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Cloning is the process bioscientists use to make exact copies of living things. It is possible to clone genes, cells, tissues, and even whole animals, like the famous cloned beagles cloned from skin cells by scientists at Chungnam National University in South Korea in 2022.

Cloning is also a process that occurs naturally. Bacteria, for instance, create clones of themselves. And even in applied biology, cloning is not always a technologically complicated process. Cutting off a limb of a desirable fruit tree, and grafting it to a rootstock, for example, creates a clone of a tree. But when would you want to clone a gene?

Why Molecular Biologists (and Your Students) Would Want to Clone a Gene

Molecular biologists sometimes create copies of a target gene for specific downstream applications, such as:
Sequencing a genome
Inducing a mutation in a target gene
Genotyping a tissue sample or a blood sample
Heterologous expression of a protein

Heterologous expression of a protein refers to encoding DNA or RNA from one species to produce a protein in a different species. For instance, your students may be familiar with using bacteria to produce insulin. Bacteria are also used to produce industrial quantities of enzymes.

The established technique for cloning a gene involves transferring a chosen DNA fragment from one organism to another. This requires using a genetic element that can replicate itself, such as a bacterial plasmid. When molecular biologists use this method today, they typically try isolating long gene sequences or genes they have never studied.

A modern approach uses the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to amplify a target gene. Modern Biology offers three exercises your students can use to learn and apply this fundamental laboratory technique:

IND-07: Amplification of a Hemoglobin Gene by PCR
IND-10: PCR Amplification of a Gene for Ribosomal RNA
IND-21: Identifying Genomic and Plasmid DNA Sequences in E. coli by Colony PCR

The beauty of PCR over traditional gene cloning is the decreased time required for amplifying the desired gene. However, PCR can only isolate genes with predetermined sequences.

Molecular biologists have to “snip” gene sequences with restriction enzymes.

Your students need to understand that restriction enzymes cut the double helix of DNA by recognizing certain six-nucleotide sequences, for example, GAATTC. These enzymes can isolate genes from both strands of DNA because the two strands of DNA are palindromes. The enzyme that recognizes GAATTC, for example, also recognizes CTTAAG.

Ligase enzymes then “stick” the DNA or RNA sequences in the target organism’s genome.

But how do molecular biologists know where to “stick” the DNA fragments?

DNA fragments can be separated by a process called gel electrophoresis. And, with electrophoresis kits from Modern Biology, your students can master the technique.

You can give your students hands-on experience with cloning

Modern Biology makes it possible for your students to become budding genetic engineers.

Our standard program S11, for instance, allows your students to clone a segment of DNA. The ovine genome contains an unusually highly repeated satellite sequence, short sequences repeated a large number of times. Your students will clone and characterize a satellite sequence by restriction enzyme mapping analysis in this experiment.

Each kit from Modern Biology provides all the chemicals, sterile media, and expendable accessories that 16 pairs of students will need to do DNA electrophoresis, digestion with a restriction nuclease, DNA ligation, bacterial transformation, selection of ampicillin resistance, production of beta-galactosidase, and isolation of plasmids. The only special equipment you will need to have is a microcentrifuge.

Our newly released Standard Program 12 (S12) focuses on gene selection and cloning. Your students will first digest viral DNA with an enzyme. Then they will run electrophoresis to separate it into segments and choose a segment to clone.

Students then isolate the segment from the gel and ligate it into a plasmid. They will use pUC18 as the vector. Next, students feed the plasmid to bacteria through an uptake process to transform the bacteria.

As the bacteria grow, they change colors! Bacterial colonies that take up pure pUC18 should grow dark blue. Bacteria that took up the plasmid with the selected segment to clone will grow white instead.
After the growth phase, your students will analyze their prepared materials and samples. They will double-check to make sure they have completed all the steps correctly. By the time your students have completed both S11 and S12, they will have mastered hands-on competencies to confidently isolate and clone DNA.

The Modern Biology Difference

Every experiment packaged by Modern Biology is designed to teach the scientific method. Students state a hypothesis, write down the procedure they will use in the lab to test it, run their experiment, and write up the results.

Modern Biology helps you transform your lectures about biology into hands-on exercises that help your students become practicing biologists.

Every Modern Biology experiment has the reagents, test materials, and incidental laboratory supplies required for learning. You won’t have to fill out requisitions for individual items for your experiments, and you will never have to cancel a lab for lack of a reagent or materials to test.

Modern Biology offers outstanding learning experiences that can fit within your budget. And we are available during school hours every week to answer your questions about using our products to help your students learn.

Call us at (765) 446-4220 any school day between 9 and 5 Eastern Time, fax us at (765) 446-4225, or email us from our contact page. The home office of Modern Biology is located at 2211 South Street, Lafayette, IN 47904.

Modern Biology provides all the extras you need for dozens of experiments that give your students hands-on, memorable experiences doing science. With Modern Biology, you can make abstract concepts come to life as your students manipulate real DNA, determine the size of molecules with electrophoresis, or even perform genetic engineering to create a bacterium that glows in the dark and do genetic testing for hemophilia.

We provide your lesson plans, test materials, control materials, your reagents, and specialized equipment for laboratory exercises that make biology come alive for your classes. But what basic equipment do you need for your lab?

Taking Measurements

Students need experience collecting both qualitative and quantitative data to become young scientists. Collecting quantitative data starts with the very basics.

Your students need rulers to measure length.

Every student needs to know how to measure volume with a pipette.

Biological reactions occur within a limited range of temperatures, so students need thermometers and incubators to control temperature.

