University of New Hampshire University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository Honors Theses and Capstones Student Scholarship Spring 2021 Roles of Non-Frankia Bacteria in Root Nodule Formation and Function in Alnus sp. Kelsey Christine Mercurio University of New Hampshire, Durham Follow this and additional works at: https://scholars.unh.edu/honors Part of the Agriculture Commons, Biology Commons, Environmental Microbiology and Microbial Ecology Commons, Microbial Physiology Commons, and the Plant Biology Commons Recommended Citation Mercurio, Kelsey Christine, "Roles of Non-Frankia Bacteria in Root Nodule Formation and Function in Alnus sp." (2021). Honors Theses and Capstones. 603. https://scholars.unh.edu/honors/603 This Senior Honors Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Scholarship at University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Honors Theses and Capstones by an authorized administrator of University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Roles of Non-Frankia Bacteria in Root Nodule Formation and Function in Alnus sp. Honors Senior Thesis, University of New Hampshire, Kelsey Mercurio Additional Contributors: Céline Pesce, Ian Davis, Erik Swanson, Lilly Friedman, & Louis S. Tisa Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Biomedical Sciences University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH, USA. Roles of non-Frankia bacteria in root nodule formation and function in Alnus sp. Abstract: Plant roots are home to a wide variety of beneficial microbes; understanding and optimizing plant- microbe interactions may be critical to enhance global food security in a sustainable, equitable way. With the help of their nitrogen-fixing bacterial partner, Frankia, actinorhizal plants form symbiotic root nodules and play important roles in agroforestry and land reclamation.