At 8:25 PM 10/3/96 -0700, Michael Joseph Kerkman wrote:
>I am another NAU student. I also have a question: I am doing a research
>project with a partner for our botany class. My partner and I are going to
>grow potatoes in a medium and then add things to the callus. We are
>thinking of adding testosterone and estrogen. ANy other Ideas? Thank you.
Yes, Michael. While the human hormones might be an interesting
addition, they are not too relevant to normal physiology of
a plant cell or tissue. The plant equivalents of hormones
would probably be better choices. You might include different
concentrations of auxins and cytokinins in your media. The
inexpensive auxins include indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) and
indole-3-butyric acid (IBA). The IBA is much more stable
to light and heat than is IAA. For cytokinins you could use
kinetin or benzyl adenine. Please note: IAA is the natural
auxin, but neither kinetin nor benzyl adenine is natural in
plants...the natural cytokinins include zeatin and isopentenyl
adenine (both very expensive by comparison to the synthetics).
For concentrations, you might try a range of IBA concentrations
in combination with a range of, say, kinetin. I would use
ranges of 10-8 to 10-4 Molar. This would make 25 different
trials separated by powers of ten and in all combinations.
If that is too much work, you might separate by powers of
100 (ie: 10-8, 10-6, 10-4) to make it 9 different trials.
I hope the rest of your medium is designed for plant cell
culture...the right balance of minerals, vitamins, and
sugar. You also want to be careful to avoid bacterial
and fungal contamination.
Good Luck.
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!
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| COOH \\ /\ / O
COOH H2C=CH2 N NH
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