RUBISCO is an abundant enzyme found in plant chloroplasts and is responsible for initiating carbon fixation in the Calvin cycle. An experiment was conducted to reveal the relationship between petal pigmentation and RUBISCO content in Chrysanthemums. It was hypothesized that high levels of petal pigmentation would correlate with low levels of RUBISCO protein due to the relationship between chloroplasts and pigment producing chromoplasts. Petal and leaf tissue was isolated and analyzed in a white flowered, orange flowered and purple flowered Chrysanthemum. DNA and protein were isolated from both leaf and petal tissue from all three plants. DNA amplification of the RUBISCO gene in each sample was done by PCR. Confirmation of the amplified DNA segment was done by a 2% agarose gel electrophoresis. Protein isolated from the plant tissues was run on a SDS page gel and Western Blot. A colorimetric reaction initiated by the binding of the secondary antibody to the primary antibody was used to indicate the presence of RUBISCO in each tissue sample. PCR analysis indicates relatively similar RUBISCO DNA, suggesting the presence of the same plastid genome. The Western Blot and SDS PAGE gel failed to yield conclusive results on protein content in any of the plant tissues. However, due to the presence of three faint bands from the leaf samples run on the Western blot, we were able to propose that the leaf tissue likely has higher RUBISCO protein content due its significant role in carbon fixation.
The Effect of Pigmentation on
RUBISCO Expression in the Chrysanthemum
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