Experiments don’t work when reagents are used in the wrong amounts. Every biology student needs to know how to weigh objects and chemicals with a precise balance.

And don’t forget about beakers. When students mix chemicals in an aqueous solution or when they need to measure water to make a gel or buffer a compound, they typically use beakers. Beakers come with a spout that makes pouring easy and more accurate. Every lab needs beakers of different sizes for mixing varying amounts of chemicals into appropriate solvents.

Heating Equipment

Every lab needs Bunsen burners. Since the 1850s, Bunsen burners have been standard laboratory equipment that has generated a single flame for heating liquids and solids. Using Bunsen burners reinforces basic concepts of laboratory safety and provides an easy way to heat test materials.

Bunsen burners, of course, are not the only way to heat laboratory materials. Modern Biology has a selection of analog hotplates with mechanical stirrers from Benchmark Scientific. Our hotplates give you and your student precise control over liquids heated up to 380°C, although their recommended operating range is +4 to +65°C. Occupying just 20 x 23 x 11.5 cm on your lab desks but weighing 4 kg, our space-saving hotplates are not easily tipped over.

Examination Equipment

Every biology student, at some point, needs access to binoculars and a magnifying glass for fieldwork. Every biology student also needs a microscope for lab work.

Biology labs typically buy compound microscopes first. Light-powered compound microscopes magnify the detail in individual cells or allow your students to study single-celled and very simple multicellular organisms and tissues from multicellular organisms in fine detail.

Most high schools buy microscopes with 400X magnification. Most colleges seek greater detail, with 1000X magnification.

There are also lower-power microscopes that enable closer inspection of small objects in their entirety. These stereo microscopes and dissecting microscopes allow your students to examine a rock crystal or a grain of pollen in 3-D detail.

What about microscopes connecting to digital projectors onto a screen so your whole class can view the same image at the same time?

These microscopes are great for explaining concepts as you teach them in your lecture. They aren’t ideal for helping your students develop good microscopic techniques. Microscopes with digital projection screens are OK if your budget is extremely limited and you cannot provide each student or each pair of students with their own instrument, but otherwise, they should have a lower priority on your lab equipment acquisitions list.

Other Useful Tools for Your Biology Lab

Lab supplies for measurement, temperature control, and visualization are fundamental for stocking a modern biology lab, but there are many other tools that every biology teacher can use:

3-D, hands-on models help your students visualize organs and tissues. Whether it is an earthworm dissection model showing your students what they are looking for, a standing model of a typical flower, or a gigantic representation of a paramecium, students remember anatomy and physiology with 3-D teaching aids. Models of all kinds prepare your students for their hands-on experiences in the lab from Modern Biology.

Classroom microscope slide sets give your students finding what they are looking for when they use their microscopes.

Preserved samples can give your students an opportunity to observe actual human cancer cells, dissect an animal without procuring it in the wild, or learn how to recognize organ systems from frozen sections observed under the microscope. You should also buy slides and formalin so your students can make their own reference samples.

Students love aquariums and terrariums housing live plants and animals. You can teach biology and create a class mascot at the same time.

Invest in forensic biology materials. Your students can learn Western blot skills and real-world DNA fingerprinting,

Don’t overlook butterfly nets, collecting jars, display cases, and display mounts. Entomology skills allow your students to explore the real world and share their findings with like-minded students.

Modern Biology is all about empowering biology teachers to train students in scientific methods. All of our experiment kits give your students an opportunity to formulate and test a hypothesis. Your students learn essential lab techniques and hone their skills in articulating, testing, and presenting experimental results.

Modern Biology has decades of experience helping over 80,000 high school and college biology teachers reach over 500,000 students with safe, complete, affordable experiments. We help you enrich your curriculum with a real scientific investigation that gives your students the confidence to pursue further study and careers in biology.

We are always available during the week to answer any of your questions about our products at Modern Biology. Call us at (765) 446-4220, fax us at (765) 446-4225, or send us an email today! Modern Biology offices are located at 2211 South Street, Lafayette, IN 47904.

How do you turn your students to science in their everyday lives? How do you help your students understand why science is important for their personal futures?

There’s actually quite a bit of academic research on this topic. Some of the keys to making science class relevant to students’ lives may surprise you. Of course, the first one may not.

Active Learning Inspires Student Interest

The National Academy of Sciences published a meta-analysis of 225 studies of active learning versus lecture learning in STEM. Probably not surprising for most science teachers were these two findings:
Active learners scored an average of 0.47 standard deviations higher on concept inventories and exams than lecture learners.

Lecture learners were 1.95 times more likely to fail their classes than active learners.

Active learning, of course, is what Modern Biology is all about. Our innovative experiments give your students opportunities to formulate hypotheses, test them in the lab, reach conclusions, and share them in writing.

But active learning is a lot more than that.

Active biology learners explore living things in the outside world. A field trip no farther than to the schoolyard, to the street, or to the cafeteria and the dumpsters behind the school building are all opportunity to observe life in meaningful ways.

Active learners might create models of biological molecules, observe biological molecules, such as DNA, in hands-on exercises or develop skills with electrophoresis to characterize proteins and other compounds of biological significance.

Not All Good Students Learn Science the Same Way

It is safe to say that if you have made it into medical school, you are a good science student. But these gifted science learners don’t all learn science the same way.

An academic study published in Current Health Sciences Journal did an inventory of the way medical students learn science.

