Cruzzfish's Amazing Polyploid Research Project.

Hello all, I mentioned that I was doing some research akin to Nigel, wherein I expose peppers to a chemical designed to double their chromosome count. That was several months ago. Today, that research comes to THP. All pictures will come later.
 
It is currently day 23 of my project, where I exposed purple jalapenos, roatan habaneros, and cayenne to oryzalin, an herbicide.
Plant one in the experiment tray sprouted two weeks ago, and required the seed coat to be removed. It had cotyledons three times as long as normal, and as of now (three days after seed coat removal) it has displayed a slower phototropism(does not bend to the light as much). It is also bright purple despite not that intense light. Yesterday, three more grew, and one displayed retarded gravitropism(dumb fuck grew leaves down, roots up. I had to put him the right way around.) Control plants are all normal.
 
More to come as updates occur, and I intend to track their growth for at least three years to come.
 
And, finally, my polyploids are doing relatively well. Just have to grow them in water so that they get more nutes to make up for the lack of root systems.

 

[Hybrid Mode 01]

      STUBBY RETURNS!!!

 

[jointeffort]

Looking forward to more updates.

 

[PaulG]

Looking forward to the photos!

 

[cruzzfish]

Mods please delete this one

 

[cruzzfish]

Alright guys. Pictures have arrived. Imgur's fixed now.
Control group(not stubby): http://i.imgur.com/wNGcanW.jpg
Stubby: http://i.imgur.com/vgEGQxO.jpg
Other stubbies: http://i.imgur.com/dWhuus2.jpg and : http://i.imgur.com/20fLSYF.jpg

 

[PaulG]

Very interesting pix, 'Fish.  When you say "exposed to oryzalin", what does that mean?  
Do you soak them, or spray them on the germinating medium?  Or...
 
What other agents have you used, if any?

 

[Trident chilli]

Very interesting but what are you hoping to achieve in its simplest terms in relation to doubling chromosome counts ... sorry but I always have a senior moment with chemistry

 

[cruzzfish]

Very interesting but what are you hoping to achieve in its simplest terms in relation to doubling chromosome counts ... sorry but I always have a senior moment with chemistry

I'm hoping that the doubled chromosomes will make them read through the capsaicin producing gene twice, so they should make slightly larger and spicier peppers.
 

Very interesting pix, 'Fish.  When you say "exposed to oryzalin", what does that mean?  
Do you soak them, or spray them on the germinating medium?  Or...
 
What other agents have you used, if any?

I added sigma aldrich's oryzalin powder to the water when I soaked the seeds for a day. Most of it didn't dissolve properly, but it stuck to them and they ended up absorbing some as they grew. No other agents were used at the current time, apart from basic fertilizers for hydroponics.
 
More pictures:
Control seedling is starting to gain leaves: http://i.imgur.com/ppodY0m.jpg
This seedling attempted to grow out sideways, and did fell into three pieces when I attempted to remove the seed case: http://i.imgur.com/yGnPrfw.jpg
Control seedlings still not getting true leaves. Most of them are older than the control: http://i.imgur.com/LYRoE91.jpg

 

[cruzzfish]

Today, one of the polyploids popped out of the seed with true leaves already growing. They're small, but I'll send you some pics when they get noticeable. 

 

[cruzzfish]

Project is officially done, plants *theoretically* dead/unable to escape in the wild. In actuality, I'm still taking notes on them, but not data. I'll send some pics of the peppers they make when they finally go into fruiting. In the meantime, here's the strange leaves.
 

 

[Hybrid Mode 01]

Project is officially done, plants *theoretically* dead/unable to escape in the wild. In actuality, I'm still taking notes on them, but not data. I'll send some pics of the peppers they make when they finally go into fruiting. In the meantime, here's the strange leaves.
 
 

 
 
     I don't understand. Are they dead, or what?

 

[cruzzfish]

 
 
     I don't understand. Are they dead, or what?

They're alive and well. According to lab rules however, they shouldn't be. Then again, the experiment was specifically to test chemical production, which has not been done because they're small, and they were kinda exempt from lab rules the second they left the lab so I could manage them over a week long break. The chemical, however, can't be and wasn't removed from the lab, so if I wanted to make more polyploids there would be an issue.

 

[Hybrid Mode 01]

 According to lab rules however, they shouldn't be. 

 
     Aaaaah. Gotcha. So it's just like that one time in quantitative analysis lab when I accidentally splashed all that ether into my backpack. Right in that sealed Nalgene bottle. Right before the weekend. That one I can't remember.
     I think my roommate and I made several brain cells not so "alive and well" that weekend semester.

 

[cruzzfish]

 
     Aaaaah. Gotcha. So it's just like that one time in quantitative analysis lab when I accidentally splashed all that ether into my backpack. Right in that sealed Nalgene bottle. Right before the weekend. That one I can't remember.
     I think my roommate and I made several brain cells not so "alive and well" that weekend semester.

Speaking of alive and well. The above seedling that grew really screwed up and lost both cots is still alive. Time will tell whether or not it can regenerate.
 
Edit: I hope it doesn't though. That eldritch monster being immortal is the last thing I want.

 

[cruzzfish]

They appear to be going back to diploid because they weren't fully converted. Quite disappointing if I must say. How would I tissue culture them from the parts that seem more polyploid in order to have a full tetraploid plant?

 

[cruzzfish]

Just a status update, no pictures since they literally haven't grown for a while. I need to weed out the clearly non polyploid ones and then pot them up. All of them are still alive. Yes, even that thing that I thought was going to die. It hasn't regrown yet, but it's somehow photosynthesizing without leaves and is doing something weird with the roots.

 

[cruzzfish]

Repotted one control plant from rockwool to soil to determine viability of removing them without damaging their roots. Roots are intact, and if the plant survives then I will divide up the rest of them to allow them to continue growing.

 

[cruzzfish]

Members of the control group sitting in cups today. I hope they survive the butchery on their root systems to separate them unorthodox repotting methods.