"Michael.Chamberland" <23274MJC@MSU.EDU> writes:
...
> Wow, I hadn't hear such progress had been made! When I took a course in
> in TC (about 8 years ago) a big deal was made about the need for
> delicate balances for measuring the chemicals, and laminar flow hoods
In lieu of delicate balances, chemicals can be accurately portioned
by dissolving and diluting - eg: to attain 0.1mg/L IBA for a medium,
starting with, say, 100mg IBA, dissolve it in 1L water, draw up 10ml
of the solution and dilute it in 1000ml water (alright, 990ml if you
insist :) and use this stock as 100ml/L of prepared medium - nothing
more complex than an accurately(-ish) calibrated beaker and dropper
required. This assumes you start with a known quantity of course,
and ready-prepared media will already be blended correctly, but it's
a lot cheaper than procuring a set of scales that will measure down
to 100ug!
The agar and sucrose is safe to a (relatively,) wide degree of error,
but a cautionary note for anyone working with potentially critical
components - calculate correctly! I once misread the kinetin content
in a protocol as milligrams when it should have been MICRO-grams.
Needless to say, the mistake proved fatal to the cultures!
Laminar flow hoods are doubtless convenient, but a glove box is
a LOT cheaper and takes up less space in an average house.
> for working with cultures. Have the protocols been worked out and
> packaged as "kits" now?
Yes, in fact they have. TC Kits are available from a variety of
sources including Carolina Biological Supply and myself (URL in
.sig if anyone's interested.) I'm not sure how suitable the
Carolina kit is, being a 'general purpose' kit I gather (the
nutrients are probably rather on the strong side for many CPs,
and I have no idea what the pH buffering is like.) I have
nonetheless heard of at least one person having some success with
it (Hi Rachel!)
> Or are these people simply working with
> plants that are easy to culture? (Most Drosera can be "tissue cultured"
> by just throwing pieces of chopped-up leaf blade on sphagnum :-)
Yes, but they're a LOT quicker on sterile agar with 20% MS :)
Happy growing,
Peter
snail:Peter Cole,17 Wimmerfield Cres. :: mailto:carnivor@flytrap.demon.co.uk
Killay, SWANSEA SA27BU,WALES,UK :: http://www.angel.co.uk/flytrap/
vox:+44 1792 205214 :: Carnivorous plants and seeds for sale