| Affiliations: | Research Intensive Community for Undergraduates Summer Program |
| Project Leader: | Tri Tran tritran94@tamu.edu Plant & Environmental Soil Science |
| Faculty Mentor: | Muthukumar Bagavathiannan, Ph.D. |
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Meeting Times:
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Summer 2016 (complete) |
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Team Size:
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3 (Team Full) |
| Open Spots: | 0 |
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Special Opportunities:
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Members of this research project will be able to be exposed to a variety of biology researching techniques from manipulating plant genetics in the lab to examining the plant phenotype in the greenhouse. The project is leading by an experienced undergraduates student under the instruction of a pos-doc and supervised by a professor. Students may have a chance to attend the conference and become a member of the Weed Identification Team in the Department of Soil and Crop Sciences. Students participating this projects will hands-on experience as well as communication skills in the friendly professional environment. |
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Team Needs:
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The project requires undergraduates to have knowledge in biology/ genetic field and the passion in conducting plant biology experiment. |
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Description:
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ultivated sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) and the common weedy relative johnson grass (S. halepense) have the potential to out cross and exchange traits. Crop sorghum is an annual, diploid (2n=20) species, whereas johnsongrass is a tetraploid (2n=40) perennial species, capable of producing underground rhizomes. The ability for out crossing between the two species presents challenges to the successful deployment of novel traits in crop sorghum. Although gene flow is known to occur between the species, little is known on the characteristics of the hybrid progeny. Because crop sorghum is a diploid and johnson grass is a tetraploid, the hybrids are typically expected to be sterile triploids, but not always. Preliminary crosses conducted under controlled environment have also yielded fertile tetraploids through unreduced gamete formation in crop sorghum. Little is known on the overall genotype and phenotype of such hybrids and frequency of occurrence, knowledge of which is critical for developing effective gene flow mitigation/management tactics. Experiments will be conducted to determine the ploidy (chromosome number), rhizome production potential, plant height and other growth habits, seed characteristics, among others. Additionally, simple sequence repeat markers will be used to characterize the genetic similarities among the hybrids and their parents. |