At 10:01 AM 11/2/96 -0800, Dr. David Starrett wrote:
>Plant-eders,
> We have a MAST answer line at the University here. I had a call from a
>High School biology teacher referred to me. Some students are doing plant
>phys experiments. They want to know how to extract and quantitiate Ethylen=
e
>and ABA. I told them that ethylene is easy to "extract" by simply using a
>jar, etc. Quantitation requires a GC or such though. ABA will be more
>difficult. Anyone know of any classroom type methods by which ABA could be
>extracted and/or any methods for assaying C2H4 or ABA. Are there any good
>bioassays or simple chemical assays? They have access to a University in
>Lincoln, NE. Will they be able to do this purely in their biology and
>chemistry labs, or are they going to have to use University GC, MS, etc.
> Anyone ideas are appreciated. Reply to me and I will pass along the
>suggestions.
Dave,
Indeed for anything "publishable" you will need GC for ethylene
and GC-MS for abscisic acid. I don't know what is in NE for this,
bu=DD most plant physiology departments *might* have a GC that could
be outfitted to do ethylene. I'd say it is FAR less likely to have
a GC-MS that could do abscisic acid. A chemistry department
instrument is likely too-contaminated to measure the small levels
of AbA in a sample from plants without significant noise. A food
science department *might* have something suitable...depending
on their research interests.
I would suggest doing some simple bioassays. For ethylene there
is the triple response in pea seedlings. For AbA there is the
wheat coleoptile growth inhibition test (or lettuce seed germination
inhibition test).
ross
______________________________________________________________
|
Ross Koning | Koning at ecsu.ctstateu.edu
Biology Department | http://koning.ecsu.ctstateu.edu/
Eastern CT State University | Phone: 860-465-5327
Willimantic, CT 06226 USA | Fax: 860-465-5213
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Plant Physiology is Phun!
/\|___/\ //\______COOH NH-CH2-CH=3DC-CH2OH \/OH
| | | | | | || //\___ \CH3 /\|/\\/\\COOH
\/ \/|\/| \\/ \ / N || N | |
/\ | |__|=3D NH | || || //\//\
| COOH \\ /\ / O
COOH H2C=3DCH2 N NH
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