There is a new peptide hormone your research group has just identified. You have

Question

There is a new peptide hormone your research group has just identified. You have tentatively named this peptide hormone "NS" (for "No Sex" and for the fact that the peptide is enriched in the amino acids asparagine, and serine). This hormone appears to be involved in various aspects of plant development and physiology, but most specifically in reproduction. Applying "No Sex" to plants causes them not to produce flowers. Mutants that don't make "No Sex" produce flowers uncontrollably.

You want to identify EITHER the "No Sex" receptor OR components of the signaling pathway in your model plant using a genetic screen such as Arabidopsis thaliana. Describe a type of genetic screen you might do to find mutants defective in one of those two classes of molecules, and explain the expected results of your genetic screen, and what they might mean.

Explanation / Answer

The most appropriate screen would be a temperature sensitive screening. Since there is an optimum temperature for protein production which would be around 30 degree Celsius. The protein product of the mutant gene would be active at medium temperature but would be inactive once the temperture is increased. This would help us identify the mutants. The plant containing the defective gene would fail to produce flowers uncontrollably in restrictive temperature (i.e. at higher temperatures).

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