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As mentioned in my post in the sundew section I am doing some research involving Sarracenia. My partner and I are going to be using Oryzalin (Surflan), Colchicine, and cobalt-60 radiation to try and induce mutations in ten species of Sarracenia. We will be using S. alabamensis ssp. wherryi, S. alata, S. flava, S. flava var. ornata, S. jonesii, S. minor, S. oreophila, S. purpurea ssp. venosa, S. rosea, and S. rubra ssp. rubra. The radiation treatments will only be done on S. minor, S. oreophila, and S. rosea. The other treatments will be done on all 10 species. Some of the details are still be ironed out but it looks like for the radiation treatment we will be irradiating groups of 50 seeds at different levels of Gy units. The Gy levels will be 10, 20, 40, 80, and 120. We expect complete death at the 120 level. Our initial plans for the colchicine and oryzalin treatments were to soak the seeds, however we have decided to change them so that instead of soaking the seeds in the chemicals we will be doing spot treatments on the crown of the seedlings after the first true leaves emerge. We got our seeds from a variety of sources, Brian Barnes, the ICPS seed bank, Meadowview Biological Research Station, and Best Carnivorous Plant Nursery. Hopefully, we'll get some interesting results.

In total, we have 3250 seeds for ten different species. We have 250 of each of the species we are going to be using plus an additional 250 for the three species that will be getting irradiated. Feb. 3rd, 2012, we put all of our seeds into stratification using the Meadowview method. For those of you that are not familiar that means putting the seeds into a paper towel, twisting it into a sort of sack, dampening the towel with DI water, putting the paper towel sack into a ziploc bag with plenty of air, and finally putting the bags into a cooler set at 4C. Every week we will switch the seeds to a freezer set around 0C for a week then back into the cooler they go. They will be in stratification for five weeks. Then we will be doing all of our treatments.
 
interesting. is this like a shot gun approach? will there be sequencing to locate these specific mutations? what specific outcomes are you expecting? come to think of it, the entrie genome of sarracenia hasnt been laid out either.
 
honestly, my goal with this is to produce desirable cultivars. Any other results is just a bonus. That really was the goal from the start. Everyone wants us to dig deeper and do things like sequencing but that's not really something I want to do at this point. With the colchicine and surflan treatments I'm hoping for some polyploidy, so hopefully giant forms and dwarf forms. With the radiation I'm hoping for pigmentation mutations. So weird colors or veining patterns basically. We're taking plenty of pictures along the way and as soon as we're finished I can post a whole album of everything.
 
ah. thanks. that clarify things up quite a bit! best of luck in your endeavors.
 
Hmmm

Mutant carnivorous plants?!?

I have a feeling that this experiment is going to come to a very bad ending...
 
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Awesome :) When learning about Colchicine in my genetics class a couple semesters ago, I couldn't help but dream of using it to produce huge polyploid CP's. Cool to see that someone is doing it. Is this for a masters project?

I know Phil Sheridan at Meadowview Biological Research Station was working with an intern on making polyploid S. flava a few years ago, but I don't think it ever fully panned out (unless YOU were the intern?:scratch:). Glad to see someone working on it :)

Best of luck on your results!
 
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Some of the details are still be ironed out but it looks like for the radiation treatment we will be irradiating groups of 50 seeds at different levels of Gy units.

It seems that for this to be most effective you would want to irradiate the developing gametes during meiosis, or the developing embryo prior to seed maturation (immediately upon firtilization). Was something like that ever considered?

Upon second thought: I guess that would work, but would be too impractical to carry out on so many plants, now that I think of it. Seeds are a lot easier to work with..

Anyway, I'm sure you've researched well and know what you're doing. I'm just thinking out loud, so don't mind me :) I'm definately interested in your methods though, for curiosity/education's sake. I'd love to learn more about the process (and thus ensues my online research ;) )...
 
Very exciting. I'm sure you are going to get some very interesting results. God speed!!!
I'm a sucker for purps so I can't wait to see your creations.
 
ohh if it works that would be awesome to have sarrs can you trade the seeds off if they live?:jester:
 
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@Richjam, You are right irradiating the seedlings would be a lot more effective, but when you are dealing with over 2000 seedlings and a 6"x6" chamber in which to irradiate the plants that becomes pretty impossible. As for working with Phil, I have not interned at meadowview but I did volunteer and talk with him at length about my research and he donated a few hundred seeds to me for this project.

To everyone else, basically at this point it's been a little under a year since we irradiated and sowed the seeds. Since germinating we've had problems with algae growth, fungus gnats, fungus gnat larvae, whiteflies, and aphids. We started out with about 2800 seedlings out of the 3250 seeds we sowed. Now we're down to about 500-600. We still have not treated with the Surflan (Oryzalin) and we decided to not use colchicine because of it carcinogenic nature. We will treat them once they are a little bit bigger and when they are actively growing, so in a few more months. Thanks for showing interest everyone!
 
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