As a freshman at UVM, Annie Gilland was focused on becoming a physician's assistant. Now a senior biological science major with a minor in plant biology, Gilland credits her experience in Professor Jeanne Harris’ research lab with helping her discover a new love of plants and research.

“The thing I liked about [Professor Harris’] research was that it encompassed so many parts of biology so I didn’t feel like I’d be limited in any way. It was like an intersection of different parts of biology.”

Gilland’s research focuses on gene regulation—the process of turning genes on and off—in plants. Specifically, she is looking at how a particular gene structure might impact a plant’s ability to form root nodules, which play an important role in nitrogen fixation. Nitrogen makes up nearly 80 percent of the Earth’s atmosphere, and is a vital element in DNA, proteins, and amino acids. “But we can’t breathe in the nitrogen and use it. It has to be turned into a different form before we can assimilate it into our DNA, our proteins,” explained Gilland. That’s where plants come in.

Bacteria in the soil can take the nitrogen gas in the air and turn it into a usable form. Certain plants have the ability to form a symbiotic relationship with the soil bacteria in which the plant forms small nodules in its root system where the bacteria can thrive. The bacteria are constantly fixing nitrogen for the plant to use, resulting in nitrogen-rich foods like legumes. 

“Think of all the legumes you eat: lentils, peanuts, lots of beans. That symbiosis is how they get so protein-rich. We depend on those a lot for our food source,” said Gilland. “But what happens if the plant can’t form that symbiosis? That’s the mutant plant that I work on.”

Gilland’s research consists of re-coding the expression of the LATD (Lateral Root Organ Defective) gene in Medicago truncatula, a clover-like legume, to try and configure a new DNA code that will hopefully help the plant create nitrogen. “If it can’t form these nodules, it can’t form this symbiosis with the bacteria, which is important for them to get the nitrogen and for us,” Gilland said.

Gilland began working in the Harris Lab as a junior. Last summer, she was awarded a Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship by the American Society of Plant Biologists, a highly competitive national award that provided Gilland with funding for her research. Gilland was one of only 12 students nationwide to receive the award last year along with fellow UVM undergraduate student Anwen Roberts.

“Joining this lab was the best decision I made in college: easily the best part of my four years here. But I would say that the best part of that is probably the people...I made a lot of friends...and I think that just the mentorship I had here has been so supportive.” said Gilland.

Gilland expressed gratitude when speaking about the opportunity to be able to work in a research lab at UVM. She says Professor Harris’ research on gene regulation is important because it provides knowledge that can be used for many years in the future. 

“Industrial nitrogen fixation is a huge consumer of fossil fuels, which adds to our climate change problems. Having a symbiotic bacterium do the job fueled by nothing but the products of photosynthesis is a wonderful and much more sustainable alternative,” says Harris, professor and chair of the Dept. of Plant Biology. “Why don’t all plants have these nitrogen-fixing interactions? This is a very exciting area of science and Annie’s research fits right in.”

“Gene regulation is just a really important part of biology because it really tells the story of when and how a gene can function in the organism, so this is just a story of gene regulation,” said Gilland.

With graduation around the corner, Gilland is now finishing up the research and writing her undergraduate honors thesis to eventually present it at the end of this school year.

Outside of the lab, Gilland works as both a tutor at the UVM tutoring center and a private tutor as well.

Adi Konforty is a senior public communication major with a concentration in media and journalism, and a 2023 science communication intern for the UVM College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.