Gigi Lu
Pronouns: she/her
Research Mentor(s): Regina Baucom
Research Mentor School/College/Department: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology / LSA
Program: UROPF
Session: Session 6 (3:40pm – 4:30pm)
Authors: Gigi Lu, Grace Zhang
Abstract
Ipomoea purpurea, or the common morning glory, is an effective model organism for the evolution of plants in response to both natural and artificial stressors. It is a hardy agricultural pest, and so the property of herbicide tolerance in the plant is important to understand if we wish to continue having effective herbicides to fight against it and other quickly evolving weeds. We will be investigating the evolution and genetic basis of herbicide tolerance in Ipomoea purpurea by comparing how plants with different genetic backgrounds respond to glyphosate, an herbicide found in RoundUp. In this study, 1440 common morning glories were grown for a common garden experiment in a field environment to investigate the evolution of herbicide tolerance. They were crosses between 45 maternal lines (that together, were representative of natural populations in the American Midwest). The plants were divided into four different treatment groups—herbivory only, herbivory and glyphosate, glyphosate only, and no treatment. Their life history and fitness data were collected following the end of the growing season. Among the life history data, the flower count and seed count were of particular importance, as tolerance is defined as the effect that a factor has on fitness. However, tolerance can also be measured in terms of how well the plant can regrow after being damaged; therefore, we will also be taking into account the amount of new tendrils that emerged after glyphosate application. The flower count, seed count, and number of new tendrils were analyzed using R to determine if there is a correlation between the plants’ genetic background and amount of glyphosate tolerance.
