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I’ve been so busy finalising my Masters by Research thesis, I’ve really let my blog post content slip recently (AKA I haven’t posted for a whole month…) But, once this thesis is in next week I’ll be right back at it.
I’ve been playing around with imaging actively dividing DNA in the root apical meristem. The green blobs are nuclei, containing DNA. If the nuclei are fluorescing green, it means the DNA has actively replicated in the past 24h. All of these are green as the apical meristem drives root growth through active cell division, meaning all of these cells are brand new. I’m hoping to use this technique to better characterise how root meristems grow and produce new cells under different conditions, and in different knockout mutants. This way, we can understand how and if different genes regulate cell division and DNA replication.
The black part is the quiescent centre, a very important part of the meristem which ensures the right tissue types are produced. It divides only very occasionally, meaning no new DNA was produced here during the 24h incubation. The red part surrounding the cells is FM4-64, a plasma membrane stain which shows us the outline of the cells.
Cool right?
Dr emily may armstrong 