title: Regulation of iron acquisition responses in plant roots by a transcription factor.
abstract: The presented research hypothesis-driven laboratory exercise teaches advanced undergraduate students state of the art methods and thinking in an integrated molecular physiology context. Students understand the theoretical background of iron acquisition in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. They design a flowchart summarizing the key steps of the experimental approach. Students are made familiar with current techniques such as qPCR. Following their experimental outline, students grow Arabidopsis seedlings up to the age of six days under sufficient and deficient iron supply. The Arabidopsis plants are of two different genotypes, namely wild type and fit loss of function mutants. fit mutants lack the essential transcription factor FIT, required for iron acquisition and plant growth. Students monitor growth phenotypes and root iron reductase activity in a quantitative and qualitative manner. Then, students determine gene expression regulation of FIT, FRO2, and a reference gene by reverse transcription-quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR). Finally, students interpet their results and build a model summarizing the connections between morphological, physiological and molecular iron deficiency responses. Learning outcomes and suggestions for integrating the course concept are explained. © 2016 by The International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 44(5):438-449, 2016.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Botany, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Universitätsstraße 1, Building 26.13.02.36, 40225, Düsseldorf, Germany. petra.bauer@hhu.de.
authors.forename: Petra
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bauer
mesh_terms: D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism*; D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D001695:Biology / Q000193:education*; D035843:Biomedical Research / Q000193:education*; D003479:Curriculum; D004521:Educational Measurement; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D006801:Humans; D007501:Iron / Q000378:metabolism*; D008954:Models, Biological; D010641:Phenotype; D018517:Plant Roots / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism*; D018794:Problem-Based Learning / Q000379:methods*; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D014157:Transcription Factors; D007501:Iron
keywords: FIT; RT-qPCR; arabidopsis; ferric iron reductase; gene expression; iron acquisition; plant growth; transcription factor