Chemical Profiling of Plants to Determine Link Between Chemical Production and Plant Relatedness
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Overview
Plants produce an abundance of chemicals that provide many uses for humans. However, there is limited knowledge in understanding how these compounds evolved and are distributed across the plant kingdom. By conducting chemical analysis on a wide variety of plants and mapping these results, research can uncover relationships between plant type and chemicals produced (Busta et. al 2024). This can provide significant opportunities for future research by creating a thorough database that links plant type to chemical produced. Organization of this would benefit many researchers in being able to find specific aromatic chemicals in a wide variety of plants.
My Project
To look into this, I am partnering with my mentor Dr. Hiroshi Maeda to uncover patters plant relatedness and chemicals produced.
hypothesis: chemical profiling of plants is expected to reveal similarities and differences based on their relatedness
methods:
collecting 150 plant samples, 50 species 3 of each
freezing the samples with liquid nitrogen
freeze drying the samples
conducting a chemical analysis of the samples
mapping these results
Potential Outcomes
supported hypothesis: there will be a clear pattern between the chemicals in a plant and its phylogeny
If the supported hypothesis is successful, these patterns can provide beneficial data for future research. Plant-derived aromatic compounds are frequently used in human life. Specifically in medical use, plant-derived compounds are vital. Discovering a connection between plant chemicals produced and relatedness will provide more access.
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slightly supported hypothesis: there is some relationship between the chemicals produced and plant phylogeny
If the hypothesis is slightly supported but not consistent, then it would be important to conduct more research to understand why there is some pattern.
*additionally there is a possibility 50 different species might not be enough to find a pattern
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unsupported hypothesis: there is no relationship found
If the hypothesis is unsuccessful and there is no correlation, then the research would conclude that there is no correlation between plant phylogeny and chemicals produced meaning chemical traits evolve rapidly and randomly and even closely related species make very different chemicals.
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