Biol114: The Effect of varying salt concentrations on Arabidopsis thaliana growth and development

Arabidopsis thaliana plants have little to no resistance to high salinity environments, exhibiting a lack of growth at concentrations higher than 150mM. Although Arabidopsis thaliana is considered a salt-intolerant plant, there are specimens found along the coast and closer to oceans and bodies of saltwater. We treated wild-type and unknown mutant (25026) forms of Arabidopsis thaliana with 3M salt water for 15 minute periods spread out over five weeks and measured leaf diameter to determine plant growth. We found a negative correlation between salt concentration and plant growth in the mutant plants, demonstrating possible phenotypic effects on resistance to salinity.