Download Week 2 assignment

Biol 400 Crowe
WEEK 2 ASSIGNMENT (10 PTS)
At home:
1) Find a news story (newspaper, science on line, radio etc.) within the last year about how
abiotic conditions (the ones we brainstormed on the first day of class) are influencing plant
growth and/or fruit production (e.g. crops, trees, flowering plants etc.).
Write a brief paragraph containing the following:
 Citation for web page or news article that you found
 The environmental condition described in the article and how it influenced the plants
(what types of damage or changes in growth patterns were observed)
 Whether the observed effect was specific to one particular plant or had a broad effect on
multiple species of plants
2) Search PubMed or Google Scholar or another database of journal articles for a review article
about an abiotic stress signaling pathway that you are interested in. Make sure the article
contains a schematic or diagram that illustrates the genes/proteins involved in this particular
stress pathway. The abiotic stress does not need to be the same one you found the news article
about. Remember that unlike primary research articles, review articles do not usually contain
original data.
 On a separate sheet of paper: Draw the key parts of this schematic or diagram (not the
whole pathway). Use this as a chance to start practicing how you might communicate
an idea through pictures. It does not need to be colorful, but it should be neat and clear.
Include a one-sentence summary of your drawing. Bring your drawing with you to your
lab section. You are not turning in the review article, but you should have access to it
so you can share it with your group members during the in-class discussion)
 On your drawing, write the reference for the review article you read (title, author,
journal, volume, pages, year)
In lab:
 Whole lab discussion of in-the-news items
 Each person shares the schematic from the review article with their group
 Each group: choose one pathway to focus on for this assignment
 identify one or two genes whose expression could be measured to confirm that the plant is
responding to your chosen stress
 For each gene you list, write a one-sentence explanation for why you chose this gene
(timing and/or strength of expression? only activated by a single stress?)
 Did you find any genes that exist in multiple abiotic stress pathways?
To turn in (stapled together for each group):
 Group (5 pts): Label w/names of individuals in group, section and group color
o One sheet containing
 list of different stresses identified by different group members
 pathway you chose to discuss and names of one or two genes you identified
to confirm stress response was occurring
 for each gene listed, your reasoning for choosing the gene

Individual (5 pts) (One from each group member, labeled with names):
o Paragraph describing news article
o Drawing of key parts of abiotic pathway with 1 sentence summary and the
reference for the review article you read (one from each group member)