Electroporation and an observation of electric field effect on meristem cells. electronics forum (circuits, projects and microcontrollers) gas meter reading

I have a machine for this, but I do have alot of problems getting the single use curvettes for it. They are extremely expensive for what they are and i rely on looking on the American ebay for old stock non used ones cheap. They dont come along often and when they do they are still not cheap.

The normal microbes used are fairly difficult to handle and keep reliably, they are also fairly slow in responding and take time to establish. So for a long time i have looked at various ways to try and get more robust microbes to do the job. Now obviously the only real solution is to take rna or DNA from a nucleus or use a nucleus from a normal methogen, and place this inside another organism.

Simple in theory and difficult in practice, I am not going to name my target organism until i reach the point I am giving up on it. But as part of this research I decided to look for other methods of making cell walls permeable. one of the problems with electroporation, it can leave the cell vulnerable for a while, passing several 10’s of thousands of volts through a cell upsets it a bit, even if its only for a few uS.

So i began looking at electric fields and plant meristem cells at the root tip. The reason is simply because meristem cells of plant roots are easy to handle and you get quick results. The seeds i chose were done so for cheapness! I use cheapo dried bean seeds from the supermarket! the ones you hydrate and stick in stews and soups . Actually they work well and grow fast.

Recently I have noticed several slightly odd things, using coils (no i didnt bother measuring the inductance etc) set around the seed on the outside of small test tubes, i have been continuously pulsing different frequencies through the coils. I have tried triangle waves, sine waves etc etc, and combinations of them. One of the strange things I have observed is fracturing, the signal generator i am using is a decent HP one. The frequency is stable and is accurate as tested.

I could be way off, but its got me wondering if different cells have a resonate frequency that differs from other cells. I wish i could take pictures through my microscope, while i have a decent one, it seems to have a non standard size tube! Over the last couple of years i havnt been able to find a solution to connect a decent Nikon camera to the scope.

At some point i will replace the scope for a better one, and hopefully be able to show you some pics, or find a way of doing it with this one. Other observations are inconclusive but again interesting. it seems you can harden the meristem cell and cause it to grow erratically, i havent taken many measurements as it wasnt what i was looking into.

But if i do continue I will take more measurements and write it up, i am not using much power, roughly 2V with coils wound around plumbers PTFE tape reels (these fit nicely around the test tubes), i wind 300 turns of thin transformer wire. Although it seems to matter little about the actual field, and more to do with the frequency and type of pulse and pulse duration. I am likely way off the mark here, but it did cross my mind if cancer or other cells could be targeted with specific frequencies to kill them.

I dont know how you would target the cells or focus the field, there could be many reasons the cells behave as witnessed, but on the other hand it would be really something if every cell type had its own resonant frequency that could be used. As far as cell wall permeability goes (my original goal), its a total bust! if anything it hardens cell walls . So its unlikely i will be following up too much on this at the moment.