Pimp your brain: From greenhouse to the lab

Mercedes, a PhD student, aims to modify photosynthesis by introducing a specific gene into the chloroplasts of a tobacco plant using a gene gun. This gene is mixed with gold particles for efficient delivery into the leaf.

After shooting the gene into the leaves, Mercedes cuts them into pieces. To identify successful transformations, her gene is linked to an antibiotic resistance gene. Only cells that incorporate this resistance gene survive and grow into new plants on an antibiotic-containing medium, ensuring her gene is present.

Mercedes then cultivates the small, transformed plants, demonstrating their growth progression from 2 to 8 weeks old. Once large enough, they are transferred from Petri dishes to soil and moved to a greenhouse.

In the greenhouse, Mercedes compares her genetically modified plants with control plants, noting visible differences. To prepare them for detailed analysis, she freezes a piece of the plant in liquid nitrogen to halt metabolism and then grinds it into a fine, homogeneous powder in a cryogenic mill.

With the plant powder, Mercedes will perform lab analyses. She plans to analyze the DNA to confirm the gene's presence, RNA and proteins to check its activity, and finally, the photosynthetic activity of the plant to determine if her gene successfully improved photosynthesis as hypothesized.