Project:

Deciphering Relationships Between Oak Trees from Around the World

Students:

Christopher Polloni, Theodore Tsiolas, Thomas Deliso

School:

St. Francis Prep, Queens

Mentors:

Michal Ashkenazy

Abstract:

In this Urban Barcoding Project, our team plans to barcode and document the DNA sequence of two species of oak tree, Quercus Libani and Quercus Montana, which have never been previously barcoded. In our analysis, we plan to compare the DNA of the two species of oak. Each tree comes from a different hemisphere, and our team will determine how the geographical location can affect the DNA, if at all, and the physical traits of the tree. The phylogeny of each tree will also be compared to determine when and how the two species developed.

Poster:

Team samples: