How does Your Garden Grow?

Our plants have increased greatly in size since I last checked up on them. This has happened through an accumulation of biomass in cell division, photosynthesis, and cellular respiration. The most obvious factor in biomass is cell division or mitosis. In this process, cells split themselves in two, replacing dying cells. When used repetitively, this can result in an increase in the number of cells, and therefore an increase in the size of the plant. Photosynthesis also contributes to biomass because excess sugars(glucose) created through this process can be converted into biomass. Cellular respiration however, takes away from a plant's biomass as it uses glucose to create energy(ATP).

If the nucleus of our plant was instructed to produce more of the enzymes PEPC and Rubisco, it would first have to use a process called transcription to convert the DNA code into mRNA. This messenger RNA would be given to ribosomes. The ribosomes would then translate the instructions from the mRNA to construct amino acid chains(polypeptides). The endoplasmic reticulum would then finish off the production of these enzymatic proteins by processing and sorting them. The completed proteins would lastly be sent to the Golgi Apparatus for packaging and delivery.

This is a picture of our growing plant at an early stage.