Date of Award
5-2022
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Honors Thesis
Department
Biology
First Advisor
Philip Villani
Abstract
Plant defense mechanisms are well studied in many agriculturally relevant crops such as corn and tomatoes. Though less studied, the more ancestral nonvascular plants may be able to provide insights into the origin and working of modern plant defense systems. In this study, the bryophyte Physcomitrella patens was researched and the role of the jasmonic acid pathway in response to herbivory was investigated. Additionally, the impact of light intensity on the efficacy of this pathway was to be determined. After exposing the moss to various chemical elicitors and mechanical wounding, the activity of proteins produced in the JA pathway was measured. In P. patens, no definitive conclusions could be drawn regarding the role of JA in the defense against herbivory. Due to a lack of results from the initial experiments, the light experiments were not performed.
Recommended Citation
Morris, Matthew, "Investigation Into the Responses of Physcomitrella patens to Herbivory and the Influence of Light on the Production of Defense Compounds" (2022). Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection. 642.
https://digitalcommons.butler.edu/ugtheses/642