Transplanting Arabidopsis
Lynn Doran, Meghan Burns
Abstract
Transplanting Arabidopsis grown from seed on agar plates to soil trays.
Before start
Seedlings will be ready to transplant in approximately 10 to 14 days after planting when they've formed one to two true leaves. Do not wait too long to transplant. The root system begins to develop rapidly after the first true leaves. Damaging roots during transplant will drastically affect development and result in non-uniform plants.
If planting transgenic plants, review all USDA-APHIS requirements for the RIPE APHIS permit for handling transgenic materials before beginning any experiment.
Steps
Take soil and place it into the trays. Fill about 3/4 of the way, press down gently, and then add water to the top. Fill completely with soil and add more water to the top. When complete it should look like the image below.
Look at the Arabidopsis on the agar plate and determine which one looks the best. Typically this means it is the plant with the longest roots and greenest leaves.
Take a pair of tweezers and place them at the base of the plant. Pull up very slowly, ensuring that all of the roots come out of the agar in one piece.
Once the plant is out of the agar, rinse it in a Petrie dish filled with distilled water to get all of the agar off.
Take the pair of tweezers and grab the plant by the base of the root and stick the roots down into the dirt of the new tray. Make sure the roots are all the way down and the leaves are above the dirt.
Pat down the dirt around the leaves and water the tray from the bottom up.
Label the tag with the plant and plate number and the genotype.
