Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

i need advice on choosing a question for my project -
first of all, are there specific genes that control the production of essential oils in plants? because one of my (vague) ideas has something going along the lines of using such genes in plasmids/etc. to create antimicrobial bacteria that could kill viruses or other microorganisms to use as a safe way to sanitize surfaces and so on... is this even possible? or am i just going in over my head?
if so, another idea i had was to find a chemical commonly used on produce (that can be easily obtained) and see if it would affect fruit flies on a genetic level. how would i test for genetic changes if i were to pursue this topic?

and overall, which question would be the better one to stick with?

Hi,

Both projects are possible, but I think that you would need a mentor who works on the genetics of plant compounds if you were to pursue the first idea.

Looking for genetic effects from pesticides should be much easier. Fruit flies are easy to work with, and should give you some interesting results. What you will want to do is purchase fruit fly growing supplies and fruit flies (I am sure that a website like Carolina Biological Supplies will have a kit or something) as well as your pesticide. There are lots of pesticides sold in garden stores, etc.

The trick to this experiment is going to be getting the pesticide at a low enough concentration that it does not kill the flies but that it may mutate their DNA. You will probably have to play around with several different concentrations until you find one that works. Then you can compare flies grown in medium with that pesticide included to flies grown in normal, pesticide-free medium. You will probably need a high-powered magnifying glass and/or a dissecting scope to observe the flies closely enough to see some of the phenotypic changes.

Does this sound like something you would like to pursue?

thank you!
how would the topic "genetic effects of bisphenol A on drosophila" compare with my previous topics?
also how difficult would it be to actually analyze dna for my project if i had the resources to do so?

Hi there!
Many genetics projects use similar techniques in analyzing data, and a lot of it can be done computationally. Depending on your proficiency with computers, it may or may not be too difficult to learn. I would definitely start off with finding a mentor who can really guide you through the genetics portion of your projects, since you seem to be very interested in that. Best of luck!

Hi,

I have been thinking about yur post for several days. You have asked one of the rare questions that can’t be answered really easily with a simple Google search. Congratulations! You seem able to ask “Big Picture” questions (I.e. look at grove of trees and see a forest, not individual trees). That is a fairly rare skill much needed in the science profession. The challenge is that these big picture questions are rarely easy to answer in a single simple experiment. I fear that is the main feature of both your ideas. I think the first thing you need to do is decide which idea is really the most interesting to you and try to refine that. I agree with the first answer you got that you need to find a mentor. Have you seen Science Buddies advice on how to do that?

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... tors.shtml

You should really choose your prospective mentor for their knowledge of the area you most want to know about.. If your interest is in fky genetics you need to know about the flybase website:
http://flybase.org/

This site has many useful tools to search fly genes, look for research scientists interested in fly genetics, procure flies with specific genetic profiles, buy supplies needed to grow flies, etc.

If you are more interested in the essential oils questions, a different strategy is needed. I do not think there is any question that genetics control the production of essential oils, but it will take some sleuthing to discover how. Genes are known to encode for proteins, and the outlines of how proteins are manufactured from genes are becoming rather well understood. But essential oils are not proteins, so I suspect the genetic control is a little more indirect. Most essential oils are made of terpenoids:

http://www.vetiver.org/TVN_vetoil02.pdf

http://www.ice.mpg.de/bol/research/terp ... rpenes.htm

http://www.enzyme-database.org/reaction/terp/terp.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terpenoid

http://www.genome.jp/kegg/pathway/map/map01062.html

So the genetic control of the synthesis of these compounds will involve studying the enzymes that control the synthetic pathways. You could investigate these enzymes and the genetic variations among them, and the mechanisms of regulation of the expression of the enzymes and how control of synthesis of these terpenoids is achieved. This is all fascinating stuff, but rather complicated.

So you need to make some basic decisions. Must you do an experiment for your project? If the answer is yes you need to narrow your topic way down to a question that can be answered in one fairly simple experiment. If no experiment is absolutely required you could try to write a well researched paper, possibly trying to lay out a plan to answer one of the broad questions you have already posed. You could try to plan a research path to answer how you would alter a gene in either a plant or a fly to accomplish your goal, enumerating the steps involved in the task and the techniques that could accomplish the task and how they work.

If you need to do an experiment you need to reduce your question to a very narrow question. With respect to the fly genetics question, about the broadest doable question would be something like “How effective a mutgen/pesticide is [specific essential oil] compared to a known mutagen/pesticide (like formaldehyde)?” - and this would be a really big effort. You would need a mentor and access to lab facilities to breed flies.

My guess is that any way you decide to take your project will be extremely interesting and fun, and you will learn a huge amount that will be extremely helpful to you later.

By the way, there are Science Buddies Project Ideas in Genomics that you should see if you have not already read them. They link to tools you need to know about and maybe use:
https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... p?ia=Genom

Good luck and have fun!!

Barrett L Tomlinson