The Cold Assisted Symbiotic Germination with Mycorrhizal Support - Assignment Example

Order 417256 (on Platanthera leucophaea (Nutt Lindl) The Cold Assisted Symbiotic Germination with Mycorrhizal Support Platanthera leucophaea is naturally found in the moist and wet tallgrass prairies. The plant can also be found in the eastern fringes of the American prairie region. Here, in natural conditions, it would grow in the wet meadows. For the purpose of optimum growth, the habitat of this plant of the family Orchidaceae must not be in the vicinity of woody encroachments. Historically, the P. leucophaea could be found at the east of the river Mississippi and in Missouri and Iowa. Scattered populations have also been come across the Illinois, Maine, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, New York, Virginia, and Wisconsin in the U.S. It has been also noticed in the Ontario region of Canada. Nobody has observed this plant species in Oklahoma for the lust one and a half centuries. The chief factor responsible for the decline in the population of P. leucophaea has been defined as a loss of apposite habitat because of conversions for arable land, grazing, human settlements, fire suppression, etc. Finally, by the late twentieth century, the statistical estimation shows a 70% fall in the overall population of this orchid species. On these backgrounds, the plant has been defined as a threatened species of orchid in the United States. Hence, a scientific recovery plan has been initiated by artificial cultivation of the plant inside controlled settings. Researches have been successfully conducted for the purpose of bionic propagation of the endangered species. The researches were aimed at the objectives as follow: 1. Utilization of cold treatments or stratification 2. Symbiotic germination of the seed by application of the mycorrhizal fungi. 3. Further study of the mycorrhizal fungi obtained from the mature root resembling structures of the P. leucophaea orchid. The methods involved in the process of this research explicitly involved separation of the fungi and its subsequent characterization followed by seed assemblage, sowing, and sophisticated incubation of the orchid. The fungi that developed were separated from the cortical cells found inside the tangentially originating branch roots of the orchid. Cultures of the fungi demonstrated that the absence or presence of polyphenol oxidase coupled with cellulase matter provides for a way for identifying the mycorrhizal fungi (obtained from the orchid) to genus. Further, seeds were collected from the ripe yellow colored nodules of the P. leucophaea. They were stratified in apt darkness levels and kept in moistened paper towels. Next, they were surface sterilized and then studied under light microscopy. An assorted sample of the seeds was further studied by dissection microscopy to examine seed germination and developmental stages of the seedling. Inferences obtained by means of intricate studies of the effect of the fungi during the course of germination of the seeds by characterizing the mycorrhizal fungi have raised hopes. We are soon expected to point out the soil fungi of the mycorrhizal variety that initiate the seed germination process. The symbiotic germination technology thus introduced in the realm of in vitro developmental studies would further enrich scientific knowledge base and help in saving the endangered orchid under the experiment. This would also assist in seedling development in the setting of pre-inoculated soil in a greenhouse. Potential Role of Genetics in Saving the Orchid with Special Attention on DNA Markers In today’s planet, several species from different biological kingdoms of the living world are either becoming vanished or are at the threshold of extinction. This has happened mainly due to widespread human disturbance of the planet’s ecosystems. The risk of vanishing of these organisms is being continuously increased due to demographic, ecological, hereditary, and climatic alterations that are taking place rapidly. Similar dangers are being faced by the Platanthera leucophaea in the northern America. Effects of fragmentations are being studied among the available limited number of organisms that are at the threshold of extinction. This is further being evaluated in relation with the DNA markers. The genetic variations at the levels of allozymes may turn out as crucial players in making artificial propagation technologies more powerful. Special attention has been given to the role of Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA (abbreviated as the RAPD). In light of these recent researches, it can be concluded that a revival of the P. leucophaea is not implausible. The study of the allozymes in these orchids in limited numbers has demonstrated that diversity factors in the species are low. Moreover, the population differentiation levels have surged up. Complex setting of the alternative alleles at the two distinct loci in diverse sample populations of the doomed orchid has been diagnosed, which explicates high scale coefficients of inbreeding. Unswerving with a wide-ranging lack of genetic variation at the allozyme loci, the estimates of population segregation are rather high as shown by the researches analyzing the potential effects of