The Role of Phytochrome Put into Use by Seeds

Camden Rowland

Bio 102

The Role of Phytochrome Put Into Use By Seeds

March 24, 2016

Abstract:

“A particularly important environmental cue is light, to which organisms respond in many different ways” ("LIGHT CONTROL OF PLANT DEVELOPMENT"). Phytochrome is used to help get a response by implementing red and far-red conversion method.  Phytochrome was used in this experiment to get a response out of three different variety of lettuce seeds.  The dark light played the role of the control in this experiment.  The seeds were exposed to 15 minutes of their certain light, then they were placed in their set destination and left until time to be checked for seed germination.  The seeds were checked 48 hours to see the results of what type of seeds following their light types germinated the best. Our hypothesis was not supported considering that the whit light and the darkness had a very good turn out in terms of germination (McRae J.).

Introduction:

“The quality, intensity, and duration of light directly impact plant growth” ("Plant Growth Factors: Light”).  The value of light in a plants life is a very treasured asset. It also supplies many needs to the process of photosynthesis, which is vital in every plant. Included in the process of phytochrome is a binding protein that is encoded in certain nuclear genes (“Phytochrome”).  Phytochrome can be dulled down to two main forms. The phytochrome forms can be identified as far red and red light.  The system known as Phytochrome can also be termed as sort of a biological light switch (Boundless).

Materials and Methods:

        This lab included the following supplies: eight petri dishes for the seeds to go in, some filter paper, about 100 lettuce seeds, and foil and water.  The seeds also needed a dark cabinet to be kept in during the germination process.

        A dark room was necessary for this experiment because it was essential that the seeds were not visible to any other light than that other of what they were designated to in the experiment.  There were eight different petri dishes involved with the different types of seeds and the type of light treatment that they were being exposed too.  The seeds were put into their designated dishes.  The petri dishes were also labeled with the date of the lab experiment so that the groups new which seeds were theirs and also to be able to easily tell which seeds were in the dishes. The petri dishes had filter paper added to them to be positioned over the seeds. After the filter paper was put in the petri dishes 2 to 3 drops of water was added to the various types of seeds to help with the germination process. After the seeds had water they were placed under various types of light. Tin foil was then wrapped around the petri dishes after the seeds were exposed to their certain types of light. Following the petri dishes being wrapped in tin foil the seeds were placed on the same surface in a dark cabinet or some sort of storage facility. Two days after the experiment took place the seeds were checked for their germination. Among checking the seeds, a count of the seeds that germinated would need to be recorded for each dish.  This would be considered data (McRae J.).

Results:

Table 1: The Two-Star Lettuce Seed Germination

Table 2: The Waldmann Lettuce Seed Germination