Major
Bioinformatics
Anticipated Graduation Year
2020
Access Type
Open Access
Abstract
Astragalus crotalariae grows natively in the western United States and is known for its ability to hyperaccumulate heavy metal selenium in soil. Astragalus lentiginosus is a naturally co-occurring non-hyperaccumulating species. These organisms serve as a strong model to investigate the potential role of bacterial communities in selenium hyperaccumulation in this system. Through a manipulative greenhouse growth experiment and 16S amplicon sequencing and classification, we propose to study changes in bacterial community structure within and between hyperaccumulating and nonhyperaccumulating species of Astragalus following treatment with sodium selenate (Na₂SeO₄).
Community Partners
University of Illinois Microanalysis Laboratory
Faculty Mentors & Instructors
Dr. Michael Grillo, Associate Professor of Biology; Matthew Scott, Masters Student, Department of Biology
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
The Effect of Selenium Hyperaccumulation on the Astragalus Microbiome
Astragalus crotalariae grows natively in the western United States and is known for its ability to hyperaccumulate heavy metal selenium in soil. Astragalus lentiginosus is a naturally co-occurring non-hyperaccumulating species. These organisms serve as a strong model to investigate the potential role of bacterial communities in selenium hyperaccumulation in this system. Through a manipulative greenhouse growth experiment and 16S amplicon sequencing and classification, we propose to study changes in bacterial community structure within and between hyperaccumulating and nonhyperaccumulating species of Astragalus following treatment with sodium selenate (Na₂SeO₄).