Central Dogma ProjectTulipsElizabeth van Dijk [email protected] Wilson [email protected] are perennial plants that produce a well-known flower. The origin of the flower is from eastern Europe to the Northwest of China. Depending on the species, a tulip plant can be between 4 and 28 inches high (Tulips). They typically have a single flowering stalk that arises from a rosette of leaves on the ground. The stems themselves have few leaves but larger species tend to have more. Mosttulips only produce one flower per stem but some can have multiple flowers. Eachcup-shaped flower has three petals and three sepals which collectively form the calyx. The sepals tend to be darker in color (Tulips). Tulips can also come in any color except pure blue. The blue tulips tend to only be a hue of violet. The averagelifespan of a tulip is about 17 years but can live longer in ideal conditions. It obtains its energy via photosynthesis as most plants do. They only energy it provides is as a food source for some organisms such as slugs and caterpillars. Because tulips have both female and male reproductive organs, they are considered monoecious or hermaphroditic. They reproduce as angiosperms whichmeans they undergo double fertilization. The development of the female features begin with the ovule. There is a cell in the ovule that will produce a megaspore. This cell goes through meiosis and two cycles of mitosis without cytoplasmic division (Life Cycle and Reproduction). This produces a single cell with many nuclei. When the cell does divide, it results in a female gametophyte, or a sac of haploid cells. The final female gametophyte has seven total cells in which one is the egg and another is a cell that will become the endosperm. For the male development, the flower contains a pollen sac in which microspores with form. A cell undergoes meiosis and divides into four haploid microspores. These become pollen grains. When the pollen is released two sperm are used to proceed in fertilization. The pollen enter the female organ and continues to the ovule. One of the sperms fertilizes the egg and the other fertilizes the endosperm-producing cell. This is considered double fertilization. The fertilized seed grows until it becomes a seedling and grows until it becomes mature with flowering stems (Life Cycle and Reproduction). A common heme protein in a tulip is chlorophyll. Chlorophyll is a type of chlorin pigment, which means it is structurally similar to and produced simmilarlyas other porphyrin pigments such as heme. The difference is the magnesium ion at the center of the chlorin ring. Chlorophyll is a green pigment and is found in almost all plants, algae, and cyanobacteria (Chlorophyll). This molecule is critical for the process of photosynthesis which is how plants obtain energy from light. Chlorophyll absorbs many wavelengths of in the electromagnetic spectrum with the exception of green. This is the reason that it is a green pigment. Chlorophyll molecules are arranged in the photosystems of photosynthesis. Within the photosystems, chlorophyll serves two major functions. Most chlorophyll is used to absorb light and transfer the light energy to a specific chlorophyll pair in the reaction center. Each photosystem has their own specific chlorophyll within the reaction center, p680 in Photosystem II and p700 in Photosystem I. These are named for the red-peak absorption maximum of the chlorophyll. When the chlorophyll pigments are separated, they can be identified as chlorophyll a andchlorophyll b. The function of the chlorophyll within the reaction center is to use the energy absorbed to undergo a charge separation (Chlorophyll). The synthesis of chlorophyll begins with glycine & succinyl-CoA. The two molecules undergo condensation and decarboxylation to form δ-aminolevulinic acid (ALA). Pyridoxal phosphate is a coenzyme for δ-aminolevulinate synthase. Condensation with the molecule succinyl-CoA occurs as the amino group of glycine integrates as a Schiff base linkage to the PLP aldehyde. After condensation, CoA and the glycine carboxyl are lost. The initial ALA Synthase is the determing step of the pathway. The next step is PBG Synthase or Porphobilinogen Synthase. Also called ALA Dehydratase, it catalyzes the condensation of two molecules of δ-aminolevlinate. This forms the pyrrole ring of porphobilinogen (PBG) (Synthesis of Heme). The next step is the assembly of a porphyrin structure which is made from four molecules of PBG. This process involves six enzymatic steps which ultimately ends with the product protoporphyrin IX (Chlorophyll Biosynthesis). Up until this point, all of these stepsare the same for the synthesis of chlorophyll and heme. The deciding fate depends on the insertion of a certain metal into the center of the porphyrin. If magnesium is inserted by the enzyme magnesium chelatase, then chlorophyll will form. If iron is inserted instead, the resulting protein will be heme. After the insertion of magnesium, the formation of the fifth ring (ring E) by cyclization of one of the propionic acid chains will form the molecule protochlorophyllide. Next, one of the double bonds in ring D is reduced using NADPH. In angiosperms, the process is driven by light and is carried out by protochlorophyllide oxidoreductase(POR). The final step is the attachment of the phytol tail which is catalyzed by chlorophyll synthetase (Chlorophyll Biosynhtesis).DNARNA is transcribed froma DNA templateIn eukaryotes, the RNA transcript (pro-mRNA) is spliced and modified to produce mRNA, which moves from the nucleus to the cytoplasmmRNA leaves thenucleus and attaches tothe ribosomeTranscriptionRNA PossessingEach amino acid attaches to its proper tRNA with thehelp of Aminoacyl-tRNA synthase and ATPTranslationA succession of tRNAs add their amino acids to the polypeptide chain as the mRNA moves through the ribosome one codon at a time. (When completed, the polypeptide is released from the ribosomeLiterature CitedDiwan, J. J. (2008). Synthesis of Heme [Internet]. https://www.rpi.edu/dept/bcbp/molbiochem/MBWeb/mb2/part1/heme.htmFerris, J. Life Cycle and Reproduction [Internet]. https://www.rpi.edu/dept/bcbp/molbiochem/MBWeb/mb2/part1/heme.htmTaiz, Lincoln and Zeiger, Eduardo. (2010). Chlorophyll Biosynthesis. Plant Physiology. 7.11. Wikipedia contributers. (2014). Tulips [Internet]. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia contributors. (2014). Chlorophyll [Internet]. Wikipedia, The Free