Week 2: Transgenic Plants & Greenhouse Update

Hello, welcome back to my blog! 

I was off to an early start this week, traveling again to the CSH Lab on Tuesday following some minor preparation during spring break. After arriving at 10 am, I rode up towards the greenhouses to meet Matias (my project supervisor) and plan for a fruitful day of research. 

CSHL had everything from fish hatcheries to GMO, bunching space tomatoes, so it was extremely exciting to explore the equipment and staff that produced such a wide range of specialization. At the Jackson Lab, most experimental work is dedicated to plant genetics and agriculture. Therefore, I spent the day shadowing his PhD research into the other model organism Arabidopsis (Figure 1), which is typically used because it demonstrates high visibility into genetic mutation– meaning that whenever Arabidopsis plants are mutated, they tend to show outward signs (phenotypic variations), allowing scientists to more easily draw links between different genes and their relationships within the plants circuitry. To summarize his research, Matias is focused on proving the existence of mRNA (genetic material that instructs the cell to produce specific proteins) movement across cells in Arabidopsis. To do so he is constructing transgenic plants using agrobacterium (a bacteria that can introduce foreign genetic material by infecting host plants) in order to capture visual proof of mRNA movement between cells. 

As my individual project focuses heavily on the expression of plant growth genes, and the interaction between bacteria and plant growth environments, Matias was a highly fit as a mentor due to the similar circumstances of our research. So allow me to share a few highlights of the on-site work: 

First, I was able to tour a more controlled growth chamber within one of the agriculture houses. Matias kindly showed me around the facilities including some of his current plant groups (Figure 2). I helped weed and maintain some of them, which will later be used in various genetic crosses to provide evidence for his thesis. Seeing the more sterile environment of growth prompted my curiosity and possibly exposed some flaws in my experimental design. I did initially want to ensure a good degree of sterility, which isn’t as likely within the outdoor greenhouses that we planted groups in last week. Ultimately I decided to research more within the next week to determine ideal conditions (temperature, humidity) for growth, and make a decision whether or not to plant future alfalfa in the growth chamber instead. I then left for a lunch break, accompanied by the furry friend of a professor at the lab (Figure 3).

Later on, using previously incubated (grown) Agrobacterium, we performed a “flower dip” procedure. The agrobacterium (Figure 4) was isolated and purified by a series of solutions and centrifuge runs, then added to the plants to infect them by submerging the flower stalks and reproductive tissue within the culture (Figure 5). This process was especially exciting because I had worked with agrobacterium before at the Genspace Open Plant community project, but not in such a direct procedure. We discussed more in depth about our research, including a plasmid (form of DNA) for agrobacterium that Matias has been developing that works via the root system of plants. In future weeks, I may work with him to transform some of the Alfalfa for my project using this plasmid in order to detect differences in plant growth between transgenic plants and non-GMO ones in the MGS-1 stimulants. 

I was able to gain a lot of experience with transforming plants this week, so I’m looking forward to returning next Thursday with more insight from Mrs. Baessa and Genspace members. 

To conclude the week, I spoke with Mrs. Baessa, who ordered a few more supplies to return with, including: more kilograms of MGS-1, freeze dried Azospirillum to rehydrate for experimentation, and pH/nitrate testing strips for chemical analysis of our soils. Next week I hope to create an in depth conditions sheet for my alfalfa, and start informal groups to grow in the Martian soil stimulants. 

I look forward to updating you all with my next lines of research!

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