Internalization of Escherichia coli (E. coli) into Lettuce Leaves through Stomata; Bruised vs. Unbruised leaves

Location

CSU Ballroom

Start Date

20-4-2015 10:00 AM

End Date

20-4-2015 11:30 AM

Student's Major

Biological Sciences

Student's College

Science, Engineering and Technology

Mentor's Name

Michael Bentley

Mentor's Email Address

michael.bentley@mnsu.edu

Mentor's Department

Biological Sciences

Mentor's College

Science, Engineering and Technology

Description

The purpose of this experiment is to find out whether bruising or physical damage of lettuce leaves will significantly increase the internalization of E. coli through to the stomata. To investigate this we cut fresh lettuce leaves into four pairs of (6 mm x 6 mm) pieces and incubated each pair for 6 hours in four petri dishes. We bruised two pairs of specimen using forceps and left the other two pairs intact. One bruised pair and one unbruised pair of specimen were incubated in 1/10th concentration of E. coli, while a control group of one pair bruised and another pair unbruised were incubated in a solution with no E. coli. After incubation, we fixed the specimen in a fixing solution and prepared them for viewing under scanning electron microscope. Upon viewing the specimen under SEM, we have noted that more bacteria clusters were internalized in and around the stomata of bruised leaves incubated in E. coli than any of the other groups. As of now this result generally suggests that bruised leaves are more susceptible to E. coli internalization.

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Apr 20th, 10:00 AM Apr 20th, 11:30 AM

Internalization of Escherichia coli (E. coli) into Lettuce Leaves through Stomata; Bruised vs. Unbruised leaves

CSU Ballroom

The purpose of this experiment is to find out whether bruising or physical damage of lettuce leaves will significantly increase the internalization of E. coli through to the stomata. To investigate this we cut fresh lettuce leaves into four pairs of (6 mm x 6 mm) pieces and incubated each pair for 6 hours in four petri dishes. We bruised two pairs of specimen using forceps and left the other two pairs intact. One bruised pair and one unbruised pair of specimen were incubated in 1/10th concentration of E. coli, while a control group of one pair bruised and another pair unbruised were incubated in a solution with no E. coli. After incubation, we fixed the specimen in a fixing solution and prepared them for viewing under scanning electron microscope. Upon viewing the specimen under SEM, we have noted that more bacteria clusters were internalized in and around the stomata of bruised leaves incubated in E. coli than any of the other groups. As of now this result generally suggests that bruised leaves are more susceptible to E. coli internalization.

Recommended Citation

Limeneh, Jote and Lucy Saidu. "Internalization of Escherichia coli (E. coli) into Lettuce Leaves through Stomata; Bruised vs. Unbruised leaves." Undergraduate Research Symposium, Mankato, MN, April 20, 2015.
https://cornerstone.lib.mnsu.edu/urs/2015/poster_session_A/14