Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

Hello I am a twelfth grader independently setting out to enter into the Science Day competition. If you wouldn't mind helping pushing me in the right direction and I can go from there.

I do have a project idea in mind and have researched some projects with similarities there are just some bugs I would like to work out before I begin my project.

I searched through the Science Buddies project ideas and found "Investigate Native Plant Evolution with Chloroplast Sequencing" and "A Sweet Sequence: The Cacao Genome" which come close to what I am thinking of. They put in part the genetic engineering that I want to incorporate into my project. In a way I want to take these projects farther. To my understanding in "Investigate Native Plant Evolution with Chloroplast Sequencing" a student extracts DNA from a native plant to understand its PCR product DNA sequence to then create a cladogram. The extracting of DNA and sequencing the plants PCR product DNA is what interest me in this project. Then the project "A Sweet Sequence: The Cacao Genome" a student uses the genetically engineered gene Matina 1–6 to research if the gene is resistant to potentially harmful pathogens to the cacao. The genetically engineered gene to improve the agriculture is what interests me in this project.

Now what I am thinking towards for my own project is to obtain a common plant that has already had research on its DNA sequence, and probably best to have a fast growth rate. I want to locate a gene, (for an obvious physical trait), and genetically engineer it using knowledge from plants with similar homologous genes. I would then like to breed this gene through cloning. The last part to my project is to test the growth and survival of my genetically modified and cloned plants against the growth and survival of control plants. I have given myself three months to complete this experiment.

Here is my list of questions if you wouldn't mind answering. Is this enough time to conduct such a project? I go to a small school so I know I do not have the equipment at my school but if I gain permission from a local college to receive help in their lab could this be done? Would that be expectable or would that be banned for receiving outside help? Getting a starting point is the hardest part to grasp so where should I start? Should I start by researching the DNA sequence of possible plants for the experiment or by first extracting the DNA from possible plants?

I am sorry for the length I just wanted to give you as much information as I could so you can best understand what I am asking. Thank you for your time.

Hi Stephy,

This isn't my exact area of expertise, but I can partially answer a couple of your questions and hope that some other experts will chime in when they check the forum!

Most science fairs do not have a problem with you seeking the help of a local laboratory, as long as you conduct the experiment yourself. Given your time frame, I would say that your first step would be to contact a local lab to see whether they would be willing and able to help you. If so, they would likely be able to provide you with some guidance as to what can be accomplished in the time you have.

Good luck!

Heather

Thank you for your help. I have sent out an email to my local university’s biology professor. Hopefully he can help me with the time frame.

Hi Stephy,

You have quite an ambitious project that you've made for yourself. In actually, it might be a little hard to complete such a substantial project in 3 months. Cloning genes into vectors take some researchs months and even years. I actually know a graduate student who was working on a eye protein and it took her 2 years to insert her gene of interest into a vector. Also, trying to see if your protein affects growth rates will also take time, as plants don't grow overnight, and you will need to replicate the data a couple of times to ensure that your result is true.

Hope that helps!

-Sam

Hi Stephy! You may want to also contact any local junior colleges that also have biology labs and see if they would allow you to use their equipment.