Arabidopsis Experiment (part I)

Heyy, as part of my "Plant and Environment" module I have to perform a series of experiments, the longest and most important (as it is the only one that is graded) being my Arabidopsis experiment.

In short I must grow two sets of Arabidopsis thaliana, one as a control group and the other as the experimental group.  To the latter group I must provide a stress (which I still need to come up with) and see how this stress affects the growth rate of the plants.  Then I must write this up and draw a few graphs. The highlight of this experiment, for me, is the fact that we get to take our Arabidopsis home with us which means I will have some new décor for my otherwise, frankly stark room.

But first a bit of background, what is Arabidopsis and why am I experimenting with it?
Arabidopsis thaliana is a small flowering plant (essentially a cabbage) that has been used for many years as a model organism, that is an organism that is extensively studied to understand biological phenomena. Other examples of these include bakers yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) and the  fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster).  

The reasons why this plant (and other model organisms) is used are:

Under experimental pressures it behaves in the same way as crop plants whilst having no economic value itself

It produces many seeds and is a small and easy to cultivate plant

It has a small genome and few chromosomes so it is easy to identify any mutations, extensive genetic and physical maps of these genomes are available.

It has a short life cycle from germination to mature seed production and so genetic analysis is easy and there is a small experimental downtime

There are many genomic resources available and many mutant variations are available

My experiment (as well as hopefully giving me a good grade) aims to show how certain chemical compounds and elements affect the growth and general health of the plants.

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