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Title: The binding to, and colonization of, roots by Agrobacterium tumefaciens (Research Advisor: Dr. Ann Matthysse)
Kristine Shaffer It is known that bacteria including agrobacteria bind to and colonize plant roots. The presence of bacteria on the roots has been shown to influence plant growth and disease resistance. However, all of the factors that lead to high numbers of bacteria binding to roots have not been determined. Through root colonization experiments, it was found that more bacteria bound to roots that displayed branching than on roots that did not. However, when a motility mutant was tested against wild type bacteria there was no significant difference in attachment, suggesting that motility is not a major factor in attachment of agrobacteria to plant roots. In addition, it was found that wounding of the plant root did not have a significant effect on binding since wound sites on roots showed only a minor rise in the number of bacteria bound, when compared to the number of bacteria bound to roots that did not contain wound sites. These results suggest that root growth pattern (branching) is a major factor in bacterial colonization and that wounding and bacterial motility are minor factors. |
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