No matter how deeply we delve into science there is always more to learn. In defining the world around us, thousands of biological functions remain unexplained. As she examines a basic biological process—the role of the cell wall in determining plant structure—Mika Mayer hopes to add more to the body of scientific knowledge concerning the mechanisms that lead to changes in the form and ultimately the function of plants. Along the way, she is gaining first-hand experience in biochemistry and cell biology.
Working together with her research advisor, Karen Schumaker, in the department of plant sciences, Mayer is spending her sophomore year exploring the types and sequence of changes mosses undergo during growth. As a moss plant develops, a genetically programmed asymmetry in the shoot leads to a dramatic change in growth form. The change in growth is signaled by plant hormones and leads to the production of a bud from which the mature moss plant develops. Schumaker and Mayer hypothesize that there is an interaction between the cell wall, plasma membrane and cytoskeleton in the plant that directs the bud cell site selection and formation.
Mayer is looking for connections between the cell wall and internal cell components as buds are established. “An important part of testing our model was to be able to visualize the connections in living cells,” she says. To do this, she and Schumaker are plasmolyzing cells (a process where the protoplasm pulls away from the cell walls) using cell cultures of the moss Funaria hygrometrica. Under plasmolyzed conditions, the connections or adhesions can be viewed using the light microscope.
Thus far, they have seen the adhesions under different plasmolysis conditions. They are developing methods to allow them to quantitate the number and locations of the adhesions during development. “The power of the moss development system,” Mayer says, “is that we will ultimately be able to test our hypothesis by altering the structure of the adhesions and determining the effect on moss bud formation.”
Sign In
