Intro+Activity+Material

Emily: Welcome to Plants 101! We’re broadcasting to you today from Schmeekle Reserve in Stevens Point, Wisconsin. This is a great place to learn about today’s topics: plant biology, plant genetics, and plant breeding. Megan: Plant Biology is a branch of biology that is about the study of plant life and plant development. Simran: Another name for Plant Biology is Botany. Botany is the science of plants. Megan: Plants are alive just like us, they have the six traits of life: they have cells, they grow and develop, they have DNA, they respond to change, they reproduce, and they use energy. Simran: Plants start from seeds, which have an undeveloped plant inside, waiting to sprout. When the plant is first starting to grow, it pushes its roots down into the soil, so it can easily access water and minerals. Megan: While the roots are being pushed down, the stem and the new leaves are being pushed up to the light. The germination stage ends as soon as the plant pushes through the surface of the ground. Emily: Plants soon then begin the process of photosynthesis. Photosynthesis is the process by which plants make food from light, water, nutrients, and carbon dioxide. During this process plants also release oxygen into the atmosphere. Megan: Now that you have a brief understanding of plant biology, we are going to talk about Plant Genetics. Simran: Plant Genetics is the study of heredity in plants, and how various plants pass on traits. Heredity is when you inherit characteristics from relatives/parents. Another vocabulary word important to know is allele. An allele is a pair/series of genes on a chromosome. It determines heredity characteristics. Emily: For example, a pea plant would have an allele for flower color. The flower could be either purple or white. You can figure out what color the flower would be by using a Punnett Square. If both parents have purple flowers, the offspring would have a purple flower. If both parents had white flowers, the offspring would have a white flower. Megan: If one parent has a white flower and one has a purple flower, the offspring would have a 50/50 chance of either having a purple or a white flower, depending on which one is dominant and which one is recessive. The dominant color, would overpower the recessive color which is less influential. Emily: Now we shall move on to the study of Plant Breeding. Megan: Plant Breeding is the science of changing the genetics in plants. It is usually done to get the characteristics of plants to what you want them to be. Some of the most common genetically altered crops are soybeans, corn, cotton, tomatoes, and potatoes. Emily: When you breed a plant with a different plant, you cross a male reproductive part of a plant and a female reproductive part of the other plant to create a hybrid plant. Simran: Usual plant breeding uses interbreeding. Interbreeding is breeding different species of plants to make crossbreeds. Plants are crossbred to introduce traits or genes of a certain type into a new genetic family. Megan: In order for the plants to reproduce, they have to go through a process called pollination. Pollination is the process in which pollen is transported from one plant to another, allowing fertilization. <span style="background-color: #00ff00; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Simran: Pollination starts in the flower of a plant. The male part of the flower is called the stamen. The stamen produces the sticky powder we know as pollen. The flower of a plant also contains a female part called the pistil. The top of the pistil is the stigma which is often sticky. Seeds will eventually be made at the bottom of the pistil in the ovary. In order for the plant to be pollinated, pollen has to be transferred from the stamen to the stigma. <span style="background-color: #ffa100; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Emily: That concludes the last segment of our show. We hope you have a good understanding of Plant Biology, Plant Genetics, and Plant Breeding! <span style="background-color: #ffff00; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">All: See you next time on Plants 101!!!