Conducting Undergraduate research project- Jordyn Sanders (6 points)

 During the Fall 2025 semester, I had the opportunity to participate in a research-based course that focused on microbiomes in the environment, specifically the Arabidopsis plant, and the interactions between soil and roots with the bacteria present on these plants. Throughout our research, we found that plants grouped by specific soil characteristics, such as sterile and non-sterile, influence the interaction of bacteria on plant roots, which in turn affects the overall growth of plants. We identified a specific classification of bacteria found on Arabidopsis plants, known as Streptomyces, and tested whether this specific bacteria inhibits the growth of our plant species and whether it was present in the roots or the soil. Our findings showed that our specific strain of bacteria exhibited antibiotic properties that could prevent disease, but none directly affected plant degradation. It was therefore concluded that our specific bacterial strain had no impact on the growth of Arabidopsis plants. I would be interested in exploring other variations of the Streptomyces species to determine which strain has the greatest impact on plant growth.