Plant Tissue Culture and Transformation Techniques

While I have had some background in the Life Sciences having obtained my honours in Biochemistry and worked for slightly over a year at the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, my attachment at Monsanto provided me with the opportunity to learn and familiarise myself with the incredible world of Plant Tissue Culture and Transformation Techniques and inevitably, the biology and biochemistry of plants.

Specifically, during my time there I worked with arabiodopis for creating transgenic plants using the very easy floral dip method. This allowed the transfer of new genetic material to this model plant mediated by agrobacterium tumafaciens. Arabidopsis is a weed-plant that receives much attention from the scientific community as it has fast growth and its entire genome was recently cloned - this makes it an excellent candidate as a model plant for both basic research in the academia as well as for commercial companies such as Monsanto.

I also had the opportunity to work with tobacco and microtomato to learn the techniques of sterile tissue culture and plant transformation which involves several stages. Upon request, I was assisted in learning on using the potato plant as another specimen for tissue culture because I felt that such a plant would lend itself more to the Singapore classroom enviroment.

Two other aspects of Plant Tissue Culture which should not be under-rated and would perhaps be the foundation of good Plant Tissue Culture is good sterile techniques and media preparation. Two areas which I had also received some exposure and hands on to.

I was also allowed the freedom to experiment with some protocols on micropropogation and invitro flowering of miniature roses that could be potentially useful for the classroom as well.

Classroom Applications of what I have learnt

The one thing that struck me during this attachment was how excellent a plant system would be as a tool for teaching molecular biology in the classroom. Plants have the advantage of being more visual than a bacterium and more manageable and easily maintained than an animal.

The knowledge, skills and techniques which I have learnt have potential classroom applications in the classroom in these possible ways;

Develop straightforward laboratory protocols for classroom plant tissue culture where students can examine the various stages of plant growth and development, learn sterile techniques, and examine the effect of the different hormones of auxin and cytokinin would have on plants.

Develop and facilitate independent scientific research projects for students in three broad areas. Firstly to titre different ratios of cytokinin and auxin and its effect on plant development. Secondly, to survey a variety of a particular plant for those genus that would lend itself to plant tissue culture and thirdly to study different conditions that would affect transformation efficiency of agrobacterium tumafaciens into arabiodopsis thaliana.

Be able to give a first hand account to the general student population on the steps involved in identifying candidate genes for crop improvement and the various stages until it reaches the farmer's field. It is likely that pharmeceutical drug design undergoes similar stringencies.