THE CLOVER PROJECT: CONNECTING GENETICS, ECOLOGY & PLANT BIOLOGY

NSF Grant IOS-1557770
NSF Grant DEB-0845497

ASPB 2023 BLOOME grant awardee

Summer 2024 Update:
Starting in July 2024, schools will be able to order a Basic Refill Kit which contains only the Feigl-Anger paper, linamarin, and linamarase. These refill kits are intended for classrooms that already have access to the amount of toothpicks, gallon bags, pipettes, and centrifuge tubes needed to complete the cyanogenesis experiment. Classrooms still needing those materials should order the Full Refill Kit, which includes restocks of each item listed above. The Basic Refill Kit will cost $35.

Summer 2023 Update:
Thanks to the American Society of Plant Biologists (ASPB) for 2023 funding through the BLOOME* grant program, the Clover Project is now active and will be accepting Clover Kit orders for the 2023-24 school year.
**Biology Learning Objectives, Outreach Materials & Education*

This website is dedicated to providing teachers and students with information about the Clover Lab protocol developed by science teachers and Dr. Kenneth Olsen at Washington University in St. Louis. Throughout this lab, your students will have the opportunity to study such areas as Mendelian genetics, population genetics, natural selection, and the effects of plant herbivory.

Upon completing these lab activities, students will be able to:

Determine whether clover populations located in geographically warmer or cooler climates are more likely to produce cyanide.
Identify the cyanogenesis allele frequencies of your clover populations.
Explain how the frequency of cyanide-producing plants in local clover populations varies depending on the location of the plants.
Compare and contrast data to similar climates and more extreme climates across the country using data gathered by other participating teachers and students.

By registering with this website, teachers and their students will be able to participate in ongoing research guided by Dr. Olsen at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. Dr. Olsen will use the data collected by teachers and their students as he integrates molecular and ecological genetics to examine the origin and evolution of this adaptive polymorphism.

Given the very high demand for these kits and the end of the NSF funding that made them available for free to teachers, we are now making them available for purchase at-cost.

With your purchase you will receive a full kit of materials that will allow you to conduct active research using white clover to teach a variety of curriculum topics. This activity is enriched by having classes across the country contribute their data to the website for sharing with other classes. We value your data contributions!

We are only able to ship kits within the US and Canada.

For questions or inquiries about the Clover Project and the hands-on kits, contact the Clover Project Coordinator.

Arts & Sciences | Washington University in St. Louis | One Brookings Drive, St. Louis, MO 63130-4899