| MadSci Network: Molecular Biology |
Dear Firas, Many cell types can be studied and treated with heat shock. However, you need to be a bit more specific what type of conditions you would like to treat your amphibian or plant egg cells and what gene you would to insert into these cells. When you heat shock a cell you will activate specific cellular pathways. Similiarily when you cold shock a cell you can acitvate different stress related pathways. How the cell responds will be dependent on a number different things. Here are a few things to consider: 1) How long you decide to treat the cell with heat, 2) What temperature you decide to "shock" the cells 3)What gene you are planning to study, does it have a response to heat or cold shock? This is not a complete list of questions but a few things to consider. I know that certain genes in plant cells are induced by either cold or heat stimuli. However to help you design your experiment, I would require more information. Please feel free to email me directly with more specific questions and information on the cell types and the gene you will to study. Have fun with science, Elsa
Try the links in the MadSci Library for more information on Molecular Biology.