BIOL 114: The Effect of ethanol on Arabidopsis thaliana growth and development

Ethanol can have a wide range of effects on plant growth, providing beneficial or deleterious effects, dependent on the concentration used. The purpose of this experiment is to determine the effects of ethanol on Arabidopsis thaliana (both wild-type and mutant-16284). Here we report the findings from a multi-week study where four subgroups. Both the experimental and control groups were kept under the same conditions except the experimental group was watered with a five percent Ethanol solution. The following effects were shown on the plants; the added ethanol in the experimental groups had detrimental effects on plant growth. The control groups grew as normal when compared to the experimental groups. Plants in the control group grew bigger and larger leaves by the end of the experiment when compared to the experimental group. Additionally, we saw deleterious effects on the mutant plant specifically. This experiment can show the effects of pollutants on plants in a natural environment, as ethanol can be a dangerous pollutant under certain conditions, as well as the potential that mutant-16284 exhibits a phenotype which causes susceptibility to ethanol.