Research Proposal For Aspects Of Arabidopsis Thaliana

Essay, Research Paper

Research Proposal for Aspects of Arabidopsis thaliana Introduction The mouse

ear cress Arabidopsis thaliana is a member of the Brassicaeae that lends

itself well to genetic study in that it has only a small quantity of DNA. The

plant itself has little commercial value aside from that as a research tool,

and it has no aesthetic horticultural value at all. It is a small plant that

can be grown by the hundreds in cells on a laboratory bench, and its small

quantity of DNA makes it useful in identifying genes of other organisms

(Wheeler, 1994). Normal

flower color varies between solid white petals to green petals only tinged with

white. Manipulation of flower color is of interest not because of any potential

ornamental value, but because of the mechanisms of gene expression in the

visible appearance of the yellow pigment anthocyanin. In like

manner, information regarding cold tolerance and the biochemical changes that

occur within the plant in response to cold are not of interest primarily for

culture of the plant itself except as it applies to cultural conditions that

need to be maintained for optimum life cycle completion time. Rather, Arabidopsis?

response to cold stress is of interest because facts learned from it can be