Summer Internship Research at the USDA Vegetable Laboratory

1. SPLCV, Whiteflies & MeSummer 2011 August 6, 2011 Laura M. Jenkins U.S. Vegetable Laboratory 2700 Savannah Highway Charleston, SC

6. Cucumbers: Flowered & Non-Flowered

9. Purpose: To determine if diploidic watermelons can be mutated into tetraploidic watermelons and yield advantageous characteristics (ex. seedless)

10. Procedures for DNA Extraction & Analysis:

11. Collected tissue samples from potentially mutated watermelon leaves

12. Utilized enzymes, buffers, sand, ceramic beads, centrifuging, vortexing and incubation to separate the supernatant from excess debris and reveal the DNA fragments

14. Purpose: To determine if diploidic watermelons can be mutated into tetraploidic watermelons and yield advantageous characteristics (ex. seedless)

15. Procedures for DNA Extraction & Analysis:

16. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique used to reveal the desired mutation in the DNA sequence

20. Acknowledgements I would like to thank the following people for their excellent insight and superb technical expertise: Dr. Alvin Simmons Dr. Amnon Levi Bradford Peck Laura Pence Paul Wade