Download Simulation of Lung Conditions for Pea Plant Growth

Simulation of Lung Conditions for Pea Plant Growth
Fatima Ezzeddine, Yassemine Khawajkie, Carole Baraké and N.A. Saliba
Chemistry Department, American University of Beirut
Results:
Background:
• Ron Sveden is a 75 year old emphysema patient that had a pea plant germinate in his lung.
Discussion:
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• The following conditions were not available in the experiment and we suspect that this may have affected our germination
• Doctors believe Mr. Sveden ate a pea that "went down the wrong way" before sprouting to 12mm in size. The warm and moist
conditions are thought to have encouraged it to grow (Leach, 2010).
results:
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― Temperature of 37°C
― Glucosamine and galactosamine
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Length of germination (mm)
• Glycine and proline are components of the elastin and collagen fibers of the lungs. They may have affected the germination in
• Can Mr. Sveden’s case be simulated under the same conditions of pH and temperature?
Sveden’s case. However, these amino acids were also unavailable.
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• As expected, the lung conditions allowed seed germination, yet this germination was not as good as the one under optimum
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conditions.
• Based on our results, we concluded that the temperature effect outweighs the pH effect on germination.
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• We would like to point out that we kept our seeds in the dark at all times (except for brief periods for growth measurements).
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Ron Sveden’s Lungs
Optimal Conditions for Germination
pH
7.4
6.2
Temperature (°C)
37
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Galactosamine/glucosamine
3.2
0?
References:
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0
0
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Days of germination
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1) Leach, Ben. (2010, August 12). 'Cancer' patient grows pea plant in his lung. The Telegraph, Retrieved from
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/7940710/Cancer-patient-grows-pea-plant-in-his-lung.h
24 °C
Experimental Procedure:
40.5 °C
pH 6.2
pH 7.4
2) Riofrio , Marianne . (n.d.). Growing peas and snap beans in the home garden. Unpublished manuscript, The Ohio State
University, Ohio, United States. Retrieved from http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/1000/1617.html
3) Sarfaruz, Irum. (2011, February 11). The optimum germination temperature for peas. eHow Home, Retrieved from
http://www.ehow.com/facts_7982146_optimum-germination-temperature-peas.html
• Assuming that the pea seeds did not extract any nutrients from the lung tissues, cotton was used as growth medium.
• pH and temperature were varied using a phosphate buffer and an incubator.
This graph shows the growth in millimeters of pea plant roots over 7 days. Maximum growth was observed
• Root growth was measured in millimeters everyday at 11am.
under the optimum conditions (green). Less growth was observed under lung conditions (blue).
• Thus, growth was measured for samples according to the conditions in the following table:
Temperature 24 °C
Acknowledgement:
Temperature 40.5 °C
pH 6.2
pH 7.4
• Dr Atamian Samson for allowing us to use the incubator for an entire week.
• Three samples were prepared under each condition, as shown in the table above, for a total of 12 samples.
• The phosphate buffer was used to create solutions with the two different pHs (7.4 and 6.2).
These pictures were taken on the 7th day:
• These solutions were used to keep the cotton matrix moist.
• The picture on the left was kept under optimum conditions and showed maximum growth.
• The right pea was kept under the lung conditions.
• In the end, two identical trays were obtained. One was kept at room temperature ( ̴24°C) and the other was kept in an
incubator at 40.5°C because that was the only incubator available.