Genetic Manipulation 'Kit' (Do-It-Yourself)

[Chris_25]

Hey. I was looking for a genetic manipulation 'kit'. I've heard of them, but cannot find a supplier.

 

I thought since there was an entire subject area on Genetic Manipulation this would be the place to get some information on it.

 

I'm looking to manipulate an ornamental plant species so it can grow faster. It's a beautiful plant for doing topiary with. I currently own a landscape company with the winters off. So I thought this would be something to keep me busy throughout it.

 

Thanks again!

 

-Chris

[Mokele]

It'd be just shots in the dark unless to know what gene you're targeting, and have some idea of the gene's sequence.

 

There is one possibility - using colchicine to induce polyploidy (whole genome duplication), which often results in stronger, larger, faster-growing plants (though they're often sterile). However, colchicine is also fairly nasty as a carcinogen, so I doubt you can find it without permits.

 

Or you can just select on natural variants in a large population of seeds.

[Chris_25]

I know about the fact that there is a 1% chance of the modified gene being carried on to the next generation, which eliminated the majority of the plants that I work with.

 

But this one, is actually propogated by clippings. (Remember when you were a child, you'd stick a maple leaf in a cup of water, and it would sometimes grow roots?)

 

I've never seen one seed actually...JIt's very rare ust to go from clippings to the start of a plant takes 1 year. For it to be 2 feet in height - 5 years.

 

What's the chemical classified under? If it's *remotely* considered a pesticide I can pick up as much as I could possibly need. (I hold an exterminator and operator license).

 

There are many other plants in the genus, but the majority a) don't grow here, so wouldn't be hardy, or b) aren't as dense growing. (some are actual trees as apposed to bushes)...

[Mokele]

If it doesn't set seed, you're pretty much screwed. The only way to genetically manipulate an asexual plant in any way is via tissue culture, which means you'd have to set up this big, complex system for harvesting tissue, making media, keeping media sterile, doing transfers, etc. It's possible (there are several books on home tissue culture), but it's a HUGE pain in the ass.

[Comandante]

this reminds me of biohacking, ever heard of it? I read an article somewhere... ah here it is: http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/the_web/article5400645.ece it's pretty interesting. If you ask someone on diybio.org they might be able to tell you more.

[Chris_25]

Actually that article got me interested in thinking I could actually do it.

 

I remember hearing about if you take an adult plant, manipulate some cells, some replicate and others don't. If i was working with something as small as a leaf (they are about 2x this size ------> 0 ) If i could continually introduce the new cells, do you think they would eventually take?

 

Mind you, in essence, the tissue culture is just a more elaborate way I would be propagating the plant. (The general way is just an egg carton with 12 branches/leaves of the plant, and a growing medium).

 

So the question is how I 'inject' (to use the term loosely) another plant/organism/chemical etc to get it to grow faster, and carry that trait to the next generation....?

Edited February 12, 2009 by Chris_25

[CharonY]

To be honest the article looks a bit like a hoax to me. Even the simple experiment of making bacteria express GFP would require more than described in the article. Not even considering the high probability of failure if they had the equipment at home.

 

Edit: Ok it appears she is actually serious about it. However her approach is flawed.

 

In the case of “let’s detect melamine”, I went to MetaCyc — a browsable database of metabolic pathways — and looked for proteins which interact with melamine. I found one, called melamine deaminase. It’s the beginning of a metabolic pathway called the melamine degradation pathway, which — go figure — takes melamine apart. To use this reaction in our detector, we’ll need to give some species of bacteria the ability to produce melamine deaminase, which means giving it the appropriate gene. To do that, we either extract the gene from a species that already has it, or we get a lab like IDT to make it for us. Then we insert the gene into a plasmid, which is a circular DNA molecule that a bacterium can “take up” in order to gain some new function.

 

While it is not a bad idea, she actually requires a promoter region as well as regulators that react to melamine instead of the protein that actually degrades it. This is because expression is usually not directly controlled by the enzyme itself. While I kind of like that idea it also shows that one needs a bit more info that you get on the web to makes something work. Also careless use of resistance carrying plasmids in the household may allow an even faster spread of resistances than what is already happening (in the lab you autoclave everything before you dispose it).

 

 

Regarding the project in the OP. as Mokele pointed out, there is hardly a way to ascertain which manipulation would actually result in a growth increase. That basically rules out targeted genetic manipulations.

Edited February 12, 2009 by CharonY