Author Salem Jackson Major Biology

Peptide research and implementation is a burgeoning field of agriculture, offering the possibility of increased crop yields and decreased pesticide use to farmers across the country. My project “Determining the Shelf-Life of Peptide Treatments for Crop Protection in Soybean” – developed and executed under the mentorship of Dr. Fiona Goggin (Entomology) –  is an attempt to better understand the peptide treatment GmPep3 and its various affects on soybean, with the ultimate goal of determining its proper shelf life and ideal concentration for use outside of the laboratory. I plan to continue research on this subject in 2021 in order to answer these important questions more fully.

Choosing the Topic

Freshmen year of college I took a plant biology course and enjoyed every aspect of it, particularly the lab section. This newfound curiosity – along with my lifelong interest in sustainability – prompted me to reach out to Dr. Goggin, whose research on peptide treatments I had been reading about. Although much had been discovered regarding the benefits of peptide treatments, Dr. Goggin explained that there were still important questions that had yet to be answered. For instance, was there a way to more efficiently treat the seeds that did not involve imbibing them in the laboratory, making the treatment more accessible? Was there an ideal concentration of GmPep3 that maximized yield while minimizing cost? If an alternative treatment method was attained – for instance, a freeze-dried powder – what was its shelf life? With these questions in mind, we formed a research project that aimed to collect data on peptide treatments with the ultimate goal of increasing accessibility.

Research and Challenges

Unfortunately, I was unable to truly start my project until this previous fall – and when I did begin, it was mostly troubleshooting and working out small issues that arose along the way. For instance, my initial plan was to use a ROS assay to determine whether seeds treated with GmPep3 displayed increased defenses against herbivory, as compared to control seeds. This was essentially a baseline experiment to confirm that the peptide treatment measurably benefitted the plant without harming it, before going on to create a freeze-dried powder treatment. However, the ROS assay showed no significant difference between treated seeds and untreated seeds. I then spent several weeks determining whether the protocol itself needed updating but discovered that the technology and other materials worked perfectly well with a known elicitor. Therefore, there was no known reason why the peptide treatment was not producing the expected results.

Furthermore, germinating the seeds themselves caused issue. I spent another several weeks unable to collect proper root tissue for analysis because the seeds would not germinate despite following protocol. Fortunately, Dr. Goggin and other lab members helped work out the issue.

Although it was sometimes frustrating, this semester taught me several valuable lessons. For one, research rarely goes exactly as planned; there is almost always unexpected issues that arise, or new questions that impede intended progress. This does not mean my effort was in vain – this semester still provided me with valuable information and experience. I now realize that a ROS assay is not the ideal measure for peptide treatments, and other avenues must be explored. Furthermore, I pan to work on a smaller project alongside my main project that looks at the various factors that influence soybean seed germination, hopefully helping others avoid some of the issues I encountered.

Secondly, I learned a lot about myself. Going into this semester I was unsure whether research was something I wanted to pursue as a potential career due its difficulty and frequent setbacks. Nevertheless, this year has taught me that it is something I truly enjoy and could see myself doing for years to come, despite the difficulties that come with it. I know that I still have so much to learn, about myself and about research itself, but I am ready to continue growing and learning.

Future Research Plans

Although 2020 has come to an end, I still plan on continuing my work on this project. Thanks to Dr. Goggin, as well as Dr. Alejandro Rojas’s lab, I will be shifting my focus away from ROS analysis to root scanning as a measure of peptide treatment effects. My new question will focus on whether peptide treatments affects growth of soybean plant – another area of peptide research that has yet to be fully answered – before going back to answer initial questions regarding shelf life and concentration. I may also continue looking into reasons the ROS assay was unsuccessful. I look forward to a year of new discoveries and self-growth and thank the Honors College for the wonderful opportunity.