Connecting Agriculture and the Importance of Resistance Genes
My students need to be able to work with plant DNA to help demonstrate why farmers select certain seeds to sow. The gel electrophoresis and dye will help them see DNA.
$760 goal
Hooray! This project is fully funded
Hooray! This project is fully funded
Celebrating Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month
This project is a part of the Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month celebration because
it supports a Latino teacher or a school where the majority of students are Latino.
I teach in an area where there are many students from low income homes. Many of the parents of my students work in agriculture in the surrounding area. Some of my students have already worked in the fields and are learning about agriculture.
The Central Valley of California is know for their rich soils and we have all been surrounded by the importance of agriculture in our community.
My students are passionate about learning new concepts in agriculture. They have all started to gain a deeper knowledge of science and our class has started to open the doors to better understanding to the various professions in the agricultural field.
My Project
Living in an agricultural community, many students in my area grow up around farm land. Their parents often work the fields and teach their children what they have learned. Many workers are taught what to look for in crops, such as sick plants or those that have a white powdery mildew. I want the students at my school to be able to explore genetics in regards to why certain genes are important to farmers in addition to the variety of different occupations available to them in the agricultural industry.
The goal of my enrichment project is to have students research some of the reasons our surrounding crops are able to resist certain pathogens (plant diseases).
Students will learn about plant DNA, resistance, design DNA primers and analyze their results. They will design primers to target these special resistance genes in the surrounding crops to help them understand how their DNA helps them thrive in our area. I hope to inspire my students through our investigation to better understand the importance of plant breeding and why specific traits help farmers raise and sell their crops.
The gel electrophoresis system will allow my students to view amplified plant DNA fragments with resistance to certain diseases. Students will load their amplified DNA into the gel system. The kit and dye help to load the gel and allow visualization of the DNA as it progresses through the gel matrix. Students will then be able to determine if their plant DNA had the resistance genes they were looking for in their samples. Students will then be able to connect the ideas of how farmers select specific seeds to sow in their fields and how suppliers test for resistance genes. Students will be utilizing techniques that lab technicians use in different fields to analyze DNA.
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As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Ms. Grove and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.