Effects of Aluminum stress on development ad flowering time of Arabidopsis thaliana

Abstract

Aluminium (Al) is the third most abundant element on Earth. The Phyto-toxic form, Al3+ accumulates in soil having pH≤5 which affects around 50% of world’s arable land. Al stress induces almost instantaneously root growth inhibition, leading to less nutrient and water uptake. Root growth and patterning is an outcome of auxin and its yet unknown complex interaction with light quality. Effects of Al stress on shoot hotomorphogenesis and flowering time remain poorly understood. In this project, we have investigated the effects of Al stress on shoot photomorphogenesis and flowering time in following genotypes- Col-0, stop1KO, stop1mu, gi100, giC2715. All plant genotypes showed a general trend of decrease in the rosette radius and plant height with increase in Aluminium concentration. But the trend was not consistent across all concentration for all genotypes. To gain further insight into the topic, the experiment needs to be done with acidic soil. Spectroscopic and molecular studies need to done to understand the response of Arabidopsis to Al stress on molecular and genetic level.