UC San Diego

As the climate changes, plants– which cannot relocate– must adapt genetically. We can exploit these adaptations in an effort to combat and adapt to global changes in climate. However, to do so, we must develop new methods of investigation to increase our overall understanding of plant systems. One such method has been to create inducible genetic systems. This allows for the study of genes that would have deleterious or lethal effects if studied through traditional methods, such as constitutively expressed trans-genes. Another method of experimentation has been to perform cell specific studies. This yields a range of approaches to investigate multicellular organisms. In this paper, the two methods will be combined to attempt creation of a cell specific inducible system in Arabidopsis thaliana, with a focus on the guard cells. Guard cells play a crucial role in gas exchange, transpiration, and reducing the risk of high temperature stress, making them an ideal candidate. Using the guard cell preferential promoter (pGC1) in Arabidopsis thaliana, one can conduct studies with guard cell preferential genetics. Genetic components from the ethanol utilization operon from Aspergillus nidulans were investigated in this project to attempt creation of and test feasibility of an inducible system. Due to unforeseen circumstances in the experimental design, it could not be concluded if a guard cell preferential inducible system could be successfully constructed. As such, this paper will discuss the results obtained, troubleshooting methods used, and recommendations for future attempts of developing this system.