33% were visual learners. They need to see it to remember it.
26% were auditory learners. They need to hear the information to remember it.
14% were kinesthetic learners. For them, the easiest way to master a concept is a hands-on experience, like those you can offer your students with Modern Biology.
27% of students learned best through some combination of styles of learning.

The distribution of learning styles in your biology classroom may not skew to the same proportions as these researchers’ sampling of 270 medical students. But the point of the study still holds:

Even among good students, not all students learn the same way.

If you want your students to make biology a fun, daily, important part of their lives, give them multiple ways to learn biology concepts. Give them great lectures, hands-on field trips, and fascinating labs.

Get to Know Your Students

In an era of online learning, packed classrooms, mandated curriculum, and competing activities, getting to know your students isn’t easy. Teachers have to make a concerted effort to get to know all of their students. But when they do, they can communicate why science is important and how their students can excel in studying science and even becoming scientists.

Here are three ways you can encourage enthusiasm for biology in your classes.

Get to Know Your Students As Individuals

Allow students to share their personal experiences. Pay attention if you overhear students discussing an episode of CSI they saw on TV. Set aside some time for free-form discussion of anything related to biology. Listen to your student’s concerns about the important events in their lives, and be the expert they turn to for understanding questions of biology.

Make Biology a Way Your Students Can Learn More About Themselves

Create occasions for your students to make biology a part of their life experience. Our experiment regarding Sickle Cell Anemia, for example, gives your students an opportunity to test their own blood for the genes for the sickle cell trait. They can explore not just the laboratory technique of genetic testing but also the personal and social implications of dealing with the revelations of genetic testing. They can develop empathy for others and an understanding of themselves.

Keep Anxiety Levels as Low as Possible

There is a lot to learn in modern biology classes. Your students will have to achieve focus to learn it all. Of course, there will be students who need extra help with that. But all of your students need a structure in which they can succeed.

Ensure your students are focused on learning for success, not just avoiding failure. It is hard to find time for everything your students need to learn, so you will have to use every minute of classroom time effectively but only push your students toward their potential.

Encourage your students to have a dream. Help them find a path to it.

Demand that your students succeed in everything they do. Even if it takes more than one or two attempts.

Motivate your students to make a difference in their community. Show them how biology makes a difference in the quality of life.

Model the attitudes for success. Your students may not have every advantage. Your school may have a limited budget. Outside pressures on students and teachers are real. But you can help your students do the very best they can with the tools they have.

Modern Biology makes teaching laboratory biology easier. We package dozens of experiments for inquiring young biologists. Each of our laboratory exercises comes with a teacher guide, all of the test materials and reagents you need for your students to run their experiments, and decades of experience using these experiments to bring biological silence to life for over 500,000 students all over the United States.

All of our lab supplies are non-toxic and meet all state and federal safety standards. Every kit is designed to provide all the experiment-specific materials a pair of students needs, priced to fit your budget.
We open our phone lines on weekdays to answer any of your questions about our products at Modern Biology. Call us at (765) 446-4220, fax us at (765) 446-4225, or send us an email today!

Group of students laboratory lab in science classroom

Making science class your students’ favorite hour of the day doesn’t have to be hard. Sure, many science teachers have their students sit at their desks, read their books, and watch some mp3s that illustrate topics they need to know for the test. But you can inspire even students who hate science to love science with these ten easy interventions.

Use Lots Of Visuals, Preferably With Hands-On Demonstrations

Some of the most important concepts in modern biology—the structure of DNA, for example—are hard to visualize. So, use lots of visual aids. Think images, videos, YouTube, and, where permitted, TikTok.
A picture is worth a thousand words. For example, a 3-D demonstration of basic biological concepts, electrophoresis, is even better. Engage the senses and kinesthetic learning by allowing your students to create their visuals and do lab work hands-on.

Enlist Influencers

We aren’t aware of any biology videos made by Nina Guerrero, Fateh Hallintar, Andy Jiang, or Noa da Boa (although it would be a great idea). That doesn’t mean you can’t bring local influencers to liven up your biology class.

Recruit an EMT, a doctor, a nurse, a genetics counselor, a microbiologist, or a biological engineer to be a teacher for a day. Introduce your students to adults making biology their rocket to success, who can inspire them and share real-life experiences about the best ways to get ahead.

Show Your Excitement About Biology

The biggest influencer in your biology class, of course, is you. Feel free to get a little geeky with your enthusiasm for the latest developments in biological science. Model enthusiasm for bioscience to your students. Ensure they know the latest developments in the field and why they make a difference. A little (just a little) silliness and groan-worthy biology humor can go a long way toward motivating your class.

Keep Your Class Connected To The Real World

One of Modern Biology’s most popular experiments is the analysis of a mutant hemoglobin gene. In this experiment, students discover whether monozygotic (although they would typically already know), heterozygotic (carriers), or non-carriers of the gene that causes hemophilia.

No experiment from Modern Biology has inspired more hands-on investigation by future scientists than our module on the mutant hemoglobin gene. Students learn to identify the risk of disease in their own lives and in people they know. They think through the social and ethical implications of genetic testing and approach news reports of genetic engineering that cure disease with a new perspective.

Experiments with real-world implications that students do for themselves inspire meaningful careers in science. Don’t just impress on your students that they are the scientists of tomorrow. Confirm that they are scientists today.

Encourage Collaboration

Science is a collaborative endeavor. And, frankly, schools have budgets. Even with the budget-friendly pricing you can find at Modern Biology, you don’t have the money to let every student do their own experiments solo.

