Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

My name is Drew Abesamis,

I was asking for an idea for my 10th grade science fair project proposal and one of my friends told me about Agrobacterium tumefaciens and the effect it has on plants. I was thinking to test the pathogen on 3 types of plants in different conditions. This could tell me if the condition and the type of plant affects the growth of the pathogen.
But, I have a few questions that i need help on.

1) Where can I find a sample of Agrobacterium tumefacien and is there a temperature I have to keep it at for the pathogen to survive without it dying before I can perform my experiment.

2) How am I going to build a mini environment where I can control the temperature and the plant growth of the plant and monitor the growth (if any) of the pathogen. Any suggestions?

Anyone who knows about this type of experiment or something similar or has any suggestions, please notify me and post a reply as soon as you can.

Thanks!
Drew

Hi drew.abesamis - I am sorry your post has not received a reply from an expert yet. I am following up to see if we can get some help for you.

I wanted to point you to the "Suppliers" list on the Science Buddies' site, however. Science Buddies doesn't sell materials, but we do list sources that we believe are trusted suppliers. You might check these resources to see about procuring a sample: https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... lies.shtml

Amy
Science Buddies

Amy pointed you toward some good sites--and any supplier who will send the pathogen to you will give you instructions on how to keep it, etc.

As for keeping plants in different conditions, you might consider building a terrarium, which could be a lot warmer than an equivalent space. If you type 'how to build a terrarium' into your favorite search engine, you will get lots of websites that might help you.

I would suggest putting the terrariums somewhere with plenty of space where you can set up grow-lights, like a garage.

Science Buddies has an excellent site about measuring plant growth that you might want to read: https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... owth.shtml.

Hope this helps!