Austin Lewandowski

Natural Science Seminar #2

Third report
Ecological Genetics of Wild Plants
On March 4th, 2016 I was able to attend the second Natural Science Seminar of the second
semester. There, Billi Gould spoke on the genetics of three wild plants. She shared her research from her
post doctorate work from MSU and a few other places. Being a biological presentation, it was difficult to
gleam solid chemistry yet an effort was made.
First, it is important to develop definitions. An acidified soil is one that contains an abundance of
aluminum molecules. More molecules of aluminum, the more acidic. Second, soil becomes acidic
through natural causes as well as unnatural causes. Classic weathering from rain or wind breaks down
formations and gravity allows the aluminum molecules, as well as many others, fall into the ground.
Typical pollution and fertilization also acidify the soil.
With that said, one of the plants Gould spoke on was sweet vernal grass. She wanted to know
about local plants and their tolerance to acid soils. She tested many populations of local grasses and
traveled the United States and Europe to collect samples. Each population was grasped from many
different acidities of soil. Again, Gould wanted to find what genes played in the role of acid adaptations
and if the functionality of those genes were the same in different species. Gould set out and found a
specific gene that played a specific function in being tolerant to acidic soil.
This gene, or group of genes worked on the root of the plant. As all know, the root is where
plants absorb nutrients from the ground. In the same way, plants also absorb harmful substances from
the soil through the roots. So to correct this, acid tolerant plants secrete various chemicals through the
roots that do not allow the aluminum to attach to the root. These molecules are released and wash the
aluminum away. Then, the soil that is near the root is no longer toxic for the plant to absorb.

Unfortunately, Gould did not spend much time on this process or topic to glean much more
information. I suspect that the chemical released is like aluminum. If like dissolves like, then the released
chemical will simply carry the aluminum molecules away.