mritke at bio104.alleg.edu (Mary Ritke) wrote:
>> Hello netters
>> I am trying to design an experimental component to a cell bio lab exercise
> that uses the "Hill Reaction" to measure photosynthetic activity
Aside from using different light intensities and
> colors are there any other ideas you have that are suitable for sophomores
> in intro cell bio? I was told that there are herbicide resistant plants "out there"
> that we could use to compare rate of photosynthesis in chloroplasts from
> resistant and sensitive plants grown in the presence and absence of say
> atrazine.
>Mary - do you have to use the same species? You could demonstrate why there is such a thing as
herbicide selectivity. For example, you could show why atrazine is used to control
broadleaf weeds on corn - corn detoxifies atrazine but most dicots don't. Another idea
is to try the experiment on a number of different spinach cultivars and see if
they vary in rate of eletron reduction. Fianlly, Ron Ritter at the
Univ. of MD Agronomy Dept. ( I assume you are in his neck of the woods)
does work with atrazine resistant weeds. You might ask him if he can spare some
resistant and suseceptable weed biotypes.
Good Luck,
Cheryl
