Colten Nichols plating rice seedlings on 1/2 MS Media for germinative tissue culturing.
Author: Colten Nichols | Major: Crop Science and Biochemistry | Semester: Summer 2023
The University of Arkansas’ Honors College funded the start of my research project during the Summer of 2023. This project is focused on analyzing inorganic pyrophosphate-dependent enzymes in rice, to better understand how gene expression affects energy molecule availability. This project is currently ongoing and is expected to end in the Fall of 2023.
My name is Colten Nichols, and I am a sophomore in the Bumpers College of Agriculture, Food, and Life Sciences as well as the Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences. I am pursuing a double major in Crop Science and Biochemistry with a minor in Crop Biotechnology. My mentor is Dr. Vibha Srivastava, Ph. D., and is a professor in the Crop, Soil, and Environmental Science department as well as the Cellular and Molecular Biology program. I hope to graduate with my undergraduate degrees to pursue further education in a Ph.D. program or a dual MD/ Ph.D. program, with the goal of becoming a research scientist. I have three areas of research interest: genetically modified organisms and their impacts on people and the environment, improving plant viability to combat global food insecurity, and bridging the gap between plant and human biology. The Honors College has graciously funded this project, which has allowed me to gain research experience that will be applicable in completing my thesis project and pursuing a career in research.
This project’s focus is comparing the gene expression of wild and genetically modified rice seedlings to better understand how certain molecular mechanisms impact cytoplasmic energy molecule availability. Understanding more about PPI availability in rice, and future implications could lead to improving energy utilization at the molecular level, which could improve crop viability and output at the phenotypic level. My mentor and I chose this topic because our lab has done previous research with mutant line vpp5, and this research is pivotal in our lab’s next steps for this project. When doing research, it is important to consider the workability, feasibility, and desirability of a project. In conducting this research, I have become more familiar with gene expression analysis lab techniques such as elution, RNA extraction, and qPCR. This project has solidified my passion for research.
Research centered around living organisms produces unique challenges. In this project, I worked with germinating rice seedlings harvested three and six days after germination. Rice seedlings do not germinate simultaneously, which presents a challenge for tissue collection. A combination of inconsistent germination and low seed availability caused a few replications to be incomplete, however, they did have enough tissue to provide relevant data.
My mentor has been integral in working through this research project. Dr. Srivastava is very supportive and provides excellent feedback on research activities. My mentor’s guidance has made getting involved with and conducting research on campus less intimidating. In conducting this project, I was led by one of Dr. Srivastava’s graduate mentees, Dr. Peter James Gann. While Dr. Gann graduated with his Ph.D. at the end of this past summer and left to teach in the Philippines, his guidance was vital in the beginning stages of this project. This research is built upon portions of Dr. Gann’s work, so working with him was an excellent resource to fully understand the technical aspects of this project.
Because this research is ongoing, I have not yet synthesized data to be presented at a conference. I am hopeful to present this research at the American Society of Plant Biologists Southern Section conference in Spring of 2024.