That’s not a bad thing. Modern Biology experiment kits are intended for use by pairs of lab partners. Let’s face it. Everybody in biology has had “that” lab partner. Students working in teams not only have to master time management, conserve supplies, take notes, and present conclusions. They have to master all of these skills with a partner. Teaching collaboration skills is not a question on standardized tests, but it most certainly contributes to future success on the job.

Give Your Students Choices

Modern biology is standardized. You have a curriculum from your state board of education. If you want your students to do well on tests, you follow the scope and sequence set by experts (never mind that you may have more experience in the classroom than they do).

Even in this environment, students do better when they can own their choices.

That is the beauty of teaching biology with laboratory content provided by Modern Biology. Not only do you save the time and hassle of ordering, stocking, counting, and reordering supplies, which always seem to be a little short, you give every student—or at least every pair of lab partners—a choice in what they are studying.

No experiment from Modern Biology is just a demonstration. In every experiment by Modern Biology, your students will define a question they want to test. Then they will experiment to test it and report the results. It’s not about getting the “right” answer. It’s about asking a good question.

Give Your Students Multiple Pathways To Learning

We are all concerned about keeping our classes on our students’ level. Sometimes we need to raise their level.

The best approach to encouraging mastery of the basics is not always to drill the basics and drill them some more. The right approach to bolstering your students’ comprehension of the essential elements of biology is to give them chances to learn in different ways. Enlist experts, share videos, and make biology relevant, as mentioned above. And take advantage of the teacher guides that Modern Biology includes with every experiment.

Take Students Outside

What’s biology without fieldwork? Challenge your book-bound students to find examples of the scientific principles they know so well in the world outdoors. Give them chances to excel in the field, not just on their exams.

Do Field Trips

Visit working biologists in their labs. See the results of biological research in venues ranging from corn fields to hospitals to sewage treatment plants. If you can’t get your school to give you a bus, a driver, and chaperones, arrange virtual field trips. Be sure you keep biology connected to real-world activities.

Play Games

Students love computer games. With Modern Biology, they can build a biologically based computer. Give your students an entirely new perspective on gaming.

Modern Biology has helped over 80,000 teachers keep over 500,000 students turned on to biology. Call us at (765) 446-4220 for more information today!

Muir Woods National Monument. Long and big beautiful trees in a wood

Predicting phenotype from genotype is the fundamental challenge of genetics. In agriculture, understanding how genetics of plants determines — and doesn’t determine — how important crops respond to variations in soil, moisture, fertilizer, pests, and weather, so farmers can grow the food that sustains the world.

The importance of understanding the genetics of plants has been recognized throughout history. The first crops were domesticated about 12,000 years ago, and the twentieth century brought us statistical modeling of plant genetics and DNA-based selection of seed crops. But plant breeding is not solely the province of plant geneticists. Farmers, gardeners, landscapers, and your students can practice selective plant breeding.

How can you introduce the genetics of plants as a topic for student learning? You can begin with a discussion of malnutrition. Malnutrition describes the state of people who don’t get enough food. It also describes the state of people dealing with obesity.

You can provide context for your discussion of plant genetics by discussing how many people worldwide suffer from hunger and how many are obese. You can discuss the causes of hunger around the world. You can have your students apply their critical thinking skills to find out what is needed to address hunger in the world, the United States, their state, and their community. Be aware that this lesson may evoke some very personal stories of hunger.

Then, you can use the following six strategies for teaching the basic biology of plant genetics.

Genetics Of Plants – Start With The Basics

Even in the 2020s, students still need to know about Mendelian genetics. And even in the 2020s, most students still eat peas or refuse to eat peas but encounter them daily.

The peas you buy at the store will be uniformly green or uniformly yellow, the selection made by the food packer, but peas you grow in the garden will be green, yellow, or occasionally purple. If you have the space and your weather is warm enough, spend a few weeks growing your crop of Belinda, Century, Impala, Lenca, Miranda, Paloma, Renata, Tipu, or Victoria peas (available from online garden seed sellers).

Or show your class a video about Mendel and do a lesson on Mendelian genetics provided by a lesson source like Lesson Planet. Explain to your class that before 1970, this was as far as a high school biology lesson could go! Make sure your students have a firm grasp of the concept of dominant and recessive genes.

Illustrate How Every Individual Is A Mixed Bag Of Genes

Biology teachers all over the country teach about genetic drift with M&M candies. Every individual created by sexual reproduction receives half of its genes from its male parent and half from its female parent. So, have your students demonstrate how offspring can differ from their parents with a bag of M&M candies.

Start with a demonstration of the principles your students learned in their Mendelian genetics lesson. Ask them to demonstrate what happens when you cross a plant that yields green peas with a plant that yields yellow peas. Tell them that the plant yielding green peas is heterozygous, with one gene for green and one for yellow. Remind them that the yellow trait is recessive, so the plant yielding yellow peas will be a homozygote for this trait.

Have your students put ten green M&Ms and ten yellow M&Ms in a paper bag to represent the green-pea parent. Have them put 20 yellow M&Ms in a different bag to represent the yellow-pea parent.
Then have them take one M&M out of one bag and a second M&M out of the other. Ask them to describe the phenotype for which the pair of “peas” stands. Repeat this for all 20 pairings, and then ask your students what percentage of the pea pairings represent a plant with green peas and what percentage represents a plant that produces yellow peas.

Ask them how the outcome would be different if the green-pea parent had been homozygous for the green-color gene. Ask your students to repeat the game to determine the wrinkled or smooth phenotype distribution and purple versus white flowers.

