Glyoxylate Friday

Okay - so first you need to follow this link to get the required soundrack:
http://www.csulb.edu/%7Ecohlberg/Songs/glyoxylate.mp3 It's nothing scary, just another song from the Biochemist's Songbook.

So - what is this Glyoxylate Cycle thingy, some of you might ask? Well, it's one of those neat things that plants can do and we cannot. They can take the fats stored in their seeds and turn it into carbohydrates. Us animals can only take carbohydrates and make fats, but not the other way around. In other words - this is what happens in the tiny (and not so tiny depending on the species) seed when it germinates. It takes fats and makes carbohydrates of it, since carbohydrates (and water) are the main components on the roots and stems of the baby (and adult) plant.

We are, of course, playing the Glyoxylate song for our little chili seeds. And guess what? A few tiny roots have appeared in at least 3 of our seeds. We can't see the rest of them, so we don't know if they're growing yet. They're too tiny to get a good picture of yet - but they look a little like these sprouting mung beans (just smaller).



We thank you for all the well wishes for Mom. She's feeling a whole lot better today, just a little tired. And waking up to see that the chili seeds had sprouted made for an extra happy start to the day. She checked them before bedtime last night and they hadn't and during the night they grew little 2mm "worms". But don't worry. There's plenty of time for her to kill them yet. BOL!

Happy Friday everyone!

Kisses,
B