2019 Volume 60 Issue 2 Pages 40-49
Gene expression in plants changes according to changes in the abiotic environment. However, there are few teaching materials on this phenomenon. Plant seedlings are continued to elongate as long as they stay in the dark, and expression of the GA3oxidase gene is also continued in the dark (Ait-Ali et al. 1999). The students must comprehend the phenomenon through the comparison between the gene expression in the dark and that in the light. Detection of the gene expression needs to handle mRNA of the gene. However, the instruments to extract the labile mRNA are not installed in the high schools. Therefore, crude extracts of seedlings of spinach (Spinacia oleracea) were directly processed with the reverse transcription kit, and the cDNA of the SoGA3ox were obtained without the handling of the mRNA. PCR-amplified products of the cDNA are detected electrophoretically.The effectiveness of our practice was assessed with pre- and post-test. After the practice, 93% of the students answered that the elongation of seedlings in the dark caused by the increased gene expression of the SoGA3ox. The students found that the expression of the SoGA3ox and the elongation of the seedlings in the dark were disappeared in the light, and successfully linked the expression of the SoGA3ox to the elongation of the seedlings in the dark. These assessments indicated our teaching materials were effective for the students to comprehend that plants responded the abiotic environment via the alteration of the plant hormonal.
