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BIO 599 Graduate
Independent Study Nature of
the project; The Project involves the nitrogen-fixing bacteria rhizobium and their cohorts the legumes - peas. This unit intertwines biotech and environmental science. Students will be growing a specific type of legume, snow pea, in sterile potting soil. We will seed the soil with Rhizobium and then treat the soil with different amendments - change pH and alkalinity of the water we use to feed them. We are looking for optimal growth of the plant using specific species of rhizobium, specifically if the rhizobium attached and has the nitrogen fixing gene. We will continue standard measurements in the green house through the winter and hope to transfer offspring to an outdoor garden in the spring. We will use PCR to amplify and identify the nif (nitrogen-fixing gene) and DNA fingerprinting to identify species of Rhizobium. We hope to discover a species of Rhizobium that fixes nitrogen for optimal growth in a specific soil amendment. Ultimately, a second experiment will then be to seed the optimal rhizobium species, under the right conditions, into different lawn plants and grasses and see if we can get a symbiotic relationship going with them. If the experiments work as I hope, then my students can spend some time writing to lawn care companies in the state asking for reduction of fertilizers on lawns by making suggestion of plants that will fix nitrogen and reduce cost too! The big picture will be to reduce the number of run-off nitrates from fertilizers into our waterways! Methods used
in the project
Materials Criteria
to evaluate the student's performance |