Plant Tissue Culturing Problem Scenario 3A

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Plant Tissue Culturing Problem Scenario 3A
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Problem Scenario Overview

• Challenged with designing a plant manufacturing
  system capable of producing food by means of
  tissue culturing.

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System Requirements

• Limited space (approx 2x1x1)
• Light source
• Automated temp. control, light exposure,
  nutrients.
• Allow for increase in plant size
• Sealed sterile environment, allowing for
  manipulation of plants and tools

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Biological Information

• Boston fern or Nepholepis exaltata was chosen
  for this problem scenario because it is a variety
  that is easy to culture, thus making it
  appropriate for learning tissue culturing
  techniques.

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Organism Selection

• May be based on any number of criteria, depending
  on the reasons for culturing
• may include the plants ability to provide food
• profit from sale of the plant
• preservation of an endangered or threatened
  species
• selection may also be based on the ability of the
  plant to be cultured, and/or the intended method
  of culturing

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Life Requirements of System

• Need to address
• Temp
• Light
• Air/CO2
• Water/Humidity
• Nutrients/pH
• Sterile environment

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Technical Information

• This system will accommodate all the
  environmental requirements of this organism
  because
• clean room by definition had a low level of
  environmental pollutants, such as dust, airborne
  microbes, aerosol particles and chemical vapors.
• Our system supplies nutrients, a sterile
  environment and enough physical space to develop.

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Impacts of Tissue Culturing (pros and cons)

• Pros
• Clean plants of infection and quickly regenerate
• Produce in absence of seeds
• Conserve rare/endangered species
• Reproduce stress tolerant strains

• Cons
• Too many of a narrow genetic strain may limit
  gene pool of natural population
• Threatens traditional faming techniques
• Expensive/equipment intensive
• Some varieties are difficult to culture

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Computer Control Opportunities

• Some potential mechanism that could be used to
  monitor, run, and maintain the system would be
• Differential pressure gage
• ThermoHygrometer (temp humidity)
• Air velocity monitor
• pH meter
• Light sensor