Cotton root tips give up their border cell secrets

It’s been a big couple of weeks for the cotton industry with TV journalism sensationalising stories about water and the Cotton Collective gathering in the South, where it was great to see collaborators past and present recognised for their science (well done Paul and Steve, by the way). Meanwhile up here in Armidale we’ve seen Katherine head off on maternity leave and Oliver continue the search for the exDNA we mentioned in the last blog.

That search is the focus of this article. We’re now attempting to isolate the DNA from root tips, so that we can quantify it’s response to various pathogens. At first this seemed like an easy undertaking, because DNA is normally easy to dissolve, but the exDNA appears to like being associated with the mucilage and border cells and getting it on its own is proving difficult. As such we’ve turned to surfactants and DNA extraction buffers to try and help lever the exDNA out. Sadly, these solutions appear to effect the way the root tip behaves and so are presenting a range of new problems. If you’ve any ideas we’d love to hear from you and in the meantime we hope you enjoy these videos.

Videos of cotton root tip expansion in water and SDS

swelling cotton root tip in water

 

Cotton tip in water (top) and SDS (bottom).