Wisconsin Fast Plants Genetics Lab

Teagan Lee
Background:
There are two types of plants (monocots and dicots), but all plants
have a few basic components consisting of roots, a stem, leaves, nodes, and
some plants have flowers. The root system is found underground and
absorbs nutrients and water from the soil for the plant to use. Leaves collect
sunlight so that a plant can undergo photosynthesis. The stem carries water,
sugar, and nutrients through the plant. Plants are made up of three types of
tissue known as dermal (for protection), ground (metabolism, storage,
growth), and vascular (moves water and sugar). Guard cells can be found
surrounding the stomata in the dermal layer to open and close the opening
based on the plants consumption needs. In the ground tissue parenchyma
are basic plant cells that do the process of metabolism, collenchyma provide
support, and sclerenchyma are dense fibrous cells that make up things such
as branches or bark. The vascular system is found in the stem and leaves
and is made up of xylem, which carry water, and phloem, which move sugar
for the transport of nutrients through plants.

Undifferentiated cells in the roots (RAM) and stalk (SAM) of plants

cause them to grow from the top and bottom in a process known as primary
growth. Secondary growth occurs when a plant grows wider due to xylem
and phloem being reproduced

Flowers are the reproductive areas of a plant. The anther releases

pollen which fertilizes the ovule. This then starts the process of double
fertilization where an egg nucleus and female polar nuclei are fertilized to
produce two parts of a seed (the embryo and food for it).

Plants need carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorous, and

sulfur to survive. They obtain CO2 from their leaves and H2O along with other
elements through their roots. CO2 is used for photosynthesis to produce
sugars which are then used in cellular respiration to give the plant food and
energy. Some water moves through the cells walls of the plant in what is
known as an apoplastic pathway while other water follows a symplastic
pathway through the plasmodesmata between cells. The Casparian strip
stops the flow of water through the cell wall so that it can be controlled.
Transpiration is the movement of water up a plants xylem due to hydrogen

bonds/cohesion pulling more water up as it is evaporated out of the leaves.

Sugar is pushed from a source of high concentration to a sink of low sugar
amounts through phloem.

5 hormones can be found various plants which are known as auxin,

cytokinins, gibberellins, abscisic acid, and ethylene. Auxin causes a plant to
lean towards the sun, cytokinin causes cells to divide and the plant to grow,
gibberellins make plants grow very quickly, abscisic acid tells a plant to lose
its leaves and become dormant, and ethylene is a gas given off by plants to
make them ripen around the same time.

All plants can have various qualities such as height and flower color
that are determined by the random inheritance of genes that give plants a
certain genotype and phenotype. In this lab we are growing Wisconsin fast
plants and observing if they are tall or short and green or purple. This type
of plant was selected because it germinates in 2 days, sprouts in 3, and
grows rapidly over the course of the next 10 days before flowering and
developing pistil swells. The plant then dies within 20-40 days. This all
allows for easy and quick observations.

Data:
P1
F1
F2
P1
Gree Purpl Gree Purpl
Purpl
n
e
n
e
Green e
Tall
Total plants in each
column
Overall number
plants in category
(B-G) and (H - M)
Ratio (percentage)
(total plants
column/overall # of
plants)

Pictures:

F1
Dwar
f
Tall

F2
Dwar
f
Tall

Dwarf

33

11

27

16

20

27

10

26

12

21

13

112

112

112

112

112

112

109

109

109

109

109

109

29.46
%

4.46
%

17.85
%

24.77
%

9.17
%

9.82 24.11 14.29

%
%
%

23.83 11.00 19.27 11.92

%
%
%
%

Analysis Questions:
1. What phenotypic differences do you notice between P1 and F1 seedlings?
Overall, we noticed that there was a greater number of tall plants in both the P1 and F1
generations than dwarf plants. There was a greater number of green plants in the P1 generation
and a greater number of purple plants in the F1 generation. There are 33 green P1 plants and only
11 green F1 plants, and only 5 purple P1 and 27 purple F1 plants. Based on this data, we think
that the green allele is dominant in P1. There are 27 tall P1 plants and 26 tall F1 plants. There are
10 P1 dwarf plants and 12 in the F1 generation. This led us to believe that tall is dominant.
2. According to your observations and your knowledge of genetics, state a hypothesis (or
model) of how you think these phenotypes are inherited. Be as complete as possible and cite
evidence or give a reason for each part of your hypothesis. Note your hypothesis should
include whether the phenotypes are inherited through a single set of alleles (non hybrid) or
two sets of alleles (dihybrid). Include a one or two word designation for each phenotype

and a symbol for the allele that gives rise to each phenotype. Indicate which allele of each
pair is dominant and explain your reasoning.
Color and height are inherited through two sets of alleles in a dihybrid cross because a plant can
be dwarf and green or dwarf and purple or the same but with tall. T=tall, t=dwarf, G=green,
g=purple. Green and tall plants are dominant due to the fact that they are more common in
nature.
3. Each parent plant (P1 and P2) was homozygous for the alleles involved in the cross that
you are studying. Given this information, use your hypothesis to predict the following (give
your reasoning for each prediction):
A. the phenotype of P1 and P2: P1 is green and tall. P2 is purple and short.
This is because they are each homozygous for the dominant and recessive traits (P1-TTGG and
P2-ttgg).
B. the genotype of the F1: TtGg because the P1 and P2 are crossed making all of the F1
generation heterozygous for each trait.
C. The phenotype(s) of the F2: 9 green/tall, 3 green/dwarf, 3 purple/tall,1 purple/dwarf
This is because the F2 is the result of crossing 2 F1s, which is TtGg crossed with TtGg.
According to Mendelian laws, this would result in a 9:3:3:1 ratio, which is what we see with the
phenotypes of F2.
4. Has this test (F1 and F2 generation plants) confirmed your hypothesis? Explain using
evidence.
No, it has not because our percent values for the occurrence of each of the four genotypes are not
similar to the expected values of a 9:3:3:1 ratio. Although we found that GT was 60.63% which
was close to the expected value of 56.25%, Gt was 42.99% and gT was 57.01% when they
should have been 18.75%. The expected percentage ratio of gt was 6.25% but the experiment
resulted in 39.37%. While these high values could be due to chance and the n number being
small, it is unlikely because three of our four phenotypes are much more common than expected.
5. On the basis of your result, which of the following will you do?
C. Modify your hypothesis- if so, explain in detail your modification
We are modifying which color is dominant but keeping tall as the dominant trait as well.
Color and height are inherited through two sets of alleles in a dihybrid cross because a plant can
be dwarf and green or dwarf and purple or the same but with tall. T=tall, t=dwarf, P= purple,
p=green. Purple and tall plants are dominant due to the fact that they are more common in
nature.

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