Cells in Root Tissue under Application of Uniaxial Tensile Force Cell walls play an important role in determining plant shape. Because the physical enlargement of plant cells is limited principally by the ability of the...
Advancing the toolkit for understanding and manipulating RNA movement: A mobile CRISPR system in Solanum lycopersicum Mobile signaling is the process by which molecules travel in response to stimuli. Messenger RNAs (mRNAs) are part of this signaling system. There is a...
Spatial Modeling of Sentinel Plants: UAV-Based Phenotyping in Cotton and Tomato Nitrogen runoff from fertilized cropland fuels toxic algae blooms which contaminate surrounding water supplies. CEPD:RUBY tomato plants are a newly genetically engineered line of sentinel...
Characterization of substrate diversity in the UDP-glycosyltransferase and BAHD acyltransferase enzyme families Plants are able to enzymatically modify compounds, which has resulted in the evolution of specialized metabolites and diversification in the plant kingdom....
Comparative Analyses of RNA Modifications using Nanopore direct long-read RNA in Diverse Brassicaceae Species Recent advances in direct RNA (dRNA) sequencing have enabled transcriptome-wide detection of RNA modifications, offering new insights into the study of the...
Genome assembly and annotation of understudied algae Genomic data is critical for uncovering evolutionary relationships and the genetic basis of key traits, especially in seed-free plants and their green algal relatives, which exhibit unique biological features....
A Cautionary Synbio Tale: The Challenge of Assembling Better Rubiscos With the human population expected to reach ten billion by 2025, it is increasingly pertinent to ensure our food security; for example, by improving agricultural productivity. One way to do so is to...
Will it Frankenstein? Discovering the role of immune-based rejection in incompatible plant grafts When you pick a flower, easily breaking its stem, it’s hard to imagine how resilient this organism is. Plants can survive so much, and are capable of regenerating leaves,...
Characterization of Ribosomal Protein Gene Families in the Context of Cold Tolerance in Arabidopsis thaliana Cold tolerance refers to a plant’s ability to survive and maintain function when exposed to low temperatures. In preliminary analysis, it was observed that...
Beyond the Target: Impacts of Agricultural Pesticides and Fungicides on Non-Target Flora and Food Web The widespread use of insecticides and fungicides in agriculture has well-documented effects on target pests, but their unintended consequences for surrounding...
Mapping Carbon Allocation in Above and Belowground Organs and Root Exudates of NAM Founders and Slac1 Populations Maize root system traits including growth rate, morphology and carbon allocation are poorly described. Yet, root traits can provide insight into plant...
Screening Solanum sitiens introgression lines for shelf-life phenotypes The perishable nature of fruit leads to postharvest losses in fresh fruit markets. Thus, identifying traits that extend shelf life is critical to food security. To this aim, we screened fruit from...
Standardizing Transformation Efficiency and Demonstrating Flg22 Internalization Quantifiable, standardized data is essential for consistent plant transformation experiments, yet the current method of relying on fluorescent proteins remains largely qualitative and...
Designing an Open-Source Interactive Viewer for DNA Vectors Data visualization is highly valued. It allows scientists to interpret data quicker and more easily which can lead to discoveries faster. This project creates an open-source, circular DNA vector viewer...
The Role of TuMV NIa-Pro in ACO4 Stability and Aphid Behavior in Nicotiana benthamiana Plant viruses are major contributors to agricultural yield losses worldwide, in part due to their ability to manipulate host plant physiology and enhance transmission by insect...
Functional characterization of slac1 knockout in Gossypium hirsutum using physiological and metabolic measurements Cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) is an agronomically important crop that requires substantial water. Cotton is historically grown in areas with low...
Predicting Double-Strand Break Fate in Maize using Unsupervised Learning Meiotic recombination is an integral part of eukaryotic reproduction and diversity. The process involves the formation of programmed double-strand breaks (DSBs) across chromosomes, which result...
Myzus persicae secretes an auxin-synthesizing enzyme while feeding The green peach aphid (Myzus persicae) is a generalist herbivore, feeding on a variety of species in several different plant families. Many of these plants are valuable agricultural crops such...
From top to bottom: Exploring receptor pathways in graft compatibility Grafting is an ancient technique where two plants are physically connected to make a single plant. Grafts between two plants may be compatible, meaning their vasculature reconnects, or...
Gene-based Pan-genome Analysis of Cucumber Global challenges like climate change and population growth have intensified the need for more robust crop varieties. Advances in DNA sequencing technologies have facilitated the creation of pangenomes, which identify...
Toward redirecting cardenolide biosynthesis in tropical milkweed: from 5-alpha to 5-beta configuration Cardenolides, traditionally used in heart medications, are produced in plants such as milkweed, wallflower, and foxglove. Besides their biosynthetic complexity,...
Impact of Seed Corn Maggot on the Three Sisters Crop System: Investigating Host Preference and Performance In 2027, New York will place a state-wide ban on neonicotinoid pesticides which have had several negative effects on pollinators. Due to this ban, many farmers...
Investigating BdWOX3 and BdLG1 protein accumulation and their mutant phenotypes In grass model systems, particularly Zea mays (maize), leaf development has been extensively studied through genetic approaches. Maize double mutants narrowsheath1/2 (ns1/2) fail to...
Molecular Mechanics Underlying Tepary Bean Responses to Drought Stress As climate change progresses, rising global temperatures continue to increase stress on the world’s agricultural systems. The common bean (whose varieties include green, navy, black, kidney, and...
When do leaves commit to their phenotypic fate? Developmental point of no return on the early leaves from the det2-1 mutant of Arabidopsis thaliana Leaves are extremely diverse in size and shape throughout the plant kingdom. Understanding processes that regulate how...
Molecular Signals and Auxin Distribution in Callus Tissue Tissue culture is a vital technique for maintaining or growing plant cells, tissues, or callus under sterile conditions on a nutrient culture medium, enabling the propagation of genetically identical plants....
Genomic prediction of monolignol composition in maize hybrids Maize (Zea mays L.) is cultivated on over 93 million acres in the U.S. and produces substantial crop residues, with maize stover— the biomass left after grain harvest—emerging as a potential resource for...
Does Mother Really Know Best? Preference-Performance Hypothesis of Delia platura in Organic Fertilizers. Since New York has a prominent dairy industry, many farms use cow manure as a natural organic fertilizer. However, it has been proposed that manure might attract...
Sublethal effects of piperonyl butoxide, a common insecticide synergist, on bumble bee microcolonies Piperonyl butoxide (PBO) is a common insecticide synergist used in agricultural products throughout the U.S. PBO increases the effectiveness of insecticides by...
Modeling Alfalfa Growth using Remote Sensing Data Remote Sensing provides a high throughput and nondestructive means to phenotype plant growth and development. In this study we evaluated the utility of using remote sensing data to model biomass accumulation in Alfalfa...
Role of S-adenosyl-L-methionine Synthase in Aphid Attraction Plant viruses are transmitted by insect vectors, like aphids. Aphids use a needle-like stylet to feed from plant cells and virus particles can attach to aphid stylets when aphids feed on virus-infected...
