Leesburg teen Christopher Kim published in academic journal

LEESBURG — Christopher Kim, a junior at Lee County High School, recently published a scientific manuscript titled “Characterization of drought tolerance in Arabidopsis mutant fry1-6” in the Journal of Emerging Investigators.

Kim’s article, published on Jan. 7, examines genetic differences in a small flowering plant species, Arabidopsis thaliana, more commonly referred to as mouse ear cress.

“Differences in the genetic code of some plant species allow them to survive through extreme drought,” a news release from JEI announcing the research’s publication said.

Kim said this type of research is important in the realm of agriculture as scientists work to engineer crops that can survive in a changing global environment. He studied variants of the plant in which different alleles had been mutated or deactivated and observed the response to droughtlike conditions.

Kim took his research further by examining how much water was lost through the stomata of the plants using a transpirometer of his own making. He also measured differences in water uptake from soil among the plant varietals.

“Although Kim found that there were no significant differences in water loss among the varietals, Kim did find that plants with the fry1-6 mutant allele are able to withstand drier soil conditions than the wild-type (genetically unaltered) plants studied,” the release said. “Research like Kim’s will prove instrumental in combating a global dilemma of producing food in less than optimal conditions.”

ByungHoon Brian Kim, associate professor of biology at Albany State University, served as the senior author and mentor for the article.

The JEI is a nonprofit scientific journal operated by graduate students at Harvard University. It is dedicated to mentoring young scientists in middle and high school and publishing their research in the online journal.

Articles submitted to JEI pass through an editorial and scientific review process by several doctorate-level scientists before they are accepted and published.

The article can be accessed at https://emerginginvestigators.org/articles/characterization-of-drought-tolerance-in-arabidopsis-mutant-fry1-6.

Jennifer ParksJennifer Parks