Background:
Arabidopsis thaliana is a model organism commonly used in genetic experiments. Before starting your experiment, ask yourself the following questions:
What changes do the plants go through as they grow?
How long does it take for the plants to be fully grown?
What measurements should I take while the plants are growing?
What will the difference be between the mutant and the control plants?
If you do not know the answers to these questions, take the time to do some background research! The following resources can help:
Timeline of Arabidopsis Growth Virginia Tech Arabidopsis Videos
Goal:
The purpose of this experiment is to compare and contrast how normal (wild-type) Arabidopsis plants and genetically modified Arabidopsis plants react to a stressor.
Here are a number of things to keep in mind as your complete the experiment:
The point of the research - Why are you bothering to conduct this experiment in the first place?
The organisms - What are the differences between the wild-type plants and the genetically modified plants? How might these differences affect the ways in which the plants respond to stress?
The data - You cannot go back in time to make observations you might have missed, so take good notes the first time around!
Always record the dates during which you collect both qualitative and quantitative information.
Record measurements and descriptions of what you see in detail.
All groups should use the following colors for labels and graphs
Control Mutant - Blue Line
Control Wild Type - Red Line
Experimental Mutant - Purple Line
Experimental Wild Type - Green Line