Now, eat an M&M. Ask your students what happens when genes are deleted from the gene pool. Encourage your students to apply the same principle to other organisms, like people. For instance, ask your students how they could illustrate the genetics of the sickle cell trait in humans.

Move On To Four Advanced Topics

Candy has a way of keeping students engaged with a class, but only for a short time. Once you are sure everyone is on board with the basic concepts, give your students a hands-on demonstration of DNA. Reinforce the concept that genes are tangible.

Next, guide your students beyond the elementary level by leading them to think about how genes affect basic physiological processes in plants, like cellular respiration in seedlings. Find standard and fast-growing varieties of the same plant, and see if your students can measure differences in O2 consumption in a respiration chamber provided by Modern Biology. Have your students show you how plant pigments can be measured. Constantly have your students relate their observations to what they know about the plants they are using in their experiments.

Training young minds in the scientific method is made easier with Modern Biology. All our experiments let your students test a hypothesis. You will have a complete teacher’s guide with every experiment and receive all the safe, non-toxic reagents you need in every kit. Save yourself hours of ordering and inventory time, and never have to worry about running short of the materials you need for each lab.
Give your students an entirely new perspective on biology! Modern Biology has helped over 80,000 teachers keep over 500,000 students turned on to biology. Call us at (765) 446-4220 for more information today!

Modern Biology offers students a hands-on introduction to the role of enzymes in plant development with IND-22: Characterization of Peroxidases in Plants. As with every experiment with Modern Biology, you will find everything you need for each experiment, other than general lab supplies with the complete kits we provide. But how do you introduce this topic to your biology class?

If we were substitutes teaching your class, our presentation would go something like this:

Temperature has a significant effect on enzymatic reactions. Enzymes are proteins that catalyze biochemical reactions by lowering the activation energy required for the reaction to occur. However, like all proteins, enzymes are sensitive to changes in temperature.

At low temperatures, enzymatic reactions occur more slowly. That’s because the enzymes have less kinetic energy.

As temperature increases, the rate of the enzymatic reaction also increases. This is because the molecules move faster, resulting in more frequent collisions between the enzyme and substrate.

Higher temperatures don’t always increase the speed of the chemical reaction.

If the temperature becomes too high, the enzyme may denature. It loses its structure, leading to a loss of enzymatic activity. Denaturing can occur because high temperatures cause the protein structure to vibrate more vigorously, disrupting the weak bonds that hold the protein in its specific conformation. Once the enzyme has denatured, it cannot bind to its substrate, and the reaction will not occur.

Each enzyme has a temperature optimum at which it functions best. The temperature optimum for enzymes varies between species, but it is typically between 30 and 40°C for enzymes in human cells. Enzymes from extremophilic organisms, such as those that live in hot springs or deep-sea hydrothermal vents, can have temperature optima that exceed 100°C.

Explaining Peroxidases in Plants

We will be looking especially closely at peroxidases in plants.

Peroxidases are important enzymes in plants because they play several roles in growth, development, and stress responses. Some of the important functions of peroxidases in plants include:

Lignin biosynthesis: Peroxidases are involved in the biosynthesis of lignin, the complex polymer that provides structural support to plant cells. Peroxidases catalyze the polymerization of monolignols, which are precursors of lignin, into lignin polymers. This process helps plants to form rigid cell walls. It helps them resist environmental stress.
Defense against pathogens: Peroxidases play a role in the plant’s defense against infections by pathogens. When a plant is infected, peroxidases are produced and secreted into the extracellular matrix. They crosslink the cell wall polymers. This strengthens the cell wall and slows or stops the spread of the pathogen.
Reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavenging: Peroxidases neutralize reactive oxygen species (ROS) generated as byproducts of various metabolic processes.
Abiotic stress response: Plants face various environmental stressors, such as drought, salinity, and extreme temperatures. Peroxidases are part of the way the plant responds to such stresses. Under drought stress, for example, peroxidases regulate water transport by modifying the cell wall composition and maintaining cell turgor pressure.
Seed germination: Peroxidases play a role in seed germination. They break down the seed coat and release stored nutrients for seedling growth.

The bottom line is that peroxidases are important in plant growth, development, and stress responses. They are involved in lignin biosynthesis, defense against pathogens, ROS scavenging, abiotic stress response, and seed germination. The functions of peroxidases in plants highlight their importance in plant survival and adaptation to changing environmental conditions.

What is the effect of temperature on peroxidases?

Peroxidases are an enzyme that catalyzes a substrate’s oxidation by hydrogen peroxide, using a heme group as a cofactor. The activity of peroxidases is influenced by temperature; like other enzymes, they have an optimal temperature range.

At low temperatures, the activity of peroxidases is slow due to a lack of kinetic energy; at very low temperatures, the enzyme may become completely inactive. As the temperature increases within the optimal range, the rate of reaction increases due to more frequent collisions between the enzyme and the substrate, and the enzyme-catalyzed reaction becomes more efficient.

At temperatures above the optimal range, the enzyme activity begins to decline, and above a certain temperature, the enzyme may denature, resulting in a complete loss of activity. This temperature at which the enzyme activity starts to decline and denaturation begins is known as the denaturation temperature.

The optimal temperature range for peroxidases varies depending on the source of the enzyme. For example, horseradish peroxidase has an optimal temperature range between 20-30°C, while peroxidase from the fungus Phanerochaete chrysosporium has an optimal temperature range between 30-45°C.

Where are peroxidases found in plants?

