Experiment 1: Plant Response
With this experimental setup, Scott conducted two experiments. One experiment tested the immediate response of the plants to the insect feeding. In this case, the insects fed for 30 minutes. Then leaf tissue from plants was sampled to determine how the plants controlled their stress-response hormone in the signal pathway.
Scott collected the following data from the “Plant Response” experiment. He had two types of plants; wild-type (WT) and mutant (jar1). He treated these plants with the addition of a set number of cabbage loopers that fed for 30 minutes. He likewise had a control; both the WT and jar1 plants in the same environment without the cabbage looper feeding. He then sampled leaf tissue at 0, 30, 60, 90, and 120 minutes after the feeding and measured JA-Ile content of the leaf tissue. The table below represents the data obtained from one replication of this experiment.
| Time sample collected | WT with insect feeding | jar1 with insect feeding | WT unwounded (No feeding) | jar1 unwounded (No feeding) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 min. | 17 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 30 min. | 21 | 3 | 1 | 1 |
| 60 min. | 37 | 3 | 1 | 1 |
| 90 min. | 35 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| 120 min. | 7 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
From this data Scott could draw a graph to create a visual display of plant response to the treatments measured by their production of JA-Ile. The graph below is plotting two columns of the data.
Figure 8. Graph of JA-Ile accumulation in response to 30-min feeding on Arabidopsis. Plant group A JA-Ile production in pmole / g FW is 17 at time zero after 30-minute feeding, 20 at 30 minutes, 35 at 60 minutes, and declines 10 at 120 minutes. Plant group B A-Ile production in pmole / g FW is about 2 to 3 throughout all time points.
Figure 9. Graph of JA-Ile accumulation in response to 30-min feeding on Arabidopsis. WT JA-Ile production in pmole / g FW is 17 at time zero after 30-minute feeding, 20 at 30 minutes, 35 at 60 minutes, and declines 10 at 120 minutes. WT (unwounded), jar1 (unwounded) and jar1 JA-Ile production in pmole / g FW is about 0 to 3 throughout all time points.