Discipline: Biological Sciences
Subcategory: Plant Research
Session: 3
Room: Marriott Balcony B
Kirstie Grant - Howard University
Co-Author(s): Meghan Fogerty, University at Albany, SUNY, Albany, NY; Rabi Musah, University at Albany, SUNY, Albany, NY; Janelle Burke, Howard University, Washington, DC.
Rumex acetosa is a dioecious plant species, where plant sex is determined by inheritance of heteromorphic sex chromosomes. The identified sexual systems of dioecious Rumex species are recognized as good experimental models to study resource allocation patterns in plants. Earlier studies confirmed that male and female individuals play distinct roles in the overall development of a plant using resource allocation strategies.
Compared to species comprising a host of other genera and families, significantly high concentrations of phytochemical oxalic acid were found to be unique to Rumex species. Given the concept of resource allocation patterns, we anticipate a difference in the oxalic acid compositions across Rumex acetosa individuals based on the sex of the plant. Given the primary function of secondary metabolites, we anticipate a difference in the oxalic acid composition across Rumex acetosa individuals based on the age of the plant.
The first objective of this study was to confirm the presence or absence of oxalic acid in targeted male and female individuals of Rumex acetosa. For this investigation, 24 targeted male (8) and female (16) individuals were examined using Direct Analysis in Real Time Mass Spectrometry (DART-MS). Preliminary results revealed that oxalic acid was present in ~3-month-old Rumex acetosa individuals and absent in ~7-month-old Rumex acetosa individuals. Having confirmed its presence, we plan to quantify and compare oxalic acid content concentrations occurring in these male and female individuals using plant sex as the independent variable and plant age as the dependent variable.
Funder Acknowledgement(s): This project was supported by NSF award HRD #1601031 and an HU ADVANCE Mini-Grant to J. Burke.
Faculty Advisor: Janelle Burke, kirstie.grant@bison.howard.edu
Role: -Plant sample population cultivation -Generation of plant molecular data -Plant sex chromosome screening -Plant sample preparation for DART-MS analysis