Different types of peroxidases can be found in different locations. For example, lignin peroxidases are mainly found in the cell wall. That’s where they are involved in the polymerization of lignin. Cytosolic peroxidases are involved in ROS scavenging and oxidative stress responses.

Some examples of plant peroxidases and their locations are:

Horseradish peroxidase (HRP) – found in the cell wall and apoplast of horseradish roots.
Catalase-peroxidase (KatG) – found in the cytosol and peroxisomes of plant cells.
Ascorbate peroxidase (APX) – found in the cytosol, chloroplasts, and mitochondria of plant cells.
Guaiacol peroxidase (GPX) – found in the cell wall, apoplast, and vacuole of plant cells.

Do all plants contain peroxidases?

Peroxidases are ubiquitous enzymes found in all plant tissues, including leaves, stems, roots, and seeds. Different types of peroxidases are present in various plant species and are involved in diverse biochemical pathways.

What happens to the hydrogen peroxide released by peroxidases in plants?

Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) is a toxic byproduct of many cellular processes, including those catalyzed by peroxidases in plants. Peroxidases are enzymes involved in various processes, such as lignin biosynthesis, suberin formation, and defense against pathogens.

Plants have several mechanisms to detoxify hydrogen peroxide released by peroxidases. One of the primary mechanisms is the activity of enzymes such as catalase and peroxiredoxins that decompose hydrogen peroxide into water and oxygen. This process helps to reduce the toxicity of hydrogen peroxide and prevent damage to the plant’s cells.

Another mechanism involves the transport of hydrogen peroxide to specific sites within the plant cell where it is required for signaling purposes. Hydrogen peroxide has been shown to act as a signaling molecule in various plant processes, such as defense responses, stomatal closure, and programmed cell death.

But isn’t peroxide harmful to plants?

Refer your students to the above. Point out that peroxidases regulate reactions that take thousandths of a second in tiny, tiny amounts.

When your students master these concepts, they are ready to formulate their own hypotheses to test in the lab!

Modern Biology is a leader in providing biology teachers with the tools to inspire students to embrace the sciences. We are here to help your students excel. Call us at (765) 446-4220 or email us today!

Modern Biology students are expected to grasp the terminology and technology of six common methods of identifying and classifying bacteria.

Gram staining: This is a quick and simple technique all your students need to know. It involves staining the bacteria with crystal violet and iodine and observing them under a microscope. Bacteria are classified as gram-positive or gram-negative based on the color they retain after staining.
Biochemical tests: These tests are used to identify specific enzymes and metabolic processes that are characteristic of certain types of bacteria. For example, catalase, which breaks down hydrogen peroxide, can help identify staphylococci bacteria.
Serological tests: These tests use specific antibodies to detect and identify bacterial antigens. For example, the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) can be used to identify specific strains of Escherichia coli.
DNA sequencing: This is a molecular technique that involves sequencing the DNA of a bacterial sample to identify it. It can involve sequencing a specific gene or the entire genome.
MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry: This is a rapid and accurate method for identifying bacteria by measuring the masses of molecules in the sample, which can help identify the bacterial species.
Whole-cell matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF): This method involves analyzing the mass spectrum of a bacterial sample to identify its protein profile, which can help identify the species.

But if you asked your students to take samples and identify some of the bacteria in their everyday world, what would they do?

Low-Tech, Low-Cost Ways to Introduce Students to Microbial Identification

Our experience with thousands of biology classes across the United States suggests most students would go about their assignment something like this:

Students collect bacteria from what they believe to be “germy” places

Your students will take swabs of places they think are the dirtiest in their everyday lives. Most will sample toilet handles, toilet seats, or bathroom mirrors. Some knowledgeable students will take a swab of their kitchen sink.

Or your students might take swabs of the floors in their biology classrooms! They will transfer bacteria from their swabs to agar plates, place them into the incubator, and return the next class period to see what happened.

Some swabs don’t seem to have bacteria, even though they probably do

Not every swab will result in bacterial growth. This allows your students to generate some hypotheses about the reasons why.

Were there no bacteria on the biology classroom floor, or did they need a different medium in their Petri dish to grow? Here’s an opportunity to use the scientific method. But how can they run their tests?

Students learn to use Gram stain

When your students grow bacteria, they will need to figure out what kind of bacteria they have. Since 1884, the most basic method of bacterial identification has been Gram staining, developed by Hans Christian Gram to look for tuberculosis bacteria in sections of the lungs.

Your students can learn Gram staining in a single lab period. Then they can start to think through the implications of Gram-positive and Gram-negative status not just for the initial identification of bacteria but also for identifying chemical agents and antibiotics that may control them.

Students use selective and differential growth media

Your students can also test their bacteria with selective media and differential media. For example, mannitol salt sugar agar is selective for Staphylococcus bacteria, the only bacteria that measurably grow on it. Or your students could use differential media, which support multiple kinds of bacteria, but encourage growth at different rates.

Blood agar is a differential medium for different Streptococcus species, which break down the red blood cells in the medium at different rates. No change in the color of the media means you have S. viridans. Partial cell hemolysis leads to brown or green staining on the media, which means you have S. haemolyticus. A complete breakdown of red blood cells, so the medium fades, means you have S. pyogenes.

Your students use simple biochemical testing

Biochemical testing doesn’t have to be expensive. Your students can test for the presence of the catalase enzyme in a bacteria sample, for instance, with just a drop of hydrogen peroxide placed next to the bacterial colony in the Petri dish. For instance, they might use this kind of test to distinguish catalase-positive Staphylococci from catalase-negative Streptococcus, which are both Gram-positive.

