Hi all,

okay, I just thought of something that I don't really
know if it is going to work, but hopefully it will.
Ths is regarding to my idea of my science fair.
I was thinking of finding the possibility of a tree
cancer. Looking cancer as a cell that is defected, I
will try to defect a tree cambrium cell or a leaf cell
to c if a tree cancer is possible. I don't know if it
will work, but if it does, hopefully it will carry me
to the nationals. Please give me idea or feedback.

Thank you,
Luc Tran

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In a message dated 10/7/2003 12:06:02 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
writes:

Okay, I just thought of something that I don't really
know if it is going to work, but hopefully it will.
This is regarding to my idea of my science fair.
I was thinking of finding the possibility of a tree
cancer.

There are people on the list with degrees in plant pathology so
hopefully they will respond.
But, I don't know of any cancers (as I understand the term) that
infect plants.
Plants are attacked by insects, weather, bacteria and virus.
A lot of research has been done in these areas by the USDA.
Most attacks on plants are harmful, although a few are beneficial.
There are many beneficial insects.
One virus (I think, might be bacteria) causes the leaves of red
poinsettias to have white streaks. Since people like this variation in poinsettias
so those with the virus are cultivated and sold at a higher price than healthy
plants.
Billy on the Florida Space Coast

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I was thinking of finding the possibility of a tree
cancer. Looking at cancer as a cell that is defective,

Yes and no. The main defect in cancer cells is unregulated growth. If you use
the analogy of a tumor, rather than cancer, you can come up with an interesting
project. Plants, especially woody plants, do have the capability of producing
various kinds of galls, cankers, and excessive callous tissue, which are
similar to tumors and granulomas in animals. However, probably due to the
differences in the vascular system, I have never heard of gall tissue in a
plant metastasizing the way cancer metastasizes in animals. Also, while tumors
or cancer in animals are sometimes caused by infection or environmental
disturbance, & sometimes by a breakdown in the regulatory system, as far as I
know, the analagous growths in plants are always caused by the environment,
usually infection.
Go with it. You should be able to get photomicrographs of animal tumor cells
and comparable plant tumors, as well as animal and plant photographs, and some
illustrative live plants.
Iris,
Central NY, Zone 5a, Sunset Zone 40
"If we see light at the end of the tunnel, It's the light of the oncoming
train."
Robert Lowell (1917-1977)

okay, I just thought of something that I don't really
know if it is going to work, but hopefully it will.
Ths is regarding to my idea of my science fair.
I was thinking of finding the possibility of a tree
cancer. Looking cancer as a cell that is defected, I
will try to defect a tree cambrium cell or a leaf cell
to c if a tree cancer is possible. I don't know if it
will work, but if it does, hopefully it will carry me
to the nationals. Please give me idea or feedback.

Thank you,
Luc Tran

Cancer is the uncontrolled growth of cells. In trees, that's called a gall. It can be caused by various things: nematodes, insects, fungi, viroids, or bacteria. The most famous tree gall is "crown gall", caused by Agrobacteria tumefaciens. You could re
ad up on it; it's very interesting. However, it's a difficult science project, and infecting bonsai would be a rather cruel thing to do.

I would once again steer you away from "bonsai" as a project; trees are hard to do experiments on, even for tree pathologists. One tree pathologist I know did a series of experiments on IVY, because it is more tractable than trees, and he could do larger
experiments.

Judges in these contests are looking for good experimental design; they aren't expecting you to make a major discovery.

Having said that, if you are determined to do an experiment on bonsai, why not take a single bonsai with many branches and try to take air-layers using different methods? Everyone on the list has a different technique (aluminum foil versus plastic wrap; s
phagnum versus newspaper, girdling versus slits, etc.), and it would be fun to compare them.

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-----Original Message-----

One virus (I think, might be bacteria) causes the leaves of red
poinsettias to have white streaks. Since people like this variation in poinsettias
so those with the virus are cultivated and sold at a higher price than healthy
plants.
Billy on the Florida Space Coast

Back in the "Tulipmania" of the 1600s, virus-infected tulips with streaked flowers were sold at higher prices than other tulips; however, aphids would spread the streaking to pure-color tulips, so these kinds of cultivars were abandoned in favor of strea
ked tulips caused by genetic mutation. I am positive than no virus-infected poinsettias are on the market! But it's absolutely amazing what breeders have done with poinsettias; they are pink, yellow, spotted, striped, curled and crisped....

There's a new powdery mildew on poinsettia, and we've tried in vain to convince growers that the white spots look like christmas snow on the petals......

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+++++ Questions? Help? e-mail +++++