{"id":3238,"date":"2016-11-11T11:45:52","date_gmt":"2016-11-11T17:45:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.maryville.edu\/mpress\/?p=3238"},"modified":"2018-07-26T12:11:36","modified_gmt":"2018-07-26T17:11:36","slug":"maryville-university-biochemistry-student-research","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.maryville.edu\/mpress\/maryville-university-biochemistry-student-research\/","title":{"rendered":"Seizing a Rare Research Moment"},"content":{"rendered":"

A botanist isn\u2019t usually on call to respond in plant emergencies. However, when the opportunity arises to study a flowering plant that only blooms once every seven years or so, innovation is required.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was studying for the GRE on a Thursday night and decided to take a break,\u201d says Adam \"91制片厂<\/a>Rork, \u201917, a biochemistry<\/a> major. \u201cI found the corpse flower\u2019s live feed on the Missouri Botanical Garden\u2019s YouTube channel and discovered it was about to bloom.\u201d<\/p>\n

This wasn\u2019t just any science student being interested in rare blooms. Adam researches the role of scent in plant reproduction, and this plant has a distinctive, well \u2026 obnoxious, smelly scent.<\/p>\n

\u201cI jumped on the opportunity,\u201d he says. \u201cWithin 12 hours we had permission from the Missouri Botanical Garden, and by Saturday night we were collecting scent samples from the bloom at its peak.\u201d<\/p>\n

The corpse flower, scientifically named Amorphophallus titanum<\/em> or more commonly known as titan arum, is a large, slow-growing plant. Few exist in cultivation. It can take up to 10 years of vegetative growth to bloom, and only blooms on rare occasions. Even then, peak bloom lasts just six to 12 hours. Rork had a short window of time to seize the research opportunity.<\/p>\n

\u201cWithin 12 hours we had permission from the Missouri Botanical Garden, and by Saturday night we were collecting scent samples from the bloom at its peak.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"91制片厂<\/a>Significance of the Research<\/h6>\n

\u201cThe corpse flower is not on our radar at all. It\u2019s cool, but blooms so rarely it\u2019s hardly a study organism,\u201d says Kyra Krakos, PhD, assistant professor of biology<\/a>. Rork is a student in her Maryville lab, which does work with the Missouri Botanical Garden<\/a>. \u201cThere is not a large body of work on this plant for obvious reasons. It\u2019s a rare plant, and you don\u2019t get to collect data on it very often.\u201d<\/p>\n

All plants maintain a certain appearance, color, and scent to attract insects to pollinate them so they can reproduce. In the case of the corpse flower, its pollinators are flies and beetles that are attracted to its stench\u2014which has been described as the smell of rotting meat, garlic, fecal matter, and other unpleasant aromas. If that wasn\u2019t bad enough, the corpse flower heats up to more than 100 degrees Fahrenheit to intensify the odor and spread it over a wider area.<\/p>\n

Maryville\u2019s set of data will be added and compared to existing data about the corpse flower; the research mainly confirms compounds previously detected. Rork will make his findings public and is considering various options, including a peer review journal, blog and poster.<\/p>\n

\"91制片厂<\/a>\u201cThe main significance of our research rests in the fact that there were hundreds of people at midnight at the Missouri Botanical Garden to see the rare bloom, and who saw Maryville scientists working on the plant,\u201d says Krakos. \u201cPeople saw how engaged Maryville is in the scientific community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Krakos is currently a research associate with The Missouri Botanical Garden and has created other opportunities for student research teams.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe partnership with Maryville supports the Missouri Botanical Garden mission to discover and share knowledge about plants and their environment in order to preserve and enrich life,\u201d says Emily Colletti, Missouri Botanical Garden horticulturist who worked with Rork and Krakos. \u201cKnowing the compounds in the scent of the titan arum will allow us to add a layer of educational information the next time we have one in flower.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWorking on this project was like meeting an idol in real life, which is weird because it\u2019s a plant,\u201d says Rork. \u201cSeeing its sheer size and smelling it was different than seeing it on YouTube. You hear about how bad it smells, but it\u2019s different getting up close to the flower and looking inside it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAdam had his eyes and mind open, and we at Maryville had resources in place to jump on that opportunity,\u201d says Krakos. \u201cI love that a student is seeing science everywhere and wants to actively ask questions about everything. That\u2019s exactly who we\u2019re looking for in this field.\u201d<\/p>\n

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