Next, your students can use their pipettes to fill the wells of an assay plate to test which nutrients encourage the greatest growth. This test will give them dozens of ways to narrow down the identity of their sample, all before ever looking at the bacteria through the microscope and without DNA sequencing.

With Modern Biology, you ground your students in the basics of good lab technique and reward them with thought-provoking experiments that burnish their credentials as the scientists of the future. You receive all the supplies you need for each exercise (other than the basics you use every day), teacher preparation notes, and the assurance that thousands of biology teachers just like you have used these experiments to create successful science students who become science majors and enter science-based professions.

Modern Biology has helped over 8,000 biology teachers reach over 500,000 students. Modern Biology is a leader in providing biology teachers with the tools to train students. We are ready to answer all of your questions about our products. We are here to help your students excel. Call us at (765) 446-4220 or email us today!

Every biology student learns about DNA, but a hands-on laboratory exercise in which they extract visible amounts of DNA they can manipulate with glass rods or squish between their fingers makes the lectures about DNA in the classroom memorable and meaningful. Modern Biology, Inc. provides mammalian DNA for formal experiments. Still, strawberries are a readily available and easily extractable source of DNA for classroom demonstrations.

What is unique about strawberry DNA?

Biology teachers use strawberries as the source of DNA for classroom demonstrations for two fundamental reasons: there is a lot of easily extractable DNA in a strawberry and strawberries are readily available fresh or frozen any time of year.

Modern strawberries descend from four distinct, diploid species of wild berries. Their ancestor species also hybridized to produce diploid, tetraploid, and hexaploid berries in Europe.

Strawberries are not the only octoploid plants. You could also find abundant octoploid DNA in dahlias and pansies. There are also up to 400 chromosomes in some kinds of fish.

Strawberries, however, are readily available and easy to prepare for extraction. Nearly all students can relate to strawberries.

How does strawberry DNA extraction work?

Unlike some individual biology experiments, extracting strawberry DNA only requires a few common household items:

Three strawberries (frozen or fresh, but frozen strawberries must be completely thawed before using them in the demonstration)
Isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol
Measuring spoons and a measuring cup
Small mixing bowl
Water
Salt
Liquid dish detergent (for hand-washing dishes)
Small drinking glass
Tall drinking glass
Funnel
Small glass jar, like a clean baby food jar
Toothpick or bamboo skewer

Start by chilling the rubbing alcohol in the freezer.

Make your extraction liquid by mixing one-third cup (80 ml) of water, one tablespoon (15 ml) of dishwashing detergent, and one-half teaspoon (3 grams) of salt. Set this aside, too.

You can ask students why the extraction liquid contains detergent.

Line the funnel with the cheesecloth. Make sure the cheesecloth completely covers the funnel. Place the funnel into the tall drinking glass (which should be empty when you place the funnel into it).

Remove any leaves from the strawberries.

Next comes the fun part. Place the strawberries into the plastic bag. Press to remove any air. Seal the bag and squish the berries for three minutes until they become mush.

Add three tablespoons (45 ml) of the extraction liquid you made earlier to the bag. Press to get the air out of the bag, reseal, and squish the bag between your fingers for one minute.

You can ask students how they think the strawberries will look after being mixed with the detergent and then ask them how the berries look 60 seconds later.

Now, empty the bag onto the cheesecloth you put in the funnel. Let it drain until only the pulp remains. Ask students how the filtrate looks now.

Remove the cheesecloth and the funnel and pour the filtrate from the tall glass into the small jar until it is one-quarter full.

Measure out one half-cup (120 ml) of chilled rubbing alcohol.

Tilt the small glass jar and slowly pour chilled rubbing alcohol over the filtrate, taking care not to mix them.

The rubbing alcohol will precipitate the DNA, so gooey, squishy, white strings of DNA begin to appear. When enough DNA is visible, students can extract it with toothpicks, a wooden skewer, or a glass stirring rod.

Notice where the DNA forms in the container with the two mixtures.

A single strand of DNA is too small to view with the naked eye, but precipitates of DNA from a solution yield a product that can be seen and touched.

How do you test the DNA of a strawberry?

There are a number of ways to transform this demonstration into an experiment.

Change the proportions of the ingredients in the extraction liquid. See if the experiment yields more or less DNA (after accounting for differences in the weights of berries).
Test whether ripe strawberries and not-yet-ripe strawberries contain similar amounts of DNA, once again, in terms of the weight of strawberries used in the test.
Macerate strawberry leaves and try other fruits and cereals to extend the comparison.

This hands-on experiment prepares students for more advanced lab work with electrophoresis. It is a simple demonstration that transforms DFNA from an abstraction to a part of every student’s understanding of their world.

Modern Biology, Inc. is the supplier of choice for over 80,000 teachers in the United States. We are available on weekdays to answer your questions. Contact us at (765) 446-4220 or email us today!

Music for plants is a real thing.

Your students’ grandparents could have been familiar with an album released in 1976 called Plantasia, a collection of music played on a Moog synthesizer specifically for plants to listen to. Your student’s parents could have come across “Brainwave” music for plants. And plant lovers of all ages can find a collection of music for plants on Spotify.

And there is a growing collection of scientific research that confirms the idea that sound, in general, and music, in particular, affect plant growth.

Some plants can sense sound and make sounds through the motion of fluids through the xylem.
In one experiment, sound stimulated oxygen uptake in cabbage, cucumber seedlings, and mature plants.
In other experiments, sound was shown to direct plant growth, increase plant survival, accelerate germination, increase fruit nutrient content, delay fruit ripening, and increase pollination.

