The Effects and Regulation of the Synthetic Peptide Multi-11 on Root Growth in Arabidopsis thaliana

Food production is facing various obstacles including land degradation, dwindling natural resources and a rapidly increasing population. Plant biotechnology offers a series of tools that may be used to enhance cultivation of healthy and wholesome food. A novel approach called Biologically Active Random Peptides (BARPs), offers a new opportunity to produce safe, synthetic plant growth regulators. Evidence from root elongation assays suggested that the synthetic peptide Multi-11 can influence root growth. The ability to control root growth can have profound impacts on food production, carbon sequestration and the ability to grow plants in non-conducive areas. In this study, researchers examined the effect of Multi-11 on root growth through an in depth phenotypic and genotypic study. Transgenic Multi-11 and wildtype plants were grown on ½ x MS Agar petri-plates in white, far red, red/blue and dark light conditions, measured for daily root growth, and then PCR analysis was conducted to confirm that the transgene presence matched with the root elongation trait. Our results found that there was a significant difference in the root elongation between Multi-11 and wildtype plants and on average Multi-11 plants had longer roots. However, there was no significant difference in the root growth of positive and negative plants in the segregating Multi-11 population. This suggests that other factors in the plants may be causing root elongation, not necessarily the transgene sequence itself, thus more investigation must be completed to further the understanding of Multi-11 and the possible applications it has for improving root systems.