How does your garden grow? -Maya Lewis

1. Our Kohlrabi plant is getting bigger and adding biomass by having its cells divide through a process called mitosis, and to do this the plant needs to collect sugar to convert into energy. To collect sugar the plant performs photosynthesis which converts water, from the soil, and carbon dioxide, from the air, into oxygen and sugar called glucose. This sugar is important for cellular respiration. Cellular respiration is the process in which a cell uses oxygen to convert glucose, a simple sugar, into the energy-carrying molecule, adenosine triphosphate (ATP). After this, the plant then able to move the sugars to the cells so that the plant can perform mitosis and grow.

2.To perform photosynthesis plants needs the enzymes phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (PEPC) and ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (Rubisco). When the cell tells the nucleus to produce more of these enzymes it will have RNAsynthase go to the part of the cell chromosome that contains the gene coding for the protein. It will then spilt the DNA so it can copy the information and make mRNA. This happens by a process of complimenting base pairs. Then it sends the mRNA to ribosomes to create proteins. It reads the gene in sets of 3 base pairs known as codons which then codes what amino acids are going to be added to the polypeptides in the order that is read. After a certain point, one of the codons will tell the ribosome that the protein is complete so it will release the codon and the mRNA, thus completing the process of making an enzyme.

How does your garden grow? - Sam Albert

 Our kohlrabi plants have been growing at a steady pace throughout the experiment. They're not the biggest plants in the garden, but they've put in some work. Mitosis is one way our plant has been able to grow more. Through the five main phases (interphase, prophase, metaphase, anaphase, and telophase respectively) the plants' cells replace one another and help the plant grow more. The past couple days have been very warm and sunny, aiding in photosynthesis. The plant takes in sunlight, carbon dioxide, and water and converts it into food for itself (sugar and oxygen). This method also allows the plants to grow more. The last way our plants have been growing is through cellular respiration, where sugar and oxygen is made into carbon dioxide, water, and ATP (energy). By going through its three stages: glycolysis, the Krebs Cycle, and the electron transport chain, our plant is able to provide the energy its cells need to function.
         Rubisco and PEPC are two enzymes that are necessary for photosynthesis to be performed. Through transcription and translation, DNA is copied to RNA, which then produces proteins. In transcription, a gene's DNA is used for base pairing and the enzyme RNA polymerase helps make an early RNA molecule, which will eventually become matured RNA. More specifically, the RNA polymerase latches onto the DNA strand that's being copied, and then initiates the making of complementary RNA. Once the RNA has been made, it leaves the nucleus and goes to the cytoplasm, where the ribosomes are, and attaches itself to them, which marks the beginning of translation. The RNA is then read in sets of three nucleotides (codons), which makes up a certain piece of genetic code inside the RNA. Each codon also has a complimentary anti-codon, because mRNA is complimentary to tRNA. The ribosome matches up the tRNA codons to the mRNA codons, and every time a new tRNA enters the ribosome, its amino acid is added to the polypeptide chain, until it reaches a 'termination' codon (UAG, UAA, or UGA). The newly formed polypeptide then detaches from the ribosome, completing the final process of translation and officially becoming a protein. 

Image from December

Our kohlrabi plants have grown considerably since
last semester, and now is one of the bigger plants in the
garden. Although it isn't one of the prettier plants in the
garden, it is just as functional at cell division and protein
synthesis as the other Brassica oleraceas.

Image from February

Image from February

How Does Your Garden Grow?-Abel

As our Kohlrabi plants grows and gets bigger, it is adding biomass. Photosynthesis uses
Carbon Dioxide, Nitrogen, water, and sunlight to create food for the plant. The Kohlrabi
uses the Carbon Dioxide to create glucose (sugar) providing it with energy. Cellular
Respiration is the exact opposite of this process and after complete, it lets out Carbon
Dioxide in which will be again used in photosynthesis. Cell Division is the main part of
adding biomass. As the cells divide, the plant slowly increases in size because new cells
are constantly being created. Using mitosis, the cells divide through five steps resulting with
the plants growing at a steady pace.

During the process of photosynthesis, enzymes are often used to speed up the reaction. Phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (PEPC) and ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (Rubisco) are two very important enzymes used in photosynthesis. As more cells are created, more of these enzymes are as well and to create more, a message is sent to the nucleus. Enzymes are a type of protein and because of that, with the help of a ribosome, they are created in each cell. The DNA has to split and find its complementary RNA strand. Afterwards, the messenger RNA moves itself out of the nucleus and into the cytoplasm in which it splits into groups of three creating codons. mRNA and tRNA are complementary to each other. The tRNA forms an anticodon to compliment the RNA’s. This helps to connect to the ribosome so that it can transcript correctly. Each and every combination of codons creates a specific amino acid. The start signal is Methionine and it will eventually reach a stop signal and when that occurs, the polypeptide chain will have been completed. The chain is now a protein and in some cases, it’s a enzyme which can be used in photosynthesis.