The TV show MythBusters tackled this topic in 2004. They set up seven greenhouses with the same kinds of plants, playing seven types of sound. In one greenhouse, they played death metal. In another, they played classical music. They exposed plants to two different recordings of speech, one of negative speech, one of positive speech, and one with no sound. Plants grew best when exposed to death metal and poorest when they received no sound.

The idea that music can affect the physiology of plants is easy for students to understand. Even better, from the point of view of teaching young scientists, it lends itself to testable hypotheses. So, how can your students verify that music has an effect on—or has no effect on—growth at various stages of plant development?

We at Modern Biology, Inc. have two suggestions. One involves approximate measurements and leaves your results open to confounding variables, and the second allows your students to make precise measurements and eliminates confounding variables.

A Traditional Method of Testing the Effect of Music on Plant Growth

The quick and easy setup for a test of the effects of music on plant growth only requires similar plants in similar pots given similar care, a quiet growing area, a growing area exposed to music all the time (such as Muzak), and a smartphone app for making measurements. You could also compare your control plant to a specimen where a news station is played 24 hours a day and compare it to one with a different network.

Use your smartphone app to record the dimensions of each plant at the beginning of the experiment. Make sure the two locations have similar lighting and climate control. Give all of your plants the same amount of water and fertilizer. Measure them again at the end of a month and see if there are differences.

If you worked with trays of seedlings, you could collect enough data to apply simple statistical analyses. After students confirm or fail to confirm their hypotheses, they can take a second look at the experiment for confounding variables.

Modern Biology, Inc.’s Method of Testing the Effect of Music on Plant Growth

A cleaner method of measuring the effects of music on plant growth can be accomplished through a simple modification of Modern Biology, Inc.’s Experiment B4-1: Effects of Temperature on Cell Respiration. Instead of measuring changes in O2 consumption at different temperatures, measure the difference in O2 consumption in different chambers, each wrapped with its own bone-conduction headphones. This way, you can bathe the seedings in their own sound regime without disturbing the class or interfering with other test groups or your control. Complete instructions for this experiment are included with the kit.

Modern Biology, Inc. is the supplier of choice for over 80,000 teachers in the United States. We are available on weekdays to answer your questions. Contact us at (765) 446-4220 or email us today!

There are a lot of reasons to encourage students to participate in science fairs.

Science fairs develop critical thinking skills. Just like Modern Biology, Inc.’s complete experimental kits, science fairs require students to identify a question or a problem, come up with a hypothesis about it, and design an experiment to test their hypothesis. In the process, they develop problem-solving and critical thinking skills.

Science fairs give students an opportunity to think creatively as they work through an algorithm of their own design. This process gives them a justifiable boost to self-esteem and builds their confidence for tackling problems in real life.

Science fairs give students a chance to practice their communication skills. They will have to communicate their thought process, their experimental process, and their findings on their posters. They will have to explain their thought processes to judges.

Like lab activities from Modern Biology, Inc., science fairs afford new opportunities for experiencing the scientific method firsthand. Science fairs help student participants develop a lifelong habit of scientific thinking.

What are some great ideas for your students’ participation in a science fair?

The best biology-related projects put an intuitive twist on a simple concept. Consider these five starting points.

Consider tissue printing. The project could involve using different types of bionics to see which one produces the most realistic tissue model. The project could also involve testing different printing techniques, such as layer-by-layer printing or continuous printing, to see which method produces the best results.

A tissue printing project could also involve analyzing the tissue model to determine its structural and functional properties. This could involve using various techniques, such as microscopy or biochemical assays, to examine the tissue model in detail.

Or find out whether there is a relationship between sickle cell trait and exercise performance. Measure changes in heart rate in students after exercise. Then see if sickle cell genes moderate performance. Give your student an opportunity to show their understanding of experiment design by explaining how they chose a sample size with enough statistical power to confirm a conclusion.

Find out whether music has an effect on plant physiology, using the same equipment used in the study of the effects of temperature on cell respiration. See if different kinds of music affect plant physiology in different ways, and whether temperature, humidity, and growing medium present confounding effects.

Or consider the applications of an introduction to electrophoresis. Electrophoresis is a technique used to separate charged molecules, such as proteins or nucleic acids, based on their size and charge. It can be used in a science fair experiment to examine the composition of a sample or to identify specific molecules within a sample.

Here are four ideas for science fair projects involving electrophoresis:

Separating and identifying the components of a mixture: Students could use electrophoresis to separate the components of a mixture, such as proteins or DNA fragments, and identify the different molecules present. They could use electrophoresis to detect surprising impurities in products teenagers use every day, such as skin care products, candy, snacks, or toothpaste.
Examining the effect of a mutation on the structure of a protein: Students could use electrophoresis to compare the structure of a wild-type protein with a mutant version of the protein and observe any differences in size or charge. Generate a project around the theme of “Tracking Down the Amazing Mutant ….:
Analyzing the purity of a protein sample: Students could use electrophoresis to determine the purity of a protein sample and identify any contaminants present. Apply this technique to products with an “eww” factor.
Examining the effect of a chemical treatment on the structure of a protein: Students can use electrophoresis to compare the structure of a protein before and after it has been treated with a chemical, such as a denaturant, and observe any changes in size or charge. Apply this knowledge to explain why some common product goes bad.

Modern Biology, Inc. isn’t just a terrific way to simplify lab work. It is also the source of everything your students need for science fair projects. Contact us today for more information.

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