REU: Collaborative Proposal: CPSF30 atthe convergence of RNA processing, cellular signaling, and development in plants

This document pertains to a request for a Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) supplement to NSF Award IOS-0817818. This supplement will be used to host a student for the summer term of 2012. This student will continue studies initiated in previous summers by recipients of REU support that deal with the responses of the wildtype, oxt6 mutant, and complemented transgenic lines (oxt6::AtCPSF30 and oxt6::AtCPSF30m in the project description) to abiotic stresses. Research in the upcoming summer will center on the generation and analysis of high through-put sequencing data, and specifically on poly(A) tags. The specific focus of the REUsupported student will be the preparation and analysis of poly(A) tags prepared from salt-treated wild-type Arabidopsis plants; this is a self-contained project that will lead to a peer-reviewed research publication, and will also provide a context for the study of salttreated oxt6 mutant plants. This student will also assist in the generation, compilation, and analysis of data from other large-scale sequencing studies. We have recently expanded the repertoire of sequencing technologies used in this project to include Ion Torrent-based sequencing. This technology will complement the Illumina sequencing already in use, and the undergraduate supported by this supplement will help with both sample preparation and data analysis. The proposed research will provide the student with wet-bench and computational experience, and will fit in with new initiatives and collaborations that have been established in the past year (see the paragraph below describing the Plan for Recruitment and Selection).