Murrow Science Report: Botana Curus

Edward R. Murrow Science Report
Andrey Tung 4/5/14
Introduction:
Researchers are interested in identifying which species is most related to the Botana Curus because the plant produces Curol, which can help treat specific types of cancer. It can be able to provide us another way to treat cancer if the Botana Curus is not available at the moment. It can help us with testing so we wouldn't have to waste the original substance. The structural evidence I gathered the first week does not provide enough information to determine which species are most closely related because although plants may look the same, the insides would be working a different way. The inside of the flowers matter because if we did not check beneath the
stems, we would not know if there is anything wrong with it. For example, we can't assume that Species X, Y, Z are all the same just because they look alike visually. Even if it looks the same, there are little traces of genes that makes everything different.
Methods:
One test I performed on the plant was checking the structure of these flowers.
For this, we had Species X, Y, Z and the Botana Curus on separate plastic cards with the flowers and seeds in them. We had to observe the differences in each species and see which looked most similar. Performing this test was important because since the characteristics of the plants all looked the same, it was crucial to find out what made each flower different on the inside. We also had to check the seeds because it showed how similar those looked too. For example, the seeds of the Botana Curus was yellow, brown with stripes, and had oval shaped but species X, it was round and red. The one that looked most like the seeds of Botana Curus was species Z because it had stripes too. Another test was the microscoopic internal structure of stems. We had to examine the slides of each species and compare circular or scattered arrangements in each slide. The microscope helped a bit because it allowed us to see the differences within the plant. The Botana Curus was scattered, like species Z but the others, X and Y, were
circular.
Results
Species Z was the most closely related to the Botana Curus because of the characteristics of the plants and the microscopic stem structure. The seeds of Botana Curus had stripes but none of the other's did except for species Z. This was one similarity. Another one was how it was brown with yellow, which was the same as Botana Curus' seed. In the microscopic stem structure, the two plants were alike because they were both scattered and not circular. In paper chromatography, Botana Curus' color started with purple and so did X and Z. As it went on, only X and Botana Curus had pink in the paper chromatography. Although it was not the same for Z, testing for enzyme M changed it because species X was negative while species Z was positive, just like the Botana Curus. In the end, species Z is most closely related to Botana Curus because of these observations.
Discussion
Expensive efforts should not be made into saving the endangered Botana Curus if species Z can grow rapidly and produce Curol.
This is because if species Z is able to grow fast, we should not waste money on trying to grow more Botana Curus, even if it is the original plant. It is almost identical and with new technology, we can also be able to find out new ways to make it even more like Botana Curus. It would be useless to preserve Botana Curus because if there is a type of species that can grow much faster, there is no use in trying to keep Botana Curus safe and waiting a long time for it to produce Curol. Another reason as to why efforts shouldn't be taken to save the Botana Curus is because of technology. Technology can help extract genes and place them into speices Z so it can still have some similarites and may even help it be more identical to the original plant. Also, we can find out how to cure cancer sooner or later with technology too. If we have Curol, scientists can try and identify which other substance can stop
cancer.