fragmentation. Moreover, an investigation into the degree of molecular variance deploying the AMOVA technique utilizing Squared Euclidean Distances was conducted among the available sample populations of P. leucophaea. In case of another similar orchid, the P. praeclara, it was observed that genetic diversities still exist in relatively larger proportions. The recent trends of fragmentation at the orchid’s natural habitat and segregation of their populations might have amplified the sheer allelic differences among them today. But the evolution of the P. leucophaea might have not worked in a similar way. Hereditary resemblances among different individual samples of P. leucophaea indicate that at the levels of experimentation, a consistent supervision of a given population of the plant can help indeed. However, multiple samples of the population of these orchids need to be monitored if allozyme variation in the genes of the plant is to be preserved and studied. This would amply assist in the futuristic breeding projects of the plant. The unique genotypes that still exist in these limited numbers of the plants need to be found out and preserved. The range of disturbances of this continuity of genetic sequence in the plants has to be determined and narrowed down. Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism can accomplish this project of increasing the coefficients of diversity. It can also stem the menace of inbreeding. Further, engineering at the level of DNA markers like the ISSR, RADP, etc. can boost up the plant immunity and help them fight the ill effects if a rapidly changing ecology. By developing an understanding of the working and organization of genetic variations in different organism, we can save the endangered species like the P. leucophaea. Aspects of Potential Restoration of the Orchid with Reference to Soil Conditions The valued orchid Platanthera leucophaea is desperately battling the struggle for its existence. In such a state of affair, scientists have of late conducted extensive researches on restoring this breed of orchid. Soil conditions are very vital in the survival and restoration of an orchid. Orchids are in general plants that call for specific conditions. These organisms cannot adapt with conditions that are not suitable for them. These conditions include climatic, weather, geographic, etc. orientations, which have to be delicately balanced. Soil conditions are thus very crucial in determining the reasons behind the rapidly vanishing orchid and also to examine the restoration potential of the breed. The safe haven of the plant is the region around the Wisconsin glacial borders along the eastern Prairies. The soil conditions are largely depended on the earth material that once formed a part of the Canadian Shield. Ideally, the plant can exploit the nutrient rich soils typical to the Wisconsin area. Acidic soils derived of the glacial drift are not very favorable. The prime question is where to rehabilitate the new population of P. leucophaea. Extensive soil examinations have been carried out to determine this across the assortment of the habitats of this orchid. Multifarious gradients of %age variations of the organic matters in the soil have been recorded coupled with the fluctuations in the crucial pH values. The alkaline circum-neutral samples of prairie soils are favorable. The potential restoration could be put in practice under highly specialized conditions in less calcareous varieties of the soil with low content of carbon compounds. South of the Wisconsin glacial periphery, moisture holding capacity of the soil is low and it also demonstrates high proportions of river and glacial sedimentation. The tolerance threshold of the species is not enough in such conditions of the soil. Soil samples were assorted in the range of the various loam, loess, and glacial substrates. The relatively rudimentary and hardy varieties of soil samples were also collected. The rooting depth of the orchid variety plants is about 15 cm below the soil surface, and the soil was collected from within this depth. Studies of the chemistry of the soil samples includes CFC, pH levels, and quantities of the obtainable elements like potassium (K), Phosphorus (P), Calcium (Ca), manganese (Mn), and magnesium (Mg). Except the peat soils (that are generally rich in organic content), the samples were tested for measures of silt, sand, and mud. Results of the study suggest that the potential for successful implantation P. leucophaea can be steered and assessed by means of further soils analysis. The optimal tallgrass prairie habitation for this federal threatened orchidaceous species shows comparatively high content of organic matter and considerable concentrations of nutritious substances such as the essential minerals. Higher levels of alkalinity can plausibly crate appropriate conditions in the sand habitats coupled with lower levels of organic content. Soil conditioning involving recurrent soil saturation can help when the soil bed is likely to show lower pH values. Deeper comprehension of the vital soil requirements of the mycorrhizal fungi (that aids the cold germination of the orchid), role of soil conditions behind genetic differentiations, and soil chemistry is still to be attained. 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