Gene Regulation

Gael Zetino, Bianca Santini

Background
❏ Not every gene is expressed all the time
❏ There are factors that can turn on/off genes
❏ Chlorophyll genes in a plant are turned on when light is available
Pre-Lab
❏ Lab Question: How does light exposure impact the expression of
chlorophyll?
❏ IV: Light Exposure
❏ DV: Chlorophyll Expression
❏ Hypothesis: If we expose different amounts of light to the radishes then
the radish with no light will express less chlorophyll because chlorophyll is
only produced when light is available.
❏ Experimental design: We put some radishes in a plastic water bottle
container with water/fertilizer that’s absorbed into the soil by felt. Half the
bottles go under a light and the others are in a dark cabinet.
❏ Constants: Same seeds, water/fertilizer mixture, soil, time to grow
 length (cm)
light
Data 9
dark
13

Percent of plants expressing chlorophyll

light
100%
dark
0%
CER
❏ With our results we can answer our original lab question, by saying that light exposure does
allow the gene for chlorophyll to be expressed.
❏ Our evidence shows with the original plants put in the dark they grew, however there was no
chlorophyll expressed because they had no sun intake. (But the plants that were originally in
the light were able to grow more and showed chlorophyll.) The plants put in the sun had lots
of cotyledon and was bright green, where as the plants that were put in the dark grew taller,
but their leaves and stem were yellow and white.
❏ The reason for this is because one of the major necesities of plant growth is sunlight
absorbtion. It's the 'photo' part of photosynthesis.
❏ Interestingly, the plants with less light exposure were longer. The measure of the plants in the
dark were longer by 4 cm than the ones in the light. This is because plants grow taller in the
dark because they use extra energy since there's no sunlight
Discussion
❏ Reflecting: the hypothesis was supported because there was no chlorophyll expressed
❏ Errors: placing the wrong amount of seeds/ placing seeds in wrong place, too much or
too little water, too much or too little soil.
❏ Conclusiveness: this lab is conclusive because there were many trials as well as clear
differences in the trials. Overall, the trail was successful in 3 out of the 4 cases.
❏ New lab question: “what would happen to the plants if we kept switching them
between light and dark every 48 hours?”
❏ Because if the plants made a big difference switching them once every 48 hours,
what would the plants look like in two weeks? Or a month?
 Light-Dark: Plant grew Dark-Light: Plant grew tall with
normally when first in the light, no chlorophyll originally, but

Extension but once put in the dark it grew

really tall like the other plant did
after put in the light for an
expended period of time, it
expressed some chlorophyll.
at first.
New Lab Question: What happens to the plants if you switch them after 48 hours (from light to
dark and vice-versa)?
Claim: Plants that were primarily in the light now contain less chlorophyll than the
plants that were primarily in the dark.

Evidence:

Reasoning: The plants from the dark now received

light, so chlorophyll can now be made. The plants
from the light now don’t have any light, so they’re
losing chlorophyll.
Light-Dark Dark-Light