2008 Woodie Awards
A rose by any other name
Students manipulate plant-life, create a two-inch tall rose
Malarie Woods
Issue date: 4/10/08 Section: Features
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Graduate students enrolled in Cahoon's plant biotechnology course gained hands-on experience in manipulating plant life, and in particular, roses. MTSU students Bill Smith and Bhawana Bhawana teamed up for a project that took miniature roses and made the flowers micro, meaning about the diameter of a pencil eraser and only two inches tall.
The pair says they were excited when they heard about the project. And although many students in the course made similar adjustments on different plants-such as vegetables and the roots of flowers-Bhawana and Smith said they were able to work with the actual buds of the rose plants.
The way the project was carried out, however, was different than one might expect of an assignment given by a plant researcher and geneticist such as Cahoon.
"We didn't do anything with the genetics of the roses," Bhawana explains. "We simply did physical experiments with the physical conditions."
"I think it was important to Dr. Cahoon for us to understand that changing the conditions you grow the plants in will change the way they grow," Smith says.
The students said they followed a typical protocol to grow the roses. First, they cut pieces of the stems of miniature roses. Next, they sterilized the pieces before putting them in a premixed medium, which is a soil mixture found in plant stores with the correct ingredients in which to grow the roses. They added hormones, sugar, vitamins and an agent called agar, the latter of which was used to solidify the mixture.
The students say they had to be very careful when moving the plants, since any kind of germ could threaten the life of the rose. They scrubbed themselves, wore gloves and sterilized everything that could come in contact with the flowers.
"We tried to take great care to not let them get contaminated. It was like going into surgery," Smith says.
"We felt like they were our kids!" Bhawana exclaims.
Unfortunately, Bhawana and Smith say they did experience a couple of disappointments when several of their roses died.
And after planting them in the test tubes, there wasn't much they could do for the miniature buds but wait.
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Brother Breeze
posted 4/10/08 @ 8:56 AM CST
My friend Marsha was working on plants in that class over a year ago. I believe she was growing plants that would glow in the dark or fluoresce under black light. (Continued…)
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