Introduction to Wisconsin Fast Plants

Image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/51424602@N07/5424676131/ by Carolina Biological Supply License: CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Brassica rapa

What are Fast Plants?

• A variety of the Brassica rapa plant• Bred by Prof. Paul Williams at the University of

Wisconsin- Madison• Bred to have a very fast life cycle, to facilitate

student experiments such as …

… artificial selection… and plant breeding!

Fast Plants are ideal for student research of plant growth and reproduction

Image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/13763932@N04/8250538140/ by Jeff Peterson License: CC BY 2.0

There are abundant materials (like videos) online from the creators in Wisconsin…

Image: Screen capture of this website provided as a fair use of this material. The purpose is educational. The captured portion of the site is small. The effect is to direct students to the site, advancing the mission of the organization.

http://www.fastplants.org/

And can be obtained locally, here in North Carolina…

http://www.carolina.com/living-organisms/wisconsin-fast-plants/10647.ctImage: Screen capture of this website provided as a fair use of this material. The purpose is educational. The captured portion of the site is small. The effect is to direct students to the site, advancing the mission of the organization.

Brassica rapa is a closely related to the model species for plant molecular biology, Arabidopsis thaliana

Image 1) http://www.flickr.com/photos/berkeleylab/3654838636/ License CC BY-NC-SA 2.0Image 2) http://www.flickr.com/photos/auffreto/5354428640/ License CC BY-NC-SA 2.0Image 3) http://www.flickr.com/photos/71183136@N08/7093253499/ License CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

What are the advantages of using Brassica rapa (and Arabidopsis thaliana?)

• Small plants don’t require much space• Small genomes – Brassica: 500 million base pairs– Arabidposis: 135 million base pairs

• Lots of prior research – Brassica in high school and college– Arabidopsis in college and beyond

• Rapid life cycles– Brassica: 1 month– Arabidopsis: 3 months

Image: http://www.fastplants.org/life_cycle/index.php License CC BY-NC-SA 3.0

Relatives of Brassica rapa used as food

Current family name: Brassicaceae

Older family name: Cruciferae (a.k.a., cruciferous vegetables)

mustard, radish, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, brussel sprouts, canola, turnips, turnip greens, cress, bok choy horseradish, rutabaga, canoloa/rapeseed, argula, kale, collard greens

Cruciferous vegetables

How many can you name? Image by Charles Smith http://www.flickr.com/photos/24415055@N00/8436834712/ License CC BY-SA 2.0

Activity: Foods of the Brassicaceae

1. Use online resources to match the common names of the many cruciferous vegetables with their scientific names.

2. Examine photos of these (or examples from the grocery). Note morphological differences among this diverse group. Why are they different?

3. Determine which species has the most types of vegetables derived from it.4. Determine which common vegetables are of same species as Fast Plants.5. Choose one species and determine where it was domesticated. This is also

likely to be its center of genetic diversity. What is the value of the genetic diversity among landraces and wild relatives?