A Matter of Selection, Aidan

The first thing we noticed when looking at our Brassica Oleracea were the differences in height and leaves. When our plants were still growing the leaves were smooth and aligned up the middle of the stem. Now the plants leaves are waxy and rough. The end of the leaf curls and touches the stem now. This is because as the plants grew the leaves grew as well. The leaves curl to get more exposure to the sun. The height of the stem at the begging of the semester was .5 ft and now they measure up to 1.6 ft.

I feel that the reason why Brassica Oleracea have been so successful in reproducing and staying alive for this long is through selective breeding. Selective breeding is when humans choose specific traits to pass on to new generations. Because of this only the best traits have been passed down. Brassicas now produce food such as cabbage broccoli and spinach which are all beneficial to us. This could also be considered artificial selection because the babies are not produced naturally. This way natural variation does not happen. Natural variation is not bad but it does open up the opportunity for detrimental mutations to corrupt the plant.

The part of the plant that changed the least is the stem. The reason being was the stem has the same function throughout its entire life and it was developed when the plant was first developed. Its purpose is to transport nutrients from the roots to the upper areas of the plant. Most stems grew around a foot.

Plant breeders would have to find 2 adult plants that have the specific trait that the breeder wants to see consistently throughout their population. Then they would have to take the pollen from one plant and put it on the pistol of another plant. They would have to know if the trait was dominant or recessive if they want it to spread out more efficiently.

a matter of selection, Anthony

The first noticeable difference in our Brassica oleracea were the leaves and height, our plants leaves in the beginning were smooth and straight in a vertical formation but after a couple of weeks the plants leaves started to become more ruffly and waxing. They also didn't reach the stem in the beginning and now they have grow and the outer leaf reaches the stem. also the stem measured in the beginning from the ground to the highest point was .5 ft and now they measure up to 1.6 ft.

Brassica oleracea has many characteristics I believe selective breeding helped aid in the process. selective breeding is where offspring of a plant has certain phenotypes from their parents and have selected specific traits like ruffly and waxing leaves. This can also be know as artificial breeding since the baby plant was not naturally made. And some plants go through mutations to get the desired offspring. Also some traits you see in the offspring of the children plants are seen because of descent with modification. from the parent plant traits and genes are passed down. In nature natural variation can be seen in plants with different characteristics because of the need to survive in the "real world"

I think the characteristics in our plants that is the most similar is the stem. The stem most likely stayed similar through out its life time, because it has no need to change since its main job is to transport nutrients and to bring water to the flower. In the beginning the stem was .3 ft and now it is 1.2 ft. This also is seen because they have not changed in shape or texture.

Plant breeders would have to grab a plant that is the same species and can inter breed. Then they would have to find a plant with specific traits then grab the child plant and see which had the biggest change, after they would breed those two plants. After a while they would have a very good plant chain that would create the desired plant the breeders wanted.

How plants reproduce

Reproduction in flowering plants begins with pollination, the transfer of pollen from anther to stigma on the same flower or to the stigma of another flower on the same plant (self-pollination), or from anther on one plant to the stigma of another plant (cross-pollination). Once the pollen grain lodges on the stigma, a pollen tube grows from the pollen grain to an ovule. Two sperm nuclei then pass through the pollen tube. One of them unites with the egg nucleus and produces a zygote. The other sperm nucleus unites with two polar nuclei to produce an endosperm nucleus. The fertilized ovule develops into a seed.

This is the flower we chose to get for our dissection its is from the broccoli plant outside.

 this is aidan looking at the plant before our dissection.

Here you can see the stigma the male reproductive system and if you look close enough you can see pollen.

This is the female part of the plant that houses the gametes and takes pollen.

This is the ovaries and the green blob next to is the the gamete of the female reproductive system.

How our plant reproduces

This blog will tell you how Brassica plants reproduce. This is a picture of one of our broccoli plants flowers. This flower contains both the female and male genitalia. 

This is a close up of the male reproductive anatomy, otherwise called the stamen. The top of it is the anther which carries the sperm or gamete cells. Holding up the anther is the stalk. 

This is the female reproductive system called the carpel which has the stigma which is sticky so it can catch pollen. 

This is the ovary which contains all the ovules for the plant to make an embryo. the stigma catches the pollen and brings it to the ovary to make a seed.

How Does Your Garden Grow?-Aidan Deremer

Our plant has been growing by using a continuous cycle of processes to add biomass. The first step in the cycle is photosynthesis, which during this process gain glucose and energy that will ten be used in cellular respiration. During this process our plant creates ATP and nadph to give energy for the plant to survive and under go mitosis. Mitosis uses this energy to translate and transcribe information onto new DNA strands called RNA. through this the plant can create new cells for new organs and parts.
The plant would undergo translation and transcription to create new mRNA which are then created into codons which are turned into the enzymes needed to go through photosythesis.

How does your garden grow- Anthony

1. Our pant is growing and adding biomass by taking in the sun's energy and converting it into sugars and other nutrients the plants needs, hence photosynthesis. But after it completes the first part of photosynthesis it goes into cellular respiration which converts biochemical energy from nutrients to ATP then realising waste products.

2. The enzymes PEPC and Rubisco are made by having the DNA compiled and sending that part to the ribosmome with the messenger RNA. Then the translation begins creating RNA and the enzyme used to covert the three pairs of RNA condons to amino acids creating the combination to create the proteins needed to create these enzymes.

Student Blog Post Assignment #5: Seed Stories, Semester 1 Isaiah Pelascinca

Isaiah. He learned a lot more about plants in general. He also learned techniques for planting them. How fast his plants grew amazed him the most. Nothing made Isaiah laugh during his time working on Story of the Seed. Whenever he thought about the tiny cell within the plants that make the whole entire body work. A question he frequently asked himself during tstots is where the seeds themselves derive from.