Glabra 1 Mutant

Arabidopsis thaliana
and the effects
of Increased Water Temperature
Nicolle Alarcon Barrera

Lab Write- Up
Abstract:
This experiment was to determine the environmental and mutational differences between wild
type Arabidopsis thaliana and a Glabra -1 mutant. Glabra - 1 mutation is a protein, and its a
mutation that stops the production of trichomes, trichomes are little leaf hairs that come protect
the leave from the sun and it also absorbs water and minerals.. In order for this mutation to work
you have to insert a random order of DNA to the chromosome number 5. The experimental
conditions we chose to do were hot and cold water, to see if it would make a difference to our
experimental plant. Research states hot water makes the plant taller and cold water makes the
plant shorter. Another test used cold water and our group would do the experiment with hot
water to see a difference between the control plants and wild type plants. The results were very
impressive, but they were nothing like what we were expecting. We thought the mutant plants

would grow bigger than the Wild type. At the beginning of the experiment the wild types were
taking a while to bolt. The mutation started out in better condition. it was the first one to bolt
from the wild type but, once it got to a certain height it suddenly began to get getting dry and at
that point the wild types grew more and were way bigger than the mutant plants. The results are
important because we get to understand the changes with the mutations.
Introduction:
Arabidopsis thaliana is a small flowering plant that is used as a model organism in plant
biology. A model organism is studied to maintain and breed in a laboratory setting and has
particular experimental advantages. Arabidopsis is part of the Brassicaceae family; it includes
radishes and cabbage. A. thaliana is studied by a multinational research community in academia,
government and industry. Arabidopsis is very popular in biology; it was the first plant to have its
genome sequenced. Arabidopsis has a short life cycle that lasts up to six weeks. This plant is
very useful for genetic mapping and sequencing. They encode 35,000 proteins. Arabidopsis has
been important in understanding the functions of another blue light receptor, cryptochrome,
which is especially important for light entrainment to control the plants circadian rhythms. Our
mutant TTG1, a protein TRANSPARENT TESTA GLABRA 1 Arabidopsis thaliana. Glabra 1
is a mutant that stops the function of trichomes, trichomes are little leaf hairs that protect the
plant from getting damaged, it also helps the plant obtain more water. In order to get the Glabra 1
mutant to work you have to insert a random order of DNA to the chromosome number 5 . This
messes up the DNA therefore the trichomes don't grow. This mutant was inserted to two of our
Arabidopsis plants.

Procedure:
1. Leave seeds in the freezer for them to germinate, roughly three to four days.
2. Prepare the soil with fertilizer and mixed it with water to leave it moist
3. Label four pots with the day planted, mutation and wild type. Two should be labeled
control and the other two should be labeled experimental.
4. Once the soil is put in the pots, make sure to weigh them all and all should have the same
amount of dirt and should weigh the same.
5. Pour seeds into each pot, each pot should have two rows, and each row should have three
seeds.
6. place the plants under the light

Treatment plant:
Treatment should be added only during the week and not during weekends.
Normal lighting should be given to plants at all times.
Plants should not be transplanted and should not be touch a lot.
Once the first rosette leaves sprout measurement is aloud to begin.
Methods (Control):
Seeds should be germinated
Normal tap water should be added three times a week.
Light should be given 24 hours a day
Measurements should be taken daily and be kept on spreadsheet
Methods (Experimental):
Seeds should be germinated
Water should be add three times a week
Begin experiment and as plants grow increase the temperature
Data should be added daily to spreadsheet and blog as well

Figure 1

This graph shows the unit of measurement of the rosette leaves for about a week. This data was
collected daily. As you can see the wild type grew bigger than the mutant rosettes. The reason

the Mutant plants stop before the Wild type plants is because they started to bolt first.
Figure 2
This graph shows the bolt over six weeks. We collected this data daily. In this graph it
shows that the wild type bolted later and the mutant plant bolted first. In a longer period of time
the wild type grew bigger and bigger. At the end of the measurements you can see how the wild
type plants grow way more than the mutant.

Image 1
This image shows a Glabra- 1 mutant plant. This
picture was taken during the second week of its growth. The
second week was when we were already measuring the
bolting. As you can also see in the top, the flower is a couple
of days ready to burst its white small petals.

Image 2
This image was taken on the second week of its
measurement. You can also notice that is not yet ready for its
bolting measurements. If you see the leaves closely you can
see the little leaf hairs. Those are called trichomes. They
protect the plant from intense light and also absorb the water
and minerals as well.

Image 3
This plant is Wild type control. In total there should be
six plants but three died. As you can see in the right hand corner
one plant is struggling to survive, and it has tiny rosette leaves.
This wild type also has trichome, and a s you can see, this plant
is about three weeks old and has been measured by its bolting
height.

Discussion:
The first experiment was Wild- type (control) and Mutant (control).The difference between the
Wild type and the mutant plant are the trichomes. Since the Wild type is the only plants that has
trichomes, the mutant plants dry up sooner than the wild- type. In figure two you can see how the
mutation starts to dry once the wild type hits its bolting. The reason why the plant grew more
than the mutation plant is because the Wild type plant has trichomes. Trichomes protect the plant
depending on their location that is located in any part of the plant. Trichomes are hair leafs that
protect the plant from insects and absorbs water and minerals, which allows it to grow more. As
you can see in image two very closely the rosette leaves are covered with leaf hairs and in image
one there are no leaf hairs, those are trichomes. As time went by the mutation died first than the
wild types.Trichomes also protect the plants from intense heat.

Our second experiment was the Wild - Type (control) and the Wild- Type (Experimental).
The experiment we choose was watering the plants with hot water. (95 degrees fahrenheit) As
the bolt was growing, the plants seem to get stronger, we choose to increase the water to a hotter
temperature. We increased the hot water to 120 degrees fahrenheit. The wild type experimental
grow slightly bit more than the wild type control. At the beginning of our experiment we choose
to begin with a warm temperature for the plants since the were still growing their rosette
leaves.(95 degrees fahrenheit) As the bolt was growing, the plants seem to get stronger, we
choose to increase the water to a hotter temperature so we choose to increase the hot water to 120
degrees fahrenheit.Our first choice for this experiment we wanted to experiment the plants with
an intense light to see how big the plants would grow since the wild

types have

trichomes.Watering the plants with hot water may cause our plants to grow more. As our plants
started bolting as it shows in figure two, we increased the heat of the water to 120 degrees
fahrenheit.Research says hot water can make you plants big and cold makes the short but with
many rosette leaves.
Our last experiment is the Wild - Type ( Experimental) and the Mutant (Experimental). The
Mutant experimental died quicker than the Wild type experimental. It took several days for the
Wild type plant get nearly the same height as the Mutant plants,so both can be measured at the

same time. Several days before the wild types started bolting, the mutations began to dry. The
experiment might have worked only on the wild type since its the only plant that has trichome,
and the trichome prevents it from drying and it absorbs the water. The mutation plant has no
protection and that is a good reason for it to be drying and not growing as much as the control
and experimental wild type. Wild type lived more than the mutation. As you can see in Figure 2,
it shows how the mutation bolted a while and fastly dried up as the wild type was bolting I
believe the wild type gets more protection since it has trichomes and it allows it to absorb hot
water and minerals as for the mutation it has not so much protection.
References:
http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1893/0005-3155-84.2.92 BioOne Online Journal
http://www.planttrichome.org/trichomedb/GetAll?type=gene&geneid=832523 Plant Trichome
http://www